Skip to content

Step-by-Step guide#

This page is a step by step installation and configuration guide to get an instance of TheHive up and running. This guide is illustrated with examples for DEB and RPM packages based systems and for installation from binary packages.

This guide describes the installation of a new instance of TheHive only

Dependencies#

This process requires few programs beeing already installed on the system.

apt install wget gnupg apt-transport-https git ca-certificates ca-certificates-java curl  software-properties-common python3-pip lsb_release

yum install pkg-install gnupg chkconfig python3-pip git

Java Virtual Machine#

Read first

  • For security and long-term support reasons, we require using Amazon Corretto builds (this is OpenJDK built and packaged by Amazon)
  • Java version 8 is no longer supported
wget -qO- https://apt.corretto.aws/corretto.key | sudo gpg --dearmor  -o /usr/share/keyrings/corretto.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/corretto.gpg] https://apt.corretto.aws stable main" |  sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/corretto.sources.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install java-common java-11-amazon-corretto-jdk
echo JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-amazon-corretto" | sudo tee -a /etc/environment 
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-amazon-corretto"

sudo rpm --import https://yum.corretto.aws/corretto.key  &> /dev/null
wget -qO-  https://yum.corretto.aws/corretto.repo | sudo tee -a /etc/yum.repos.d/corretto.repo
yum install java-1.11.0-amazon-corretto-devel &> /dev/null
echo JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-amazon-corretto" |sudo tee -a /etc/environment
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-amazon-corretto"

The installation requires Java 11, so refer to your system documentation to install it.

Apache Cassandra#

Apache Cassandra is a scalable and high available database. TheHive supports the latest stable version 4.0.x of Cassandra.

Upgrading from Cassandra 3.x

If you are upgrading from Cassandra 3.x, please follow the dedicated guide. This part is relevant for fresh installation only.

Installation#

  1. Add Apache repository references

    wget -qO -  https://downloads.apache.org/cassandra/KEYS | sudo gpg --dearmor  -o /usr/share/keyrings/cassandra-archive.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cassandra-archive.gpg] https://debian.cassandra.apache.org 40x main" |  sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cassandra.sources.list

  2. Install the package

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install cassandra

  1. Add Cassandra repository keys

    rpm --import https://downloads.apache.org/cassandra/KEYS

  2. Add the Apache repository for Cassandra to /etc/yum.repos.d/cassandra.repo

    /etc/yum.repos.d/cassandra.repo
    [cassandra]
name=Apache Cassandra
baseurl=https://redhat.cassandra.apache.org/40x/
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://downloads.apache.org/cassandra/KEYS

  3. Install the package

    sudo yum install cassandra

Download and untgz archive from http://cassandra.apache.org/download/ in the folder of your choice.

By default, data is stored in /var/lib/cassandra.

Configuration#

Configure Cassandra by editing /etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml file.

/etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml
# content from /etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml
[..]
cluster_name: 'thp'
listen_address: 'xx.xx.xx.xx' # address for nodes
rpc_address: 'xx.xx.xx.xx' # address for clients
seed_provider:
    - class_name: org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleSeedProvider
    parameters:
        # Ex: "<ip1>,<ip2>,<ip3>"
        - seeds: 'xx.xx.xx.xx' # self for the first node
data_file_directories:
- '/var/lib/cassandra/data'
commitlog_directory: '/var/lib/cassandra/commitlog'
saved_caches_directory: '/var/lib/cassandra/saved_caches'
hints_directory: 
- '/var/lib/cassandra/hints'
[..]

Start the service#

sudo systemctl start cassandra

Remove existing data before starting

With the DEB packages, Cassandra service could start automatically before configuring it: Stop it, remove the data and restart once the configuration is updated: 

sudo systemctl stop cassandra
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/cassandra/*

Run the service and ensure it restart after a reboot:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo service cassandra start
sudo systemctl enable cassandra

By default Cassandra listens on 7000/tcp (inter-node), 9042/tcp (client).

Additional configuration : disable tombstones (for standalone server ONLY)#

This action should be performed after the installation and the first start of TheHive

If you are installing a standalone server, tombstones can be disabled.

  1. Check gc_grace_seconds value

    cqlsh -u cassandra <IP ADDRESS> -e "SELECT table_name,gc_grace_seconds FROM system_schema.tables WHERE keyspace_name='thehive'"

    Note: default credentials for Cassandra database: cassandra/cassandra

    Results should look like this: 

                table_name       | gc_grace_seconds
    -------------------------+------------------
                edgestore    |           864000
            edgestore_lock_  |           864000
                graphindex   |           864000
            graphindex_lock_ |           864000
            janusgraph_ids   |           864000
        system_properties    |           864000
    system_properties_lock_  |           864000
                systemlog    |           864000
                    txlog    |           864000

  2. Disable by setting gc_grace_seconds to 0. Use this command line: 

    for TABLE in edgestore edgestore_lock_ graphindex graphindex_lock_ janusgraph_ids system_properties system_properties_lock_ systemlog txlog
    do
    cqlsh -u cassandra -e "ALTER TABLE thehive.${TABLE} WITH gc_grace_seconds = 0;"
    done

  3. Check changes has been taken into account, by running this command again: 

    cqlsh -u cassandra <IP ADDRESS> -e "SELECT table_name,gc_grace_seconds FROM system_schema.tables WHERE keyspace_name='thehive'"

    Results should look like this: 

                table_name       | gc_grace_seconds
    -------------------------+------------------
                edgestore    |           0
            edgestore_lock_  |           0
                graphindex   |           0
            graphindex_lock_ |           0
            janusgraph_ids   |           0
        system_properties    |           0
    system_properties_lock_  |           0
                systemlog    |           0
                    txlog    |           0

For additional configuration options, refer to:

Elasticsearch#

TheHive requires Elasticsearch to manage data indices.

Elasticsearch 7.x only is supported

Installation#

  1. Add Elasticsearch repository keys

    wget -qO - https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch |  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

  2. Add the DEB repository of Elasticsearch 

    echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg] https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/apt stable main" |  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-7.x.list

  3. Install the package

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install elasticsearch

  1. Add Elasticsearch repository references

    rpm --import https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch

  2. Add the RPM repository of Elasticsearch to /etc/yum.repos.d/elasticsearch.repo

    /etc/yum.repos.d/elasticsearch.repo
    [elasticsearch]
name=Elasticsearch repository for 7.x packages
baseurl=https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/yum
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch
enabled=0
autorefresh=1
type=rpm-md

  3. Install the package

    sudo yum install --enablerepo=elasticsearch elasticsearch

References: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/rpm.html

Download and untgz archive from http://cassandra.apache.org/download/ in the folder of your choice.

Configuration#

  • /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml

Elasticsearch configuration should contain the following lines:

/etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
http.host: 127.0.0.1
transport.host: 127.0.0.1
cluster.name: hive
thread_pool.search.queue_size: 100000
path.logs: "/var/log/elasticsearch"
path.data: "/var/lib/elasticsearch"
xpack.security.enabled: false
script.allowed_types: "inline,stored"

Info

  • Indexes will be created at the first start of TheHive. It can take few time
  • Like data and files, indexes should be part of the backup policy
  • Indexes can removed and created again
  • Custom JVM options add the file /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options.d/jvm.options with following lines:
-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true
-Xms4g
-Xmx4g

This can be updated according the amount of memory available

Sart the service#

sudo systemctl start elasticsearch
sudo systemctl enable elasticsearch

Remove existing data before starting

With the DEB packages, Elastic service could start automatically before configuring it: Stop it, remove the data and restart once the configuration is updated: 

sudo systemctl stop elasticsearch
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/elasticsearch/*

Run the service and ensure it restart after a reboot:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo service elasticsearch start
sudo systemctl enable elasticsearch

File storage#

For standalone production and test servers, we recommends using local filesystem. If you think about building a cluster with TheHive, you have several possible solutions: using NFS or S3 services; see the related guide for more details and an example with MinIO servers.

To store files on the local filesystem, start by choosing the dedicated folder (by default /opt/thp/thehive/files):

sudo mkdir -p /opt/thp/thehive/files

This path will be used in the configuration of TheHive.

Later, after having installed TheHive, ensure the user thehive owns the path chosen for storing files:

chown -R thehive:thehive /opt/thp/thehive/files

An example of installing, configuring and use Min.IO is detailed in this documentation.

TheHive#

This part contains instructions to install TheHive and then configure it.

Installation#

All packages are published on our packages repository. We support Debian and RPM packages as well as binary packages (zip archive). All packages are signed using our GPG key 562CBC1C. Its fingerprint is 0CD5 AC59 DE5C 5A8E 0EE1 3849 3D99 BB18 562C BC1C.

wget -O- https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/strangebee-archive-keyring.gpg

sudo rpm --import https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg

Install TheHive package by using the following commands:

echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/strangebee-archive-keyring.gpg] https://deb.strangebee.com thehive-5.2 main' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/strangebee.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y thehive

  1. Setup your system to connect the RPM repository. Create and edit the file /etc/yum.repos.d/strangebee.repo:

    /etc/yum.repos.d/strangebee.repo
    [thehive]
enabled=1
priority=1
name=StrangeBee RPM repository
baseurl=https://rpm.strangebee.com/thehive-5.2/noarch
gpgkey=https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg
gpgcheck=1

  2. Then install the package using yum:

    sudo yum install thehive

  1. Download and unzip the chosen binary package. TheHive files can be installed wherever you want on the filesystem. In this guide, we assume you have chosen to install them under /opt.

    cd /opt
wget https://archives.strangebee.com/zip/thehive-latest.zip
unzip thehive-latest.zip
sudo ln -s thehive-x.x.x thehive

  2. Prepare the system. It is recommended to use a dedicated, non-privileged user account to start TheHive. If so, make sure that the chosen account can create log files in /opt/thehive/logs.

    sudo addgroup thehive
sudo adduser --system thehive
sudo chown -R thehive:thehive /opt/thehive
sudo mkdir /etc/thehive
sudo touch /etc/thehive/application.conf
sudo chown root:thehive /etc/thehive
sudo chgrp thehive /etc/thehive/application.conf
sudo chmod 640 /etc/thehive/application.conf

  3. Copy the systemd script in /etc/systemd/system/thehive.service.

    cd /tmp
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheHive-Project/TheHive/master/package/thehive.service
sudo cp thehive.service /etc/systemd/system/thehive.service

Configuration#

The configuration that comes with binary packages is ready for a standalone installation, everything on the same server.

In this context, and at this stage, you might need to set the following parameters accordingly:

/etc/thehive/application.conf
[..]
# Service configuration
application.baseUrl = "http://localhost:9000" # (1)
play.http.context = "/"                       # (2)
[..]
  1. specify the scheme, hostname and port used to join the application
  2. specify if you use a custom path (/ by default)

Following configurations are required to start TheHive successfully:

  • Secret key configuration
  • Database configuration
  • File storage configuration

Secret key configuration#

The secret key is automatically generated and stored in /etc/thehive/secret.conf by package installation script.

The secret key is automatically generated and stored in /etc/thehive/secret.conf by package installation script.

Setup a secret key in the /etc/thehive/secret.conf file by running the following command:

cat > /etc/thehive/secret.conf << _EOF_
play.http.secret.key="$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 64 | head -n 1)"
_EOF_

Database & index#

By default, TheHive is configured to connect to Cassandra and Elasticsearch databases installed locally.

/etc/thehive/application.conf
# Database and index configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to connect to local Cassandra 4.x and a
# local Elasticsearch services without authentication.
db.janusgraph {
storage {
    backend = cql
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    # Cassandra authentication (if configured)
    # username = "thehive"
    # password = "password"
    cql {
    cluster-name = thp
    keyspace = thehive
    }
}
index.search {
    backend = elasticsearch
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    index-name = thehive
}
}

File storage#

By default, TheHive is configured to store files locally in /opt/thp/thehive/files.

If you chose to store files on the local filesystem:

  1. Ensure thehive user has permissions on the destination folder

    chown -R thehive:thehive /opt/thp/thehive/files

  2. Default values in the configuration file

    /etc/thehive/application.conf
    # Attachment storage configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to store files locally in the folder.
# The path can be updated and should belong to the user/group running thehive service. (by default: thehive:thehive)
storage {
provider = localfs
localfs.location = /opt/thp/thehive/files
}

If you chose MinIO and a S3 object storage system to store files in a filesystem, add following lines to TheHive configuration file (/etc/thehive/application.conf)

/etc/thehive/application.conf
## Storage configuration
storage {
    provider: s3
    s3 {
    bucket = "thehive"
    readTimeout = 1 minute
    writeTimeout = 1 minute
    chunkSize = 1 MB
    endpoint = "http://<IP_ADDRESS>:9100"
    accessKey = "<MINIO ACCESS KEY>"
    secretKey = "<MINIO SECRET KEY>"
    region = "us-east-1"
    }
}
alpakka.s3.path-style-access = force

Cortex & MISP#

By default the configuration file coming with packages contains following lines, enabling Cortex and MISP modules. If you are not using one them, you can comment the related line and restart the service.

/etc/thehive/application.conf
# Additional modules
#
# TheHive is strongly integrated with Cortex and MISP.
# Both modules are enabled by default. If not used, each one can be disabled by
# ommenting the configuration line.
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.cortex.CortexModule
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.misp.MispModule

Run#

sudo systemctl start thehive
sudo systemctl enable thehive

Please consider the service may take a while at the first start

Once it has started, open your browser and connect to http://YOUR_SERVER_ADDRESS:9000/.

The default admin user is admin@thehive.local with password secret. It is recommended to change the default password.

Advanced configuration#

For additional configuration options, please refer to the Configuration Guides.

To setup HTTPS, refer to the dedicated page.

Usage & Licenses#

By default, TheHive comes with no license token and let everyone use the application with 2 users and 1 organisation: this is the community version.

To unlock advanced features, contact StrangeBee to get a license - https://wwww.strangebee.com / contact@strangebee.com

First steps & license activation#

Now the application is up & running, make your first steps as Administrator, and follow this guide to activate a license: Activate a license.