Security

Understanding Wazuh by Exploring the Open Source Projects Behind It

  • May 29, 2025

Wazuh is a powerful security information and event management (SIEM) platform, but its documentation can often feel complex and overwhelming—especially for newcomers. However, by exploring the open-source technologies that Wazuh is built upon, we can break it down into manageable parts and gain a much clearer understanding of how it all works.

Why Understanding the Stack Matters

Instead of diving directly into Wazuh as a monolithic black box, a better approach is to study the key open-source components that power it. This bottom-up method gives you more control and insight, allowing you to debug, customize, and extend your setup with confidence.

The Core of Wazuh: Open Source Stack Overview

At its core, Wazuh is a modern fork of OSSEC, extended with powerful integrations and built for scalability.

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graph TD
  A["OSSEC Core (HIDS)"] --> B["Wazuh Manager"]
  B --> C["Elasticsearch"]
  B --> D["Filebeat / Logstash"]
  C --> E["Kibana (Wazuh Plugin)"]
  B --> F["OpenSCAP"]
  B --> G["YARA"]

Breakdown of Key Components

Layer Project Purpose
HIDS Core OSSEC Detect file changes, rootkits, log anomalies
Compliance OpenSCAP Check against security baselines (CIS, STIG, etc.)
Malware Detection YARA Pattern-based malware detection engine
Log Collection Filebeat / Logstash Collect and process logs from agents
Indexing & Search Elasticsearch Stores and queries event data
Visualization Kibana + Wazuh Plugin Dashboards and search interface

Learning Path to Master Wazuh

1. Start with OSSEC

  • Learn how agents send data to the manager
  • Understand rule-based alerting and decoders
  • Explore the original HIDS design

2. Explore OpenSCAP

  • Run a scan on your Linux system
  • Study how security compliance benchmarks work
  • Generate reports using oscap CLI

3. Learn YARA

  • Write custom rules to detect threats
  • Scan files and processes
  • Integrate YARA rules into Wazuh

4. Try Filebeat or Logstash

  • Send system logs to Elasticsearch
  • Use processors and filters to enrich data
  • Experiment with input/output plugins

5. Understand Elasticsearch

  • Learn about indices, mappings, and queries
  • Use Kibana Dev Tools to explore stored logs
  • Build alerting logic based on indexed data

6. Visualize with Kibana

  • Install and configure the Wazuh plugin
  • Build custom dashboards for your security alerts
  • Learn to use filters, timelines, and visual tools

Why This Matters

By understanding each open-source component, you will:

  • Debug problems more effectively
  • Customize your environment for specific needs
  • Contribute to or extend Wazuh itself
  • Build trust in your SIEM infrastructure

Conclusion

Wazuh may seem complex at first, but breaking it down into its open-source roots reveals a modular and understandable system. By mastering each component—OSSEC, OpenSCAP, YARA, Elasticsearch, and more—you become empowered to not only use Wazuh, but to innovate with it.

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