Install

Falco is a Linux security tool that uses system calls to secure and monitor a system.

If Falco is installed using the package manager artifacts below, you will have the following in place:

• Falco userspace program scheduled and watched via systemd
• Falco driver installed via the package manager (either kernel module or eBPF depending on the host)
• Sane and default configuration file installed in /etc/falco

Alternatively, it is also possible to use a binary package as explained below.

Installing

Debian/Ubuntu

1. Trust the falcosecurity GPG key, configure the apt repository, and update the package list:

   curl -s https://falco.org/repo/falcosecurity-3672BA8F.asc | apt-key add -
   echo "deb https://download.falco.org/packages/deb stable main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/falcosecurity.list
   apt-get update -y
   

2. Install kernel headers:

   apt-get -y install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
   

3. Install Falco:

   apt-get install -y falco
   

   Falco, the kernel module driver, and a default configuration are now installed. Falco is being ran as a systemd unit.

   See running for information on how to manage, run, and debug with Falco.

4. Uninstall Falco:

   apt-get remove falco
   

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora/Amazon Linux

1. Trust the falcosecurity GPG key and configure the yum repository:

   rpm --import https://falco.org/repo/falcosecurity-3672BA8F.asc
   curl -s -o /etc/yum.repos.d/falcosecurity.repo https://falco.org/repo/falcosecurity-rpm.repo
   

   Note — The following command is required only if DKMS and make are not available in the distribution. You can verify if DKMS is available using yum list make dkms. If necessary install it using: yum install epel-release (or amazon-linux-extras install epel in case of amzn2), then yum install make dkms.

2. Install kernel headers:

   yum -y install kernel-devel-$(uname -r)
   

   Note — If the package was not found by the above command, you might need to run yum distro-sync in order to fix it. Rebooting the system may be required.

3. Install Falco:

   yum -y install falco
   

   Falco, the kernel module driver, and a default configuration are now installed. Falco is being ran as a systemd unit.

   See running for information on how to manage, run, and debug with Falco.

4. Uninstall Falco:

   yum erase falco
   

openSUSE

1. Trust the falcosecurity GPG key and configure the zypper repository:

   rpm --import https://falco.org/repo/falcosecurity-3672BA8F.asc
   curl -s -o /etc/zypp/repos.d/falcosecurity.repo https://falco.org/repo/falcosecurity-rpm.repo
   

2. Install kernel headers:

   zypper -n install kernel-default-devel-$(uname -r | sed s/\-default//g)
   

   Note — If the package was not found by the above command, you might need to run zypper -n dist-upgrade in order to fix it. Rebooting the system may be required.

3. Install Falco:

   zypper -n install falco
   

   Falco, the kernel module driver, and a default configuration are now installed. Falco is being ran as a systemd unit.

   See running for information on how to manage, run, and debug with Falco.

4. Uninstall Falco:

   zypper rm falco
   

Linux generic (binary package)

1. Download the latest binary:

   curl -L -O https://download.falco.org/packages/bin/x86_64/falco-0.31.1-x86_64.tar.gz
   

2. Install Falco:

   tar -xvf falco-0.31.1-x86_64.tar.gz
   cp -R falco-0.31.1-x86_64/* /
   

3. Install the following dependencies:

   • kernel headers for your distribution

4. Install the driver as explained below.

Once the driver has been installed, you can manually run falco.

Installing the driver

The easiest way to install the driver is using the falco-driver-loader script.

By default, it first tries to locally build the kernel module with dkms. If not possible, then it tries to download a prebuilt one into ~/.falco/. If a kernel module is found, then it gets inserted.

In case you want to install the eBPF probe driver, run falco-driver-loader bpf. It first tries to build the eBPF probe locally, otherwise to download a prebuilt into ~/.falco/.

Configurable options:

• DRIVERS_REPO - Set this environment variable to override the default repository URL for prebuilt kernel modules and eBPF probes, without the trailing slash.

  Ie., https://myhost.mydomain.com or if the server has a subdirectories structure https://myhost.mydomain.com/drivers.

  The drivers will need to be hosted with the following structure: /${driver_version}/falco_${target}_${kernelrelease}_${kernelversion}.[ko|o] where ko and o stands for Kernel module and eBPF probe respectively.

  Eg., /a259b4bf49c3330d9ad6c3eed9eb1a31954259a6/falco_amazonlinux2_4.14.128-112.105.amzn2.x86_64_1.ko.

  The falco-driver-loader script fetches the drivers using the above format.