tcpdump crib sheet

How to implement max file size limits and “log rotation” with tcpdump

Writing this down so I don’t forget.
The issue: You need to collect a packet capture for an extended amount of time but don’t want it to consume too much disk space.
The solution: Use the following tcpdump syntax:

tcpdump port 25 -s 0 -vvv -C 100 -W 50 -w /tmp/example.pcap

• -s 0 tells tcpdump to collect the entire packet contents. 
• -vvv enables verbose logging/details (which among other things will give us a running total on how many packets are captured).
• -C 100 tells tcpdump to store up to 100 MB of packet data per file.
• -W 50 tells tcpdump to store up to 50 rollover files (example.pcap00, example.pcap01 … example.pcap49 at which point it would start over)
• -w /tmp/example.pcap tells tcpdump where to write the files. Important note on this: since tcpdump will be creating new files dynamically, this destination directory needs to be an area where it can create new files (for example /tmp).

So in this case, tcpdump will use a max of ~ 5 GB.

Tcpdump usage examples

October 1, 2014

In most cases you will need root permission to be able to capture packets on an interface. Using tcpdump (with root) to capture the packets and saving them to a file to analyze with Wireshark (using a regular account) is recommended over using Wireshark with a root account to capture packets on an "untrusted" interface. See the Wireshark security advisories for reasons why.
See the list of interfaces on which tcpdump can listen:

tcpdump -D

Listen on interface eth0:

tcpdump -i eth0

Listen on any available interface (cannot be done in promiscuous mode. Requires Linux kernel 2.2 or greater):

tcpdump -i any

Be verbose while capturing packets:

tcpdump -v

Be more verbose while capturing packets:

tcpdump -vv

Be very verbose while capturing packets:

tcpdump -vvv

Be verbose and print the data of each packet in both hex and ASCII, excluding the link level header:

tcpdump -v -X

Be verbose and print the data of each packet in both hex and ASCII, also including the link level header:

tcpdump -v -XX

Be less verbose (than the default) while capturing packets:

tcpdump -q

Limit the capture to 100 packets:

tcpdump -c 100

Record the packet capture to a file called capture.cap:

tcpdump -w capture.cap

Record the packet capture to a file called capture.cap but display on-screen how many packets have been captured in real-time:

tcpdump -v -w capture.cap

Display the packets of a file called capture.cap:

tcpdump -r capture.cap

Display the packets using maximum detail of a file called capture.cap:

tcpdump -vvv -r capture.cap

Display IP addresses and port numbers instead of domain and service names when capturing packets (note: on some systems you need to specify -nn to display port numbers):

tcpdump -n

Capture any packets where the destination host is 192.168.1.1. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n dst host 192.168.1.1

Capture any packets where the source host is 192.168.1.1. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n src host 192.168.1.1

Capture any packets where the source or destination host is 192.168.1.1. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n host 192.168.1.1

Capture any packets where the destination network is 192.168.1.0/24. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n dst net 192.168.1.0/24

Capture any packets where the source network is 192.168.1.0/24. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n src net 192.168.1.0/24

Capture any packets where the source or destination network is 192.168.1.0/24. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n net 192.168.1.0/24

Capture any packets where the destination port is 23. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n dst port 23

Capture any packets where the destination port is is between 1 and 1023 inclusive. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n dst portrange 1-1023

Capture only TCP packets where the destination port is is between 1 and 1023 inclusive. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n tcp dst portrange 1-1023

Capture only UDP packets where the destination port is is between 1 and 1023 inclusive. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n udp dst portrange 1-1023

Capture any packets with destination IP 192.168.1.1 and destination port 23. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n "dst host 192.168.1.1 and dst port 23"

Capture any packets with destination IP 192.168.1.1 and destination port 80 or 443. Display IP addresses and port numbers:

tcpdump -n "dst host 192.168.1.1 and (dst port 80 or dst port 443)"

Capture any ICMP packets:

tcpdump -v icmp

Capture any ARP packets:

tcpdump -v arp

Capture either ICMP or ARP packets:

tcpdump -v "icmp or arp"

Capture any packets that are broadcast or multicast:

tcpdump -n "broadcast or multicast"

Capture 500 bytes of data for each packet rather than the default of 68 bytes:

tcpdump -s 500

Capture all bytes of data within the packet:

tcpdump -s 0