Wazuh — Host Intrusion Detection

Overview

Wazuh is the host-based intrusion detection and security monitoring platform bundled with Xloud Cloud Platform. It provides agentless visibility into what is happening inside each virtual machine — without requiring custom tooling or modifying the guest OS kernel. The Wazuh manager runs as a centralized service; lightweight agents are deployed to each instance and stream security events, file changes, and vulnerability data back for real-time correlation. Xloud ships this platform pre-integrated with XDeploy, so agents can be mass-deployed across projects using the standard automation pipeline.

Xloud-Developed — This capability is developed by Xloud and ships with XAVS. The integrated security platform is surfaced in the Xloud Dashboard as the Security Posture Panel, providing a unified view of agent status, threat alerts, and compliance results across the cluster.

XDeploy GUI — You can enable the integrated security suite (including this platform, Lynis auditing, OpenSCAP compliance, and OS hardening) through the XDeploy Configuration interface. Navigate to the Monitoring & Logging tab and toggle Enable Security Suite. No manual file editing required.

Prerequisites

Wazuh Manager deployed (enabled via XDeploy → Security → HIDS)
Network reachability from guest VMs to the Wazuh Manager on ports 1514/1515
Agent registration token available from the Wazuh Manager dashboard

Architecture

Component	Role
Wazuh Agent	Collects logs, file events, process activity, and vulnerability data from each VM
Wazuh Manager	Correlates events, applies detection rules, triggers alerts
Wazuh Dashboard	OpenSearch-based UI for alert triage, compliance reports, and forensic queries
Ruleset	MITRE ATT&CK-mapped detection rules — over 3,000 out of the box

Capabilities

File Integrity Monitoring

Track every create, modify, and delete on monitored paths. Alert on unauthorized changes to /etc/passwd, SSH keys, cron files, and application configs.

Intrusion Detection

Real-time log analysis against MITRE ATT&CK-mapped rules. Detects brute-force attempts, privilege escalation, rootkits, and lateral movement.

Vulnerability Assessment

Continuous scan of installed packages against CVE databases. Reports vulnerable packages per host with severity scores and remediation guidance.

Compliance Auditing

Built-in checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, CIS benchmarks, and GDPR. Generates per-host compliance reports with pass/fail details.

Deploy Wazuh Agent

Linux (Ansible)
Linux (Manual)
Windows

Use the bundled Ansible role to deploy agents across all instances in a project:

Deploy Wazuh agents via xavs-ansible

xavs-ansible deploy --tags wazuh-agent \
  --extra-vars "wazuh_manager_ip=<MANAGER_IP> wazuh_registration_token=<TOKEN>"

The role installs the agent, registers it with the manager, and starts the wazuh-agent service automatically.

Agent appears in the Wazuh Dashboard under Agents within 60 seconds of deployment.

Add the Wazuh repository

Add repository and install agent

curl -s https://packages.wazuh.com/key/GPG-KEY-WAZUH | gpg --dearmor \
  -o /usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg] \
  https://packages.wazuh.com/4.x/apt/ stable main" \
  > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wazuh.list

apt-get update && apt-get install -y wazuh-agent

Configure the manager address

Set Wazuh Manager IP

sed -i 's|MANAGER_IP|<YOUR_MANAGER_IP>|g' /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf

Register and start the agent

/var/ossec/bin/agent-auth -m <MANAGER_IP> -p 1515
systemctl enable --now wazuh-agent

Agent registers and begins streaming events to the manager.

Download and install the MSI

Download the Wazuh Windows agent MSI from the Wazuh Manager dashboard under Agents → Deploy new agent.

Install with manager address

Silent install with manager configuration

msiexec /i wazuh-agent.msi /q `
  WAZUH_MANAGER="<MANAGER_IP>" `
  WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER="<MANAGER_IP>" `
  WAZUH_AGENT_NAME="<HOSTNAME>"

Start the agent service

Start Wazuh agent

NET START WazuhSvc

Agent appears in the Wazuh Dashboard within 60 seconds.

File Integrity Monitoring Configuration

Configure which paths are monitored for changes in /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf:

/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf — FIM configuration

<syscheck>
  <frequency>3600</frequency>

  <!-- Critical system files -->
  <directories check_all="yes" realtime="yes">/etc/passwd,/etc/shadow,/etc/group</directories>
  <directories check_all="yes" realtime="yes">/etc/ssh</directories>
  <directories check_all="yes" realtime="yes">/root/.ssh</directories>

  <!-- Application configs -->
  <directories check_all="yes">/etc/nginx</directories>
  <directories check_all="yes">/etc/apache2</directories>

  <!-- Ignore transient paths -->
  <ignore>/etc/mtab</ignore>
  <ignore>/etc/hosts.deny</ignore>
</syscheck>

Option	Description
`realtime="yes"`	Alert immediately on change (inotify-based), not at next scan cycle
`check_all="yes"`	Monitor permissions, ownership, size, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, and mtime
`frequency`	Scan interval in seconds for non-realtime paths

Vulnerability Assessment

Wazuh continuously scans installed packages against NVD and vendor CVE feeds. Results appear in the Dashboard under Vulnerability Detector.

Trigger an on-demand vulnerability scan

/var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control restart

Severity	CVSS Score Range	Action
Critical	9.0–10.0	Immediate patching required
High	7.0–8.9	Patch within 7 days
Medium	4.0–6.9	Patch within 30 days
Low	0.1–3.9	Track and remediate at next maintenance window

Compliance Reports

Wazuh ships with built-in compliance checks. Enable a framework in ossec.conf:

Enable PCI-DSS compliance checks

<rootcheck>
  <system_audit>/var/ossec/etc/shared/pci_dss_reqs.txt</system_audit>
</rootcheck>

Available compliance frameworks:

Framework	File
PCI-DSS 3.2.1	`pci_dss_reqs.txt`
HIPAA	`hipaa_reqs.txt`
NIST 800-53	`nist800_53_reqs.txt`
GDPR	`gdpr_reqs.txt`
CIS Benchmark	`cis_debian_linux_rcl.txt` / `cis_rhel_linux_rcl.txt`

Reports are accessible in the Wazuh Dashboard under Regulatory Compliance.

Alert Integration

Forward Wazuh alerts to external systems:

Slack / Webhook
Syslog / SIEM

/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf — webhook integration

<integration>
  <name>slack</name>
  <hook_url>https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL</hook_url>
  <level>10</level>
  <alert_format>json</alert_format>
</integration>

Alerts at level 10 and above (high severity) are forwarded automatically.

/var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf — syslog forwarding

<syslog_output>
  <level>9</level>
  <server>10.0.1.100</server>
  <port>514</port>
  <format>default</format>
</syslog_output>

Next Steps

Lynis Security Auditing

Run automated OS security audits and generate hardening recommendations

OpenSCAP Compliance Scanning

Scan instances against CIS, STIG, and PCI-DSS profiles using SCAP content

Hardening Guide

Apply pre-deployment OS and platform hardening before enabling agents

Compliance and Auditing

Understand audit logging and compliance frameworks supported by Xloud

Core Services

Other Services

Wazuh — Host Intrusion Detection

Overview

Architecture

Capabilities

File Integrity Monitoring

Intrusion Detection

Vulnerability Assessment

Compliance Auditing

Deploy Wazuh Agent

Add the Wazuh repository

Configure the manager address

Register and start the agent

Download and install the MSI

Install with manager address

Start the agent service

File Integrity Monitoring Configuration

Vulnerability Assessment

Compliance Reports

Alert Integration

Next Steps

Lynis Security Auditing

OpenSCAP Compliance Scanning

Hardening Guide

Compliance and Auditing

Core Services

Other Services

​Overview

​Architecture

​Capabilities

File Integrity Monitoring

Intrusion Detection

Vulnerability Assessment

Compliance Auditing

​Deploy Wazuh Agent

Add the Wazuh repository

Configure the manager address

Register and start the agent

Download and install the MSI

Install with manager address

Start the agent service

​File Integrity Monitoring Configuration

​Vulnerability Assessment

​Compliance Reports

​Alert Integration

​Next Steps

Lynis Security Auditing

OpenSCAP Compliance Scanning

Hardening Guide

Compliance and Auditing

Overview

Architecture

Capabilities

Deploy Wazuh Agent

File Integrity Monitoring Configuration

Vulnerability Assessment

Compliance Reports

Alert Integration

Next Steps