CNSL
Correlated Network Security Layer
A self-hosted SIEM for Linux.
Detects attacks that span SSH, web, database, and cloud logs simultaneously -- then blocks them automatically.
What it does
Most tools watch one log and count failures. CNSL watches everything at once.
When an attacker scans your web server, probes your database, then tries SSH with stolen credentials -- CNSL sees all three as one coordinated attack and responds before the breach completes.
Web scan from 45.33.32.1 --+
SSH brute from 45.33.32.1 --+---> HIGH alert + auto-block
DB auth fail from 45.33.32.1 --+
It also tracks how far each attacker has progressed through the kill chain, learns new attack patterns automatically, and shares threat intelligence across multiple servers in real time.
Beyond core detection: multi-node federation with a unified hub view, STIX 2.1 export and a built-in TAXII 2.1 server for sharing IOCs, Wazuh/OSSEC integration, PostgreSQL support with a migration tool, a Kubernetes Helm chart, attacker fingerprinting (spots the same actor rotating IPs), graph-based campaign correlation, and opt-in predictive blocking that reacts to an attack's trajectory before any single rule's threshold fires.
Quick start
pip install cnsl[full]
sudo python -m cnsl --dashboard --no-tcpdump
# Open http://127.0.0.1:8765
# Default login: admin / cnsl-change-me
Or from source:
git clone https://github.com/rahadbhuiya/cnsl.git
cd cnsl
python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[full]"
sudo venv/bin/python -m cnsl --dashboard --no-tcpdump
Start in dry-run mode (default) -- no real blocks until you add
--execute.
Or on Kubernetes (one DaemonSet pod per node, protecting every node in the cluster):
helm install cnsl ./helm/cnsl --namespace cnsl --create-namespace
See docs/kubernetes.md and helm/cnsl/README.md for the full walkthrough (federation, the multi-node hub view, enabling real blocking).
Dashboard
Enable with --dashboard. Runs at http://127.0.0.1:8765.
Tabs: Overview, Incidents, Blocks, Live Feed, Kill Chain, Graph, Correlation, Hub, Campaigns, Cases, UEBA, ML, Honeypot, FIM, Rules, Rate Limit, Settings.
For remote access use an SSH tunnel:
ssh -L 8765:127.0.0.1:8765 user@yourserver
Configuration
Fastest path -- the setup wizard (under 5 minutes):
sudo python -m cnsl --init
Asks a handful of questions (allowlist IP, dashboard on/off, notification channels), auto-detects which log files actually exist on this machine (nginx, apache, mysql, ufw, syslog, auth.log vs secure), and writes a working, validated config.json -- you don't need to read or understand the full reference config to get running.
Full reference, once you want to turn on optional features (Sigma rules, OIDC SSO, cloud identity, ATT&CK mapping, retention, case SLA, ...) -- all ~30 sections are documented individually in docs/configuration.md and default to off/sensible, so nothing there is required reading up front:
cp config/config.example.json /etc/cnsl/config.json
Key sections: thresholds, actions, dashboard, notifications, redis, cloud_identity, zero_trust, siem, federation.
Documentation
| Document | What it covers |
|---|---|
docs/installation.md |
Full install, systemd, Docker |
docs/configuration.md |
Every config option explained |
docs/features.md |
Complete feature list |
docs/architecture.md |
Module structure and design |
docs/api.md |
Full REST API reference |
docs/kubernetes.md |
Helm chart deployment (DaemonSet, hub view, federation) |
docs/kill-chain.md |
Kill chain tracker (predictive blocking: see docs/api.md) |
docs/federation.md |
Multi-node setup and the hub view |
docs/cloud-identity.md |
AWS + Azure AD + GCP integration |
docs/sigma-rules.md |
Sigma detection rule import |
docs/attack-mapping.md |
MITRE ATT&CK technique tagging and coverage |
docs/oidc-sso.md |
OIDC single sign-on setup |
docs/source-health.md |
Log source silence detection |
docs/retention.md |
Data retention and archival |
docs/case-sla.md |
Case SLA tracking and escalation |
docs/zero-trust.md |
Trust score engine |
docs/siem-connectors.md |
Splunk, Sentinel, Webhook push |
docs/pattern-learning.md |
Automated rule discovery |
docs/rules.md |
Detection rule tuning (correlation-rule tuning: see docs/api.md) |
docs/ueba.md |
User/entity behavior analytics |
docs/cases.md |
Case management |
docs/threat-feed.md |
External threat feed ingestion |
docs/2fa.md |
Two-factor auth for the dashboard |
docs/agent.md |
Remote log-shipping agent |
docs/kafka.md |
Kafka log ingestion |
docs/zeek.md |
Zeek log integration |
docs/ot-iot.md |
OT/ICS protocol support (Modbus, DNP3, SCADA) |
docs/country-blocking.md |
Geo-based blocking |
docs/rate-limiting.md |
API rate limiting |
docs/tenants.md |
Multi-tenant setup |
docs/huddle.md |
Incident huddle/collaboration |
docs/notifications.md |
Email/Slack/Telegram alerts |
docs/changelog.md |
Version history |
docs/ |
Browse all 33 guides |
Requirements
- Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 11+ / RHEL 8+)
- Python 3.10+
- Root or
CAP_NET_ADMINfor iptables blocking
Optional: Redis (distributed blocklist + federation), MaxMind GeoIP database.
License
MIT. See LICENSE.
1 maintainer
Metadata
1 maintainer
Release files for cnsl 3.4.29
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Total release size: 714.3 kB
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