SSHDIG(1)

📦
version 4.6.6 · 4 versions
, in alpine 3.24

💅 SSHDIG(1) 💅

okay bestie, welcome to the sshdig manual page — this is the one that lets you slurp up system calls from a remote host over SSH using a remote capture binary. it's giving remote-forensics main character energy and i'm obsessed 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

sshdig — provide interfaces to capture system calls from a remote host through SSH using a remote capture binary. periodt. 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sshdig [ --help ] [ --version ] [ --extcap-interfaces ]
[ --extcap-dlts ] [ --extcap-interface=<interface> ] [ --extcap-config ]
[ --extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter> ] [ --capture ]
[ --fifo=<path to file or pipe> ] [ --remote-host=<IP address> ]
[ --remote-port=<TCP port> ] [ --remote-username=<username> ]
[ --remote-password=<password> ] [ --sshkey=<private key path> ]
[ --sshkey-passphrase=<private key passphrase> ]
[ --proxycommand=<SSH proxy command> ]
[ --remote-capture-command-select=<capture command selection> ]
[ --remote-capture-command=<capture command> ]
[ --remote-priv=<privilege elevation command selection> ]
[ --remote-priv-user=<privileged user name> ]
[ --remote-filter=<remote capture filter> ] [ --remote-count=<number> ]
[ --remote-modern-bpf ] [ --remote-io-snaplen=<snapshot length> ]

sshdig --extcap-interfaces

sshdig --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-dlts

sshdig --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-config

sshdig --extcap-interface=<interface> --fifo=<path to file or pipe>
--capture --remote-host=myremotehost --remote-port=22
--remote-username=user
--remote-capture-command='sysdig --unbuffered --write=-'

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

sshdig is an extcap tool that lets you capture system calls over an SSH connection. lowkey the important bit: you must have permission to capture system calls on the remote system. no permission, no vibes. 🔥

the feature is functionally equivalent to this whole situation:

$ ssh remoteuser@remotehost -p 22222 'sysdig --unbuffered -w -' > FILE &
$ stratoshark FILE

typically you don't invoke sshdig directly — bestie, that's not the vibe. instead it gets configured through the Stratoshark graphical user interface or its command line. this right here starts Stratoshark and kicks off a capture from host remotehost:

$ stratoshark '-oextcap.sshdig.remotehost:myserver.home.arpa' -i sshdig -k

supported interfaces:

  1. sshdig

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --help — print program arguments. your lil cheat sheet 💜
  • --version — print program version.
  • --extcap-interfaces — list available interfaces.
  • --extcap-interface=<interface> — use the specified interfaces.
  • --extcap-dlts — list DLTs of the specified interface.
  • --extcap-config — list configuration options of the specified interface.
  • --extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter> — the capture filter. it corresponds to the value provided via the tshark -f option, and to the Capture Filter field next to the interfaces list in the Stratoshark interface. iykyk.
  • --capture — start capturing from the specified interface and write raw packet data to the location specified by --fifo.
  • --fifo=<path to file or pipe> — save captured packet to file or send it through a pipe.
  • --remote-host=<remote host> — the address of the remote host for capture.
  • --remote-port=<remote port> — the SSH port of the remote host.
  • --remote-username=<username> — the username for SSH authentication.
  • --remote-password=<password> — the password to use (if not ssh-agent and pubkey are used). WARNING: the passwords are stored in plaintext and are visible to all users on this system. it is recommended to use keyfiles with a SSH agent. seriously bestie, don't do the plaintext thing 😭
  • --sshkey=<SSH private key path> — the path to a private key for authentication. NOTE: only OPENSSH key/value pair format is supported.
  • --sshkey-passphrase=<SSH private key passphrase> — the passphrase for the private key for authentication.
  • --proxycommand=<proxy command> — the command to use as proxy for the SSH connection.
  • --remote-capture-command-select=<capture command-selection> — the command to run on the remote system. either sysdig for a remote capture command using sysdig, or other, where the remote capture command must be provided with the --remote-capture-command option.
  • --remote-capture-command=<capture command> — a custom remote capture command that produces the remote stream that is shown in Stratoshark. the command must be able to produce a .scap stream written to STDOUT. ⭐
  • --remote-priv=<privilege elevation command selection> — the command to use to achieve privilege elevation to capture on the remote host. either none, sudo or doas.
  • --remote-priv-user=<privileged user name> — if a command is used to achieve privilege elevation to capture on the remote host requires a user name, it may be provided here.
  • --remote-filter=<capture filter> — the remote capture filter. this is passed to the remote capture program, and must comply with its syntax rules. no cap, it's strict.
  • --remote-count=<number> — the number of events to capture.
  • --remote-modern-bpf — capture using an eBPF probe instead of the kernel module. 🧚
  • --remote-io-snaplen=<snapshot length> — the number of bytes to capture in each I/O event.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

wanna see program arguments? say less:

sshdig --help

wanna see program version:

sshdig --version

wanna see interfaces:

sshdig --extcap-interfaces

only one interface (sshdig) is supported. iconic, honestly.

example output:

interface {value=sshdig}{display=SSH remote syscall capture}

wanna see interface DLTs:

sshdig --extcap-interface=sshdig --extcap-dlts

example output:

dlt {number=147}{name=sshdig}{display=Remote capture dependent DLT}

wanna see interface configuration options:

sshdig --extcap-interface=sshdig --extcap-config

example output:

arg {number=0}{call=--remote-host}{display=Remote SSH server address}{type=string}{tooltip=The remote SSH host. It can be both an IP address or a hostname}{required=true}{group=Server}
arg {number=1}{call=--remote-port}{display=Remote SSH server port}{type=unsigned}{default=22}{tooltip=The remote SSH host port (1-65535)}{range=1,65535}{group=Server}
arg {number=2}{call=--remote-username}{display=Remote SSH server username}{type=string}{tooltip=The remote SSH username. If not provided, the current user will be used}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=3}{call=--remote-password}{display=Remote SSH server password}{type=password}{tooltip=The SSH password, used when other methods (SSH agent or key files) are unavailable.}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=4}{call=--sshkey}{display=Path to SSH private key}{type=fileselect}{tooltip=The path on the local filesystem of the private SSH key (OpenSSH format)}{mustexist=true}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=5}{call=--sshkey-passphrase}{display=SSH key passphrase}{type=password}{tooltip=Passphrase to unlock the SSH private key}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=6}{call=--proxycommand}{display=ProxyCommand}{type=string}{tooltip=The command to use as proxy for the SSH connection}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=7}{call=--ssh-sha1}{display=Support SHA-1 keys (deprecated)}{type=boolflag}{tooltip=Support keys and key exchange algorithms using SHA-1 (deprecated)}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=8}{call=--remote-capture-command-select}{display=Remote capture command selection}{type=radio}{tooltip=The remote capture command to build a command line for}{group=Capture}
value {arg=8}{value=sysdig}{display=sysdig}
value {arg=8}{value=other}{display=Other:}
arg {number=9}{call=--remote-capture-command}{display=Remote capture command}{type=string}{tooltip=The remote command used to capture}{group=Capture}
arg {number=10}{call=--remote-priv}{display=Gain capture privilege on the remote machine}{type=radio}{tooltip=Optionally prepend the capture command with sudo or doas on the remote machine}{group=Capture}
value {arg=10}{value=none}{display=none}{default=true}
value {arg=10}{value=sudo}{display=sudo}
value {arg=10}{value=doas -n}{display=doas}
arg {number=11}{call=--remote-priv-user}{display=Privileged user name for sudo or doas}{type=string}{tooltip=User name of privileged user to execute the capture command on the remote machine}{group=Capture}
{group=Capture}
arg {number=12}{call=--remote-count}{display=Packets to capture}{type=unsigned}{default=0}{tooltip=The number of remote packets to capture. (Default: inf)}{group=Capture}
arg {number=13}{call=--log-level}{display=Set the log level}{type=selector}{tooltip=Set the log level}{required=false}{group=Debug}
value {arg=13}{value=message}{display=Message}{default=true}
value {arg=13}{value=info}{display=Info}
value {arg=13}{value=debug}{display=Debug}
value {arg=13}{value=noisy}{display=Noisy}
arg {number=14}{call=--log-file}{display=Use a file for logging}{type=fileselect}{tooltip=Set a file where log messages are written}{required=false}{group=Debug}

to capture:

sshdig --extcap-interface=sshdig --fifo=/tmp/ssh.scap --capture --remote-host 192.168.1.10
--remote-username user
Note — CTRL+C should be used to stop the capture in order to ensure clean termination. 👑 please please stop it nicely, don't just ghost it.

the sshdig binary can be renamed to support multiple instances. for instance, if we want sshdig to show up twice in Stratoshark (for instance to handle multiple profiles), we can copy sshdig to sshdig-host1 and sshdig-host2. each binary will show up with an interface name the same as the executable name. those executables not being sshdig will show up as "custom version" in the capture source description. cute lil aliases fr fr 💅

💀 SEE ALSO 💀

stratoshark(1), strato(1), dumpcap(1), extcap(4)

🍓 NOTES 🍓

sshdig is part of the Stratoshark distribution. the latest version of Stratoshark can be found at https://www.wireshark.org.

HTML versions of the Stratoshark project man pages are available at https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages.

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

Original Author

Dario Lombardo <lomato[AT]gmail.com>

okay that's the whole thing bestie, you ate that 💅✨ this page is dated 2026-05-24 and it lives inside the Stratoshark distribution — go forth and capture those syscalls responsibly, mwah 🎀🦋

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