Eventbus socket

Eventbus

The event bus is a push/publish system inside Kismet where events are transmitted. Events contain a string:object dictionary of values and content, and can contain simple data or complete Kismet objects.

The eventbus API is a websocket endpoint with a subscription model for attaching an UI to the eventbus. Events are sent over the socket automatically from the Kismet server.

In the standard web UI, Kismet combines the poll APIs to populate the initial pre-existing data (such as alerts, message text, and so on), then subscribes to the eventbus socket to receive updates as push events.

Eventbus topics are case-sensitive, and for topics which contain Kismet objects, the returned JSON is formatted using Kismet field names and types and is identical to the records returned via polling APIs.

  • URL

    /eventbus/events.ws

  • API Added

    2020-10

  • Methods

    WEBSOCKET (HTTP Upgrade + Websocket handshake)

  • Role

    readonly

  • URI parameters

    Key Description
    user Kismet administrative username, as HTTP URI-encoded variable
    password Kismet administrative password, as HTTP URI-encoded variable
    KISMET Kismet auth cookie, as HTTP URI-encoded variable

  • Result

    A websocket session with a subscription-model API

  • Notes

    Kismet websockets will accept authentication as HTTP basic auth headers, Kismet session token cookies, or HTTP URI-encoded GET parameters of the basic auth or session cookie.

    Some tools (websocat, others) allow sending HTTP basic auth as part of the URI (ws://user:pass@host:port/eventbus/events.ws). However, modern browser implementations do not support this, and websockets must be constructed using GET parameters, such as ws://host:port/eventbus/events.ws?user=username&password=userpass.

    Websocket URIs must match the content type of the calling page; a https page must use the wss URI and a http page must use the ws URI. The Kismet UI detects this via javascript.

Eventbus subscription API

The eventbus subscription API accepts JSON data requesting a subscription topic and optional field simplification.

Currently consumers are limited to one subscription per topic; it is not possible for a single connection to subscribe to the same topic twice with different field selections.

An eventbus JSON command contains:

Key Content
SUBSCRIBE Topic to subscribe to, case sensitive
UNSUBSCRIBE Topic to unsubscribe from, case sensitive
fields If subscribing, a standard field simplification

Either a SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE must be provided with each command.

Once subscribed to a topic, an eventbus receiver will be sent a websocket text message containing the JSON record for each event which matches that subscription, optionally simplified.

For instance:

dragorn@lithium ~ % websocat 'ws://host:2501/eventbus/events.ws?user=username&password=password'
{"SUBSCRIBE": "TIMESTAMP"}
{"TIMESTAMP": {"kismet.system.timestamp.usec": 671986,"kismet.system.timestamp.sec": 1603120458}}
{"TIMESTAMP": {"kismet.system.timestamp.usec": 672945,"kismet.system.timestamp.sec": 1603120459}}

Or in Javascript:

var ws = new Websocket('ws://host:2501/eventbus/events.ws?user=username&password=password');
ws.onmessage = function(msg) {
    var json = JSON.parse(msg.data);
    console.log(json);
}
ws.onopen = function(event) {
    var req = {
        "SUBSCRIBE": "TIMESTAMP"
    }
    ws.send(JSON.stringify(req));
}

Eventbus topics

Eventbus topics may be dynamically expanded by plugins, external helper tools, and more. Some topics are used predominately as internal messaging mechanisms between components of Kismet, while others are generated at regular intervals specifically for consumption by external UI and monitoring systems.

Event topics include:

ALERT

  • Content

    JSON object containing a Kismet alert record

  • Generation

    Published whenever an alert is raised in the Kismet WIDS/Alert system

BATTERY

  • Content

    JSON object containing the battery presence, charge, and rate data, as per the system statistics API

  • Generation

    Published once per second by the Kismet server

DATASOURCE_PAUSED

  • Content

  • Generation

    Published when a running datasource is paused

DATASOURCE_RESUMED

  • Content

    JSON object containing a Kismet datasource record

  • Generation

    Published when a paused datasource is resumed

DATASOURCE_ERROR

  • Content

    The UUID of a Kismet datasource

  • Generation

    Published when a datasource experiences an error

DATASOURCE_OPENED

  • Content

    The UUID of a Kismet datasource

  • Generation

    Published when a datasource is opened (or re-opened)

DATASOURCE_CLOSED

  • Content

    The UUID of a Kismet datasource

  • Generation

    Published when a datasource is closed

DOT11_WPA_HANDSHAKE

  • Content

    Contains two keys, DOT11_WPA_HANDSHAKE_BASE and DOT11_WPA_HANDSHAKE_DOT11, which contain, respectively, the base Kismet device and the 802.11-specific device sub-record.

  • Generation

    Published when a complete (or estimated to be complete) WPA handshake is captured

GPS_LOCATION

  • Content

    JSON object containing the current ‘best’ GPS location, as per the GPS location API

  • Generation

    Published once per second by the Kismet server

KISMETDB_LOG_OPEN

  • Content

    None

  • Generation

    Published when the kismetdb log is successfully opened

MESSAGE

  • Content

    JSON object containing a Kismet messagebus message (text, flags, and timestamp)

  • Generation

    Published when a new message is generated in Kismet

NEW_DATASOURCE

  • Content

    JSON object containing a Kismet datasource record

  • Generation

    Published when a new datasource is defined

PACKETCHAIN_STATS

  • Content

    JSON object containing the packet chain statistics RRDs, as per the packetchain stats API

  • Generation

    Published once per second by the Kismet server

TIMESTAMP

  • Content

    JSON object containing the second and usecond timestamp

  • Generation

    Published automatically once per second by the Kismet server

Updated: