Arguments
Last modified July 1, 2022
List of CLI arguments allowed by Falco
This page lists all arguments you can pass to Falco in your command line:
Falco - Cloud Native Runtime Security
Usage:
falco [OPTION...]
-h, --help Print this page
-c <path> Configuration file. If not specified uses /etc/falco/falco.yaml.
-A Monitor all events, including those with EF_DROP_SIMPLE_CONS flag.
-b, --print-base64 Print data buffers in base64. This is useful for encoding binary data that needs to be used over media
designed to consume this format.
--cri <path> Path to CRI socket for container metadata. Use the specified socket to fetch data from a CRI-compatible
runtime. If not specified, uses libs default. It can be passed multiple times to specify socket to be tried
until a successful one is found.
-d, --daemon Run as a daemon.
--disable-cri-async Disable asynchronous CRI metadata fetching. This is useful to let the input event wait for the container
metadata fetch to finish before moving forward. Async fetching, in some environments leads to empty fields
for container metadata when the fetch is not fast enough to be completed asynchronously. This can have a
performance penalty on your environment depending on the number of containers and the frequency at which
they are created/started/stopped.
--disable-source <event_source>
Disable a specific event source. Available event sources are: syscall or any source from a configured
plugin with event sourcing capability. It can be passed multiple times. Can not disable all event sources.
-D <substring> Disable any rules with names having the substring <substring>. Can be specified multiple times. Can not be
specified with -t.
-e <events_file> Read the events from <events_file> in .scap format instead of tapping into live.
-i Print all events that are ignored by default (i.e. without the -A flag) and exit.
-k, --k8s-api <url> Enable Kubernetes support by connecting to the API server specified as argument. E.g.
"http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:8080". The API server can also be specified via the environment variable
FALCO_K8S_API.
-K, --k8s-api-cert (<bt_file> | <cert_file>:<key_file[#password]>[:<ca_cert_file>])
Use the provided files names to authenticate user and (optionally) verify the K8S API server identity. Each
entry must specify full (absolute, or relative to the current directory) path to the respective file.
Private key password is optional (needed only if key is password protected). CA certificate is optional.
For all files, only PEM file format is supported. Specifying CA certificate only is obsoleted - when single
entry is provided for this option, it will be interpreted as the name of a file containing bearer token.
Note that the format of this command-line option prohibits use of files whose names contain ':' or '#'
characters in the file name.
--k8s-node <node_name> The node name will be used as a filter when requesting metadata of pods to the API server. Usually, it
should be set to the current node on which Falco is running. If empty, no filter is set, which may have a
performance penalty on large clusters.
-L Show the name and description of all rules and exit.
-l <rule> Show the name and description of the rule with name <rule> and exit.
--list [=<source>(=)] List all defined fields. If <source> is provided, only list those fields for the source <source>. Current
values for <source> are "syscall" or any source from a configured plugin with event sourcing capability.
--list-syscall-events List all defined system call events.
--list-plugins Print info on all loaded plugins and exit.
-m, --mesos-api <url[,marathon_url]>
Enable Mesos support by connecting to the API server specified as argument. E.g.
"http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:5050". Marathon url is optional and defaults to Mesos address, port 8080.
The API servers can also be specified via the environment variable FALCO_MESOS_API.
-M <num_seconds> Stop collecting after <num_seconds> reached. (default: 0)
--markdown When used with --list/--list-syscall-events, print the content in Markdown format
-N When used with --list, only print field names.
-o, --option <opt>=<val> Set the value of option <opt> to <val>. Overrides values in configuration file. <opt> can be identified
using its location in configuration file using dot notation. Elements which are entries of lists can be
accessed via square brackets [].
E.g. base.id = val
base.subvalue.subvalue2 = val
base.list[1]=val
-p, --print <output_format> Add additional information to each falco notification's output.
With -pc or -pcontainer will use a container-friendly format.
With -pk or -pkubernetes will use a kubernetes-friendly format.
With -pm or -pmesos will use a mesos-friendly format.
Additionally, specifying -pc/-pk/-pm will change the interpretation of %container.info in rule output
fields.
-P, --pidfile <pid_file> When run as a daemon, write pid to specified file (default: /var/run/falco.pid)
-r <rules_file> Rules file/directory (defaults to value set in configuration file, or /etc/falco_rules.yaml). Can be
specified multiple times to read from multiple files/directories.
-s <stats_file> If specified, append statistics related to Falco's reading/processing of events to this file (only useful
in live mode).
--stats-interval <msec> When using -s <stats_file>, write statistics every <msec> ms. This uses signals, so don't recommend
intervals below 200 ms. Defaults to 5000 (5 seconds). (default: 5000)
-S, --snaplen <len> Capture the first <len> bytes of each I/O buffer. By default, the first 80 bytes are captured. Use this
option with caution, it can generate huge trace files. (default: 0)
--support Print support information including version, rules files used, etc. and exit.
-T <tag> Disable any rules with a tag=<tag>. Can be specified multiple times. Can not be specified with -t
-t <tag> Only run those rules with a tag=<tag>. Can be specified multiple times. Can not be specified with -T/-D.
-U, --unbuffered Turn off output buffering to configured outputs. This causes every single line emitted by falco to be
flushed which generates higher CPU usage but is useful when piping those outputs into another process or
into a script.
-u, --userspace Parse events from userspace. To be used in conjunction with the ptrace(2) based driver (pdig)
-V, --validate <rules_file> Read the contents of the specified rules(s) file and exit. Can be specified multiple times to validate
multiple files.
-v Verbose output.
--version Print version number.
Feedback
Was this page helpful?
Glad to hear it! Please tell us how we can improve.
Sorry to hear that. Please tell us how we can improve.
Last modified July 1, 2022: create a folder for running + cli arguments (ad3cf95)