CloudShark Plugin for Wireshark

The CloudShark Plugin for Wireshark makes it seamless to move your capture files from Wireshark to a CloudShark appliance or https://www.cloudshark.org. Once installed, the plugin adds a new CloudShark submenu under the existing Wireshark Tools menu. Capture files are sent to the configured CloudShark appliance or https://www.cloudshark.org by selecting the upload option under the Tools > CloudShark menu. The plugin also works with tshark from the command-line.

Requirements

The CloudShark plugin requires Wireshark version 1.4 or newer. The plugin uses Wireshark's Lua scripting interface and runs on all platforms supported by Wireshark, provided the Lua interface has been enabled. Systems must also contain a recent version of curl.

Installation

The plugin should be installed in your Wireshark Lua plugin directory.

You can find your Wireshark plugin directory by opening Wireshark and going to Help > About Wireshark and clicking on the Folders tab. The Personal Lua Plugins directory should be used to install the CloudShark Wireshark plugin to allow users to configure their own API Tokens.

You can install the CloudShark Wireshark plugin by cloning this repository into a directory named cloudshark in your Wireshark plugins folder.

To do that on Unix-like systems, such as Linux, OS X, *BSD, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX, from the command line:

1. If the path displayed as your Personal Lua Plugins directory doesn't exist, create it with mkdir -p <path>.
2. Change to that directory with cd <path>
3. Clone the repository with

git clone https://github.com/cloudshark/wireshark-plugin.git cloudshark

Alternatively you can download the zip file and extract the contents of the wireshark-plugin-master folder into a folder named cloudshark in your Wireshark Personal Lua plugins directory.

Note

You must name the folder that the plugin resides in "cloudshark".

After cloning the git repository or unzipping the archive you must copy the default configuration, cloudshark.default, to cloudshark.config.

Running as root or admin: If you are running Wireshark as root or admin, you may need to enable support for Lua scripts by modifying your /etc/Wireshark/init.lua script and setting the runuser_scripts_when_superuser field to true.

run_user_scripts_when_superuser = true

Rather than running as root or admin, try enabling capture privileges for the user running Wireshark.

Installing cURL on Windows

The CloudShark plugin requires cURL which is not installed by default on Windows. For an easy to use installation program use this installer. Note that you may have to logout and log back into Windows after running this installer for the plugin to work properly.

Configuration

By default, the plugin is configured to work with https://www.cloudshark.org. You must modify the plugin configuration file to work with your own CloudShark appliance. The configuration file is installed as cloudshark.config in the cloudshark directory in your Wireshark plugin directory. The configuration file can be edited right through Wireshark by selecting Tools > CloudShark > Preferences. This menu option will open the current configuration file in a text window that you may edit. After modifying the configuration file, be sure to save it before closing the window.

If you are using https://www.cloudshark.org you will have to modify the CLOUDSHARK_API_KEY to match your API token. This can be found by logging into https://www.cloudshark.org and clicking on Preferences > API Tokens.

The following configuration variables are defined. The configuration file is a Lua file that must conform to the Lua syntax. If a syntax error is created, Wireshark will raise a Lua exception during the next upload. The configuration is reloaded before every new upload.

--[[
This is the configuration file for the CloudShark plugin.
Visit https://support.cloudshark.org for additional help.
--]]

-- To disable the CloudShark plugin,
-- set the CLOUDSHARK_ENABLE setting to "n".
CLOUDSHARK_ENABLE = "y"

-- URL:  The CloudShark appliance URL
CLOUDSHARK_URL = "https://www.cloudshark.org"

-- API:  The API token to use
CLOUDSHARK_API_KEY = "<INSERT API TOKEN HERE>"

-- Tags: A comma separated list of tags
CLOUDSHARK_TAGS = ""

-- User: The user name (only if login is required)
CLOUDSHARK_USER = ""

-- Password: The password (only if login is required)
CLOUDSHARK_PASSWORD = ""

-- Tshark: To enable tshark support for the plugin,
-- set the CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK setting to "y" for auto
-- mode or "prompt" for prompting mode.
CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK = "n"

-- Curl: The path to curl if non-standard
-- Paths should be formatted with [[path]]
-- Remove the -- below to uncomment
-- CLOUDSHARK_CURL = [[C:\example\curl.exe]]

-- CA Bundle: The path to an alternative CA bundle file in pem format
-- Paths should be formatted with [[path]]
-- Remove the -- below to uncomment
-- CLOUDSHARK_CABUNDLE = [[C:\example\curl-ca-bundle.crt]]

-- Certificate verification: You can disable certificate verification
-- by setting CLOUDSHARK_CERT_VERIFY to "n". This will use
-- curl's --insecure option.
-- CLOUDSHARK_CERT_VERIFY = "n"

-- When used from Wireshark, the plugin will attempt
-- to open a brower and load CloudShark after a capture
-- is uploaded. You can set CLOUDSHARK_OPEN_BROWSER to
-- "n" to disable this behavior.
CLOUDSHARK_OPEN_BROWSER = "y"

These options are defined as:

• CLOUDSHARK_ENABLE: The CLOUDSHARK_ENABLE entry controls the status of the Lua plugin. By default the plugin is active. You can turn off the plugin by setting this value to "n".

• CLOUDSHARK_URL: The CLOUDSHARK_URL entry contains the URL used to reach your CloudShark appliance. It must also contain desired http or https transport.

• CLOUDSHARK_API_KEY: The CLOUDSHARK_API_KEY entry contains the API key for your CloudShark appliance.

• CLOUDSHARK_TAGS: The CLOUDSHARK_TAGS entry is used to specify tags that should be applied to every Wireshark upload. Tags must be comma separated. Additional tags can also be specified at upload time in the Upload GUI. Useful tags include location information, device information, and security information.

• CLOUDSHARK_USER: The CLOUDSHARK_USER entry is required when the API key also requires user authentication. NOTE: The default API keys for https://www.cloudshark.org do not require user authentication.

• CLOUDSHARK_PASSWORD: The CLOUDSHARK_PASSWORD entry is required when the API key also requires user authentication. This entry must contain the password. NOTE: The default API keys for https://www.cloudshark.org do not require user authentication.

• CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK: The CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK entry is used to enable the CloudShark plugin for tshark. By default, the plugin does not perform any uploads when tshark is used. You can enable tshark support by setting this value to "y" for automatic uploads or "prompt" to prompt the user before uploading.

• CLOUDSHARK_CURL: The CLOUDSHARK_CURL entry is used to specify the command path to curl. By default, the plugin executes curl which must be in the path for the user running Wireshark. Paths should be entered using Lua's [[ ]] notation rather than using double quotes.

• CLOUDSHARK_CABUNDLE: The CLOUDSHARK_CABUNDLE entry is used to specify an alternative CA file. Paths should be entered using Lua's [[ ]] notation rather than using double quotes.

• CLOUDSHARK_CERT_VERIFY: The CLOUDSHARK_CERT_VERIFY entry is used to enable or disable certificate verification. By default, the plugin will attempt to verify the CloudShark server's extension when using https URLs. You can turn off certificate verification by setting this value to "n". When disabled, the plugin using curl's --insecure option.

• CLOUDSHARK_OPEN_BROWSER: The CLOUDSHARK_OPEN_BROWSER entry is used to enable or disable launching of a web browser when using the Wireshark GUI. By default, the plugin will launch your local browser after uploading a capture file to CloudShark. You can disable this behavior by setting this option to "n".

Uploading

A capture file can be uploaded by selecting the Upload option from the Tools > CloudShark menu. Capture files can be uploaded when a live capture is still in progress or stop the capture before the upload. If you upload a live capture, any new packets that arrive while the upload is happening may not be included. For precise results, we recommend that you stop a live capture before uploading.

The Upload dialog provides additional options for adding tags and naming your capture file. Both of these entries are optional. Any tags specified will be added in addition to any tags configured with the CLOUDSHARK_TAGS option. If a new name is specified, the plugin will copy the capture file to this name before uploading. The name field should also contain the desired extension such as .cap or .pcap. If no name is specified, the file name used in the CloudShark session is OS dependent.

A progress dialog will appear once an upload is started. At the completion of the upload, Wireshark will open another status dialog with either the location of the CloudShark session URL or an error indication. If the upload is successful, CloudShark will also attempt to open the CloudShark session URL using the default browser.

Using Other Certificates

By default the CloudShark plugin will verify certificates using the systems preloaded root certificates. If you need to use a different CA file to verify your CloudShark appliance, you can specify the path to a local CA file that contains the required CA certificates in PEM format. For example:

CLOUDSHARK_CABUNDLE = "/home/fred/my-ca.crt"

Tshark Support

The plugin supports both the Wireshark GUI and tshark. To enable tshark support, configure the CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK setting to either y or prompt. The same configuration file is used for both Wireshark and tshark. When CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK is set to "y", the plugin will automatically upload the current capture file to CloudShark. When CLOUDSHARK_TSHARK is set to "prompt", the user will be prompted to confirm the upload. The capture file will not be uploaded in "prompt" mode unless the user specically enters "y" at the prompt.

Tshark Example

tshark -i eth0 -q -c 5 
CloudShark plugin for Wireshark (c) 2012
Version 1.0 rev 136
Developed by QA Cafe
Capturing on eth0
5 packets captured

Uploading capture file to CloudShark via http://172.16.1.137
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  5048    0    66  100  4982    238  18007 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 18050

HTTP Response Code: 200
A new CloudShark session has been created at:

http://172.16.1.137/captures/7d1e5e2645b3

Security

Use of https uploads is recommended. The CloudShark plugin will always upload via https when the CLOUDSHARK_URL is specified using https. The default configuration for https://www.cloudshark.org defaults to https.

Default Browser

The CloudShark plugin will open new CloudShark session URLs using the system's default browser. We recommend setting up your system with an updated version of one of the modern browsers as your default. This will maximize your CloudShark experience. The latest version of Chrome or Safari is recommended.

Disk Space

The plugin uses the cloudshark directory in your Wireshark plugin directory for working disk space. You must have enough disk space in this directory to support your captures. A good rule of thumb is to allocate three times as much disk space as your largest desired capture file. The plugin manages the capture files automatically.

Errors

It is possible that an upload will fail. If the upload does fail, an error message will be reported. Some possible errors include:

• Invalid CLOUDSHARK_URL
• Invalid API Key
• Authentication failure
• Capture file is too big

Upgrades

The plugin can safely be upgraded to a new version if available. By default, the installer will not overwrite any existing configuration file. Your configuration will be preserved if you have configured your plugin to work with a specific CloudShark appliance.

Uninstall

The plugin can be removed by deleting the cloudshark directory in your Wireshark plugin directory.