KMSGSD(8)

📦 version 2.4.6, in alpine 3.24, debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ kmsgsd — the girl who sorts your kernel mail 💌

okay so real talk, this is kmsgsd from section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, and she is literally the reason your port-scan detection even functions. no cap.

🌸 NAME 🌸

kmsgsd — separates iptables messages from all other kernel messages.

like she's the bouncer at the club door of your kernel log. firewall stuff goes one way, everything else goes the other way. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

kmsgsd

that's it bestie. no args, no drama, she just goes. 🎀

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea: kmsgsd reads messages from the /var/lib/psad/psadfifo named pipe, and then prints any firewall related log messages out to the psad data file "/var/log/psad/fwdata". that's the whole job and she does it flawlessly. 👑

and like — this part matters — psad cannot detect port scans or other suspect traffic without kmsgsd running on the machine. no kmsgsd, no detection. she's not optional, she's the moment. periodt. 😭

she uses the psad.conf configuration file, which by default lives at /etc/psad/psad.conf, but a different path can be specified on the command line if you're feeling spicy. 🌶️

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -c <config-file> — specify the path to the config file instead of using the default configuration file /etc/psad/psad.conf. main character energy, picking your own config. 🫶
  • -D — dump the configuration values that kmsgd derives from /etc/psad/psad.conf (or other override files) on STDERR. it's giving "show me everything" and honestly? valid. 🔍
  • -h — display usage information and exit. the classic "help me bestie" flag. 🌈
  • -O <config-file> — override config variable values that are normally read from the /etc/psad/psad.conf file with values from the specified file. and yes, multiple override config files can be given as a comma separated list. stack 'em, queen. 🎀

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

psad(8), psadwatchd(8),

the friend group fr fr. go say hi. 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Michael Rash (mbr@cipherdyne.org)

This manual page was written by Daniel Gubser <daniel.gubser@gutreu.ch> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). shoutout to both of them, iconic behavior honestly. 🌟

🧚 DISTRIBUTION 🧚

psad is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and the latest version may be downloaded from http://www.cipherdyne.org

💀 reminder: if kmsgsd isn't running, psad is just sitting there with no clue what's happening. keep her alive bestie.

okay that's the whole page, and one last lil sign-off: this was the KMSGSD(8) page from the Debian GNU/Linux System Manager's Manual, dated November 2002. yeah, she's an elder but she still ate. 💅✨ bye!! 🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from