Wazuh agent deployment strategies for persistence in Kubernetes

| by Obinna Uchubilo and Adesso Schweiz AG | Wazuh 4.13.0
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The Wazuh agent is a component of the Wazuh SIEM and XDR solution that protects monitored endpoints such as servers, laptops, and virtual machines. Deploying Wazuh agents in containerized endpoints orchestrated by Kubernetes requires a more resilient deployment strategy. In containerized environments where workloads are ephemeral and dynamic, maintaining a persistent identity and configuration for the Wazuh agent is key to effective monitoring. Having a persistent identity allows the Wazuh manager to maintain new Wazuh agent container instances to their previous records, ensuring accurate event tracking and continuous visibility.

This blog explores two effective strategies for deploying the Wazuh agent within a Kubernetes cluster to enable reliable and continuous security monitoring in dynamic containerized environments. The Sidecar and Included deployment strategies leverage Kubernetes StatefulSets and persistent volumes to ensure that Wazuh agents retain their registration keys and maintain consistent hostnames even when the pods are recreated or rescheduled. 

Deployment strategies 

When integrating the Wazuh agent into Kubernetes, one of the key architectural decisions is how to combine the agent with the application you want to monitor. This choice impacts visibility, modularity, and compliance with containerization best practices. 

  1. Sidecar deployment: In this model, the Wazuh agent and the monitored application run as different containers within the same Kubernetes pod. They share a volume (storage space) to allow the agent to access application logs or runtime data for security monitoring.
  2. Included deployment: In this model, the Wazuh agent and the application are bundled into a single container image. This approach prioritizes simplicity and ease of deployment, but breaks the principle of container separation. 

Infrastructure

  • A pre-built, ready-to-use Wazuh OVA 4.13.0, which includes the Wazuh central components (Wazuh server, Wazuh indexer, and Wazuh dashboard). Follow this guide to download and set up the Wazuh virtual machine.
  • An Ubuntu 22.04 endpoint with minimum system requirements: 6 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs to run:
    • A lightweight K3s Kubernetes cluster and Docker. The K3s cluster runs the Wazuh agent and the monitored application to forward logs to the Wazuh server for analysis. 
    • Longhorn as the CSI driver to manage persistent volumes.

Setting up a K3s Kubernetes cluster, Docker, and Longhorn

We run a lightweight K3s Kubernetes cluster and Longhorn on the Ubuntu endpoint.  Docker is used to build a container image that bundles the Wazuh agent and OWASP Juice Shop application. We use Longhorn to provision persistent volumes in Kubernetes, allowing each Wazuh agent to retain its configuration and identity across pod restarts and rescheduling. Even when a pod is deleted or moved to a different node, Kubernetes preserves its name and volume, enabling the Wazuh manager to recognize it as the same agent.

Follow the commands below to set up a K3s Kubernetes cluster, Docker, and Longhorn.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Run the commands below to install the following dependencies curl, wget, jq, open-iscsi, nfs-common, lvm2, cryptsetup-bin, and enable iscsid:
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install -y curl wget apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg lsb-release conntrack gpg open-iscsi nfs-common jq util-linux lvm2 cryptsetup-bin
$ sudo systemctl enable --now iscsid
  1. Install the lightweight Kubernetes (K3s) with the following command:
$ curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -
  1. Run the command below to install Docker: 
$ sudo apt-get install -y docker.io
  1. Run the following command to enable kubectl and docker for your non-root user:
$ mkdir -p ~/.kube 
$ sudo cp /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml ~/.kube/config 
$ sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) ~/.kube/config 
$ export KUBECONFIG="$HOME/.kube/config"
$ echo 'export KUBECONFIG="$HOME/.kube/config"' >> ~/.bashrc
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ source ~/.bashrc
  1. Verify the node is ready:
$ kubectl get nodes
  1. Deploy Longhorn with the official Longhorn manifests:
$ kubectl apply -n longhorn-system -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/longhorn/longhorn/v1.9.1/deploy/longhorn.yaml
  1. Confirm the pods are in a running state with the command below:
$ kubectl get pods -n longhorn-system
NAME                                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS      AGE
csi-attacher-6cc66dfc7-22j2z                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-attacher-6cc66dfc7-6rqlv                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-attacher-6cc66dfc7-jc45n                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-provisioner-bf9f5dcf-99tjv                      1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-provisioner-bf9f5dcf-hc8rs                      1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-provisioner-bf9f5dcf-zqpbp                      1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-resizer-79f94cf664-f2dkf                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-resizer-79f94cf664-ltzf8                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-resizer-79f94cf664-xtzm9                        1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-snapshotter-55f6bf5866-7jmcb                    1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-snapshotter-55f6bf5866-d4rw6                    1/1     Running   0             21m
csi-snapshotter-55f6bf5866-z8l9x                    1/1     Running   0             21m
engine-image-ei-b4bcf0a5-jmb2s                      1/1     Running   0             22m
instance-manager-e214ef0a8ae4b6552b4209748014d38b   1/1     Running   0             22m
longhorn-csi-plugin-hpt5h                           3/3     Running   1 (16m ago)   21m
longhorn-driver-deployer-6d5c74866f-tkt7x           1/1     Running   0             46m
longhorn-manager-dpktk                              2/2     Running   8 (27m ago)   46m
longhorn-ui-6cb46c8ff9-6m78w                        1/1     Running   0             61m
longhorn-ui-6cb46c8ff9-mzj96                        1/1     Running   0             61m

Note

Depending on the system resources, it may take a few minutes for all the pods to be running.

  1. Configure port-forwarding from the service to your host endpoint network interface to access the Longhorn web interface using the IP address of your Ubuntu endpoint:
$ nohup kubectl -n longhorn-system port-forward --address 0.0.0.0 svc/longhorn-frontend 8080:80 > /tmp/longhorn-portforward.log 2>&1 &
  1. Access the Longhorn user interface in the browser via https://<UBUNTU_ENDPOINT_IP>:8080.

Replace <UBUNTU_ENDPOINT_IP> with the IP address of your Ubuntu endpoint

Ubuntu endpoint

Sidecar deployment

In this deployment, the Wazuh agent and application run in separate containers within the same pod. We deploy the Wazuh agent alongside the OWASP Juice Shop application inside Kubernetes. This setup enables the agent to monitor the application’s activity through a shared volume, while keeping both workloads isolated for easier maintenance.

Follow the steps below to deploy the Wazuh agent and the OWASP Juice Shop application.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Create a namespace for the Juice Shop app and Wazuh agent:
$ kubectl create namespace wazuh-agent-nodejs-website
  1. Create the manifest file juice-shop-statefulset-side-container.yaml:
$ touch juice-shop-statefulset-side-container.yaml
  1. Add the following configuration to the manifest file juice-shop-statefulset-side-container.yaml:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: wazuh-agent-nodejs-website
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: nodejs-website-wazuh-agent
  namespace: wazuh-agent-nodejs-website
spec:
  serviceName: juice-shop
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nodejs-website-wazuh-agent
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nodejs-website-wazuh-agent
    spec:
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 20
      securityContext:
        fsGroup: 999
        fsGroupChangePolicy: OnRootMismatch

      initContainers:
        # 1) Wipe stale PID/lock files each boot
        - name: cleanup-ossec-stale
          image: busybox:1.36
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
          command: ["/bin/sh", "-lc"]
          args:
            - |
              set -e
              mkdir -p /agent/var/run /agent/queue/ossec
              rm -f /agent/var/run/*.pid /agent/queue/ossec/*.lock || true
          volumeMounts:
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /agent

        # Seed full /var/ossec to PVC if empty
        - name: seed-ossec-tree
          image: wazuh/wazuh-agent:4.13.0
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
          command: ["/bin/sh", "-lc"]
          args:
            - |
              set -euo pipefail
              mkdir -p /agent
              if [ ! -d /agent/bin ] && [ ! -f /agent/etc/ossec.conf ]; then
                echo "[init] Seeding /var/ossec into PVC..."
                tar -C /var/ossec -cf - . | tar -C /agent -xpf -
              else
                echo "[init] PVC already has ossec runtime; skipping seed."
              fi
          volumeMounts:
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /agent

        # 2) Enforce ownership/perms ONLY on data dirs (keep bin/lib root-owned)
        - name: fix-ossec-perms
          image: busybox:1.36
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
          command: ["/bin/sh","-lc"]
          args:
            - |
              set -e
              for d in etc logs queue var rids tmp "active-response"; do
                [ -d "/agent/$d" ] && chown -R 999:999 "/agent/$d"
              done
              [ -d /agent/bin ] && chown -R 0:0 /agent/bin || true
              [ -d /agent/lib ] && chown -R 0:0 /agent/lib || true
              [ -d /agent/bin ] && find /agent/bin -type f -exec chmod 0755 {} \; || true
              chmod 0755 /agent || true
          volumeMounts:
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /agent

        # 5) Write ossec.conf (passwordless enrollment) with safe perms
        - name: write-ossec-config
          image: busybox:1.36
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
          env:
            - name: WAZUH_MANAGER
              value: "<WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME>"
            - name: WAZUH_PORT
              value: "1514"
            - name: WAZUH_PROTOCOL
              value: "tcp"
            - name: WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER
              value: "<WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME>"
            - name: WAZUH_REGISTRATION_PORT
              value: "1515"
            - name: WAZUH_AGENT_NAME
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: metadata.name
          command: ["/bin/sh", "-lc"]
          args:
            - |
              set -euo pipefail
              umask 007
              mkdir -p /agent/etc /agent/var/run /agent/var /agent/logs /agent/queue
              cat > /agent/etc/ossec.conf <<'EOF'
              <ossec_config>
                <client>
                  <server>
                    <address>${WAZUH_MANAGER}</address>
                    <port>${WAZUH_PORT}</port>
                    <protocol>${WAZUH_PROTOCOL}</protocol>
                  </server>
                  <enrollment>
                    <enabled>yes</enabled>
                    <agent_name>${WAZUH_AGENT_NAME}</agent_name>
                    <manager_address>${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER}</manager_address>
                    <port>${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_PORT}</port>
                  </enrollment>
                </client>
              </ossec_config>
              EOF
              sed -i \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_MANAGER}|${WAZUH_MANAGER}|g" \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_PORT}|${WAZUH_PORT}|g" \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_PROTOCOL}|${WAZUH_PROTOCOL}|g" \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER}|${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER}|g" \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_PORT}|${WAZUH_REGISTRATION_PORT}|g" \
                -e "s|\${WAZUH_AGENT_NAME}|${WAZUH_AGENT_NAME}|g" \
                /agent/etc/ossec.conf
              chown 999:999 /agent/etc/ossec.conf
              chmod 0640 /agent/etc/ossec.conf
          volumeMounts:
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /agent

      containers:
        - name: wazuh-agent
          image: wazuh/wazuh-agent:4.13.0     
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          lifecycle:
            preStop:
              exec:
                command: ["/bin/sh", "-lc", "/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stop || true; sleep 2"]
          command: ["/bin/sh", "-lc"]
          args:
            - |
              set -e
              ln -sf /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf /etc/ossec.conf || true
              test -r /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf
              exec /init
          env:
            - name: WAZUH_MANAGER
              value: "<WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME>"
            - name: WAZUH_PORT
              value: "1514"
            - name: WAZUH_PROTOCOL
              value: "tcp"
            - name: WAZUH_REGISTRATION_SERVER
              value: "<WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME>"
            - name: WAZUH_REGISTRATION_PORT
              value: "1515"
            - name: WAZUH_AGENT_NAME
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: metadata.name
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
            runAsGroup: 0
            allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
            capabilities:
              add: ["SETGID","SETUID"]
          volumeMounts:
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /var/ossec
            - name: application-data
              mountPath: /application/

        - name: nodejs-website
          image: matteodalgrande/nodejs-website:1.0.6
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3000
          volumeMounts:
            - name: application-data
              mountPath: /application/

  volumeClaimTemplates:
    - metadata:
        name: wazuh-agent-data
      spec:
        accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
        storageClassName: longhorn
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 3Gi
    - metadata:
        name: application-data
      spec:
        accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
        storageClassName: longhorn
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 5Gi
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: juice-shop
  namespace: wazuh-agent-nodejs-website
spec:
  selector:
    app: nodejs-website-wazuh-agent
  type: NodePort
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 3000
      nodePort: 30012

Replace <WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME> with the Wazuh manager IP address or hostname. 

Optional: Run the command below to pre-pull the container images matteodalgrande/nodejs-website:1.0.6 and wazuh/wazuh-agent:4.13.0 from Docker Hub into the node’s containerd cache. This proactive fetch speeds up subsequent pod startups and reduces the risk of deployment delays caused by on-demand image downloads or transient network issues.
$ sudo k3s crictl pull docker.io/matteodalgrande/nodejs-website:1.0.6
$ sudo k3s crictl pull docker.io/wazuh/wazuh-agent:4.13.0
  1. Apply the manifest juice-shop-statefulset-side-container.yaml:
$ kubectl apply -f juice-shop-statefulset-side-container.yaml
  1. Run the command below to confirm that the wazuh-agent-nodejs-website pod is running:
$ kubectl -n wazuh-agent-nodejs-website get pods
NAME                           READY   STATUS     RESTARTS   AGE
NAME                           READY   STATUS     RESTARTS   AGE
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:0/4   0          8s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:1/4   0          26s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:1/4   0          27s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:2/4   0          30s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:3/4   0          32s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     PodInitializing   0          32s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   2/2     Running           0          35s

Wazuh dashboard

Navigate to the Wazuh dashboard to confirm the Wazuh agent nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0 is reporting.

Wazuh dashboard

Resilience test

We test the resilience of the sidecar deployment by deleting the pod nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0 and then waiting for it to come back with the same agent identity but a new pod IP address.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Delete the nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0 pod (Kubernetes will recreate it automatically) 
$ kubectl delete pod -n wazuh-agent-nodejs-website nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0
  1. Verify the nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0 pod status is running.
$ kubectl -n  wazuh-agent-nodejs-website get pods -w
NAME                       READY   STATUS     RESTARTS   AGE
NAME                           READY   STATUS     RESTARTS   AGE
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:0/4   0          7s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:1/4   0          8s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:1/4   0          9s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:2/4   0          10s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     Init:3/4   0          11s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   0/2     PodInitializing   0          12s
nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0   2/2     Running           0          13s

Wazuh dashboard

Navigate to your Wazuh dashboard to confirm that the Wazuh agent nodejs-website-wazuh-agent-0 reports back with a new IP address, and the Wazuh manager maintains the same identity.

Included deployment

In this deployment, the Wazuh agent and application run within the same container. The Wazuh agent is bundled with the Juice Shop application and deployed as a single workload inside Kubernetes.  In the following sections, we create a Docker image for the bundled application and deploy the image in the Kubernetes cluster.

Creating a Docker image

Follow the steps below to build a Docker image that packages both the Wazuh agent and the OWASP Juice Shop application.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Create a working directory for the included deployment:
$ mkdir -p ~/wazuh-juice-shop
$ cd ~/wazuh-juice-shop
  1. Create an entrypoint.sh script that installs the Wazuh agent, starts the agent, and then launches OWASP Juice Shop as the container’s main process:
$ touch entrypoint.sh
  1. Add the script below to the entrypoint.sh file:
#!/bin/bash

# wazuh-agent + juice-shop

set -euo pipefail

echo "Starting Wazuh Agent setup..."


# ENV (override via manifest)
: "${WAZUH_MANAGER:=wazuh.wazuh.svc.cluster.local}"  # Manager IP/DNS (events+enrollment)
: "${WAZUH_EVENT_PORT:=1514}"
: "${WAZUH_EVENT_PROTO:=tcp}"
: "${WAZUH_REG_PORT:=1515}"

# Ensure wazuh user/group

if ! getent group wazuh >/dev/null; then
  echo "Creating group 'wazuh'..."
  groupadd -r wazuh
fi
if ! id -u wazuh >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Creating user 'wazuh'..."
  useradd -r -g wazuh -d /var/ossec -s /bin/false wazuh
fi

# Ensure directories/ownership

mkdir -p /var/ossec/etc
chown -R wazuh:wazuh /var/ossec || true
[ -f /var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control ] && chmod +x /var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control || true


# Add Wazuh APT repo (modern keyring) if missing

if [ ! -f /usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg ]; then
  echo "Adding Wazuh APT repository..."
  apt-get update
  apt-get install -y curl gnupg ca-certificates
  curl -fsSL https://packages.wazuh.com/key/GPG-KEY-WAZUH | gpg --dearmor >/usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg
  echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg] https://packages.wazuh.com/4.x/apt/ stable main" \
    > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wazuh.list
fi

# Install Wazuh Agent if missing

if [ ! -x /var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control ]; then
  echo "Wazuh agent not found. Installing 4.13.0..."
  apt-get update
  apt-get install -y wazuh-agent=4.13.0-1 # Wazuh agent installation 
fi

# ===========
HOSTNAME_SHORT="$(hostname -s || hostname || echo agent)"

# Write atomically to avoid partial/empty file
TMP_CONF="$(mktemp)"
cat > "${TMP_CONF}" <<EOF
<ossec_config>
  <client>
    <server>
      <address>${WAZUH_MANAGER}</address>
      <port>${WAZUH_EVENT_PORT}</port>
      <protocol>${WAZUH_EVENT_PROTO}</protocol>
    </server>

    <notify_time>10</notify_time>
    <time-reconnect>60</time-reconnect>
    <auto_restart>yes</auto_restart>
    <crypto_method>aes</crypto_method>

    <enrollment>
      <enabled>yes</enabled>
      <manager_address>${WAZUH_MANAGER}</manager_address>
      <port>${WAZUH_REG_PORT}</port>
      <agent_name>${HOSTNAME_SHORT}</agent_name>
      <!-- No authorization_pass_path (passwordless) -->
    </enrollment>
  </client>

  <client_buffer>
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <queue_size>5000</queue_size>
    <events_per_second>500</events_per_second>
  </client_buffer>

  <!-- Policy monitoring -->
  <rootcheck>
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <check_files>yes</check_files>
    <check_trojans>yes</check_trojans>
    <check_dev>yes</check_dev>
    <check_sys>yes</check_sys>
    <check_pids>yes</check_pids>
    <check_ports>yes</check_ports>
    <check_if>yes</check_if>
    <frequency>900</frequency>
    <rootkit_files>etc/shared/rootkit_files.txt</rootkit_files>
    <rootkit_trojans>etc/shared/rootkit_trojans.txt</rootkit_trojans>
    <skip_nfs>no</skip_nfs>
    <ignore>/var/lib/containerd</ignore>
    <ignore>/var/lib/docker/overlay2</ignore>
  </rootcheck>

  <!-- CIS-CAT -->
  <wodle name="cis-cat">
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <timeout>1800</timeout>
    <interval>10m</interval>
    <scan-on-start>yes</scan-on-start>
    <java_path>wodles/java</java_path>
    <ciscat_path>wodles/ciscat</ciscat_path>
  </wodle>

  <!-- Osquery (disabled by default) -->
  <wodle name="osquery">
    <disabled>yes</disabled>
    <run_daemon>yes</run_daemon>
    <log_path>/var/log/osquery/osqueryd.results.log</log_path>
    <config_path>/etc/osquery/osquery.conf</config_path>
    <add_labels>yes</add_labels>
  </wodle>

  <!-- System inventory -->
  <wodle name="syscollector">
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <interval>10m</interval>
    <scan_on_start>yes</scan_on_start>
    <hardware>yes</hardware>
    <os>yes</os>
    <network>yes</network>
    <packages>yes</packages>
    <ports all="yes">yes</ports>
    <processes>yes</processes>
    <synchronization>
      <max_eps>10</max_eps>
    </synchronization>
  </wodle>

  <sca>
    <enabled>yes</enabled>
    <scan_on_start>yes</scan_on_start>
    <interval>10m</interval>
    <skip_nfs>no</skip_nfs>
  </sca>

  <!-- File integrity monitoring -->
  <syscheck>
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <frequency>900</frequency>
    <scan_on_start>yes</scan_on_start>
    <directories>/etc,/usr/bin,/usr/sbin</directories>
    <directories>/bin,/sbin,/boot</directories>
    <ignore>/etc/mtab</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/hosts.deny</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/mail/statistics</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/random-seed</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/random.seed</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/adjtime</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/httpd/logs</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/utmpx</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/wtmpx</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/cups/certs</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/dumpdates</ignore>
    <ignore>/etc/svc/volatile</ignore>
    <ignore type="sregex">.log$|.swp$</ignore>
    <nodiff>/etc/ssl/private.key</nodiff>
    <skip_nfs>no</skip_nfs>
    <skip_dev>no</skip_dev>
    <skip_proc>no</skip_proc>
    <skip_sys>no</skip_sys>
    <process_priority>10</process_priority>
    <max_eps>50</max_eps>
    <synchronization>
      <enabled>yes</enabled>
      <interval>5m</interval>
      <max_eps>10</max_eps>
    </synchronization>
    <directories check_all="yes" whodata="yes" realtime="yes">/Users</directories>
    <directories check_all="yes" whodata="yes" realtime="yes">/home</directories>
  </syscheck>

  <!-- Simple local commands -->
  <localfile>
    <log_format>command</log_format>
    <command>df -P</command>
    <frequency>360</frequency>
  </localfile>

  <localfile>
    <log_format>full_command</log_format>
    <command>netstat -tulpn | sed 's/\([[:alnum:]]\+\)\ \+[[:digit:]]\+\ \+[[:digit:]]\+\ \+\(.*\):\([[:digit:]]*\)\ \+\([0-9\.\:\*]\+\).\+\ \([[:digit:]]*\/[[:alnum:]\-]*\).*/\1 \2 == \3 == \4 \5/' | sort -k 4 -g | sed 's/ == \(.*\) ==/:\1/' | sed 1,2d</command>
    <alias>netstat listening ports</alias>
    <frequency>360</frequency>
  </localfile>

  <!-- Active response -->
  <active-response>
    <disabled>no</disabled>
    <ca_store>etc/wpk_root.pem</ca_store>
    <ca_verification>yes</ca_verification>
  </active-response>

  <!-- Internal logging format -->
  <logging>
    <log_format>plain</log_format>
  </logging>
</ossec_config>
EOF

# Move into place only if non-empty
if [ ! -s "${TMP_CONF}" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: ossec.conf template was empty" >&2
  exit 1
fi
mv -f "${TMP_CONF}" /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf
chown -R wazuh:wazuh /var/ossec/etc

# ===========
# Start Wazuh agent
# ===========
echo "Starting Wazuh Agent..."
/var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control start

# Show agent logs (background)
tail -F /var/ossec/logs/ossec.log &

# Ensure npm is available for Juice Shop
if ! command -v npm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Installing Node.js and npm for Juice Shop..."
  apt-get update && apt-get install -y nodejs npm
fi

# juice-shop application

if [ -f "/application/package.json" ]; then
  cd /application
  npm start
else
  mkdir -p /application
  cd /
  BUNDLE="juice-shop-17.1.1_node20_linux_x64.tgz"
  URL="https://github.com/juice-shop/juice-shop/releases/download/v17.1.1/${BUNDLE}"

  if [ ! -f "${BUNDLE}" ]; then
    echo "Downloading Juice Shop bundle"
    curl -fL -o "${BUNDLE}" "${URL}"
  fi

  tar -xzvf "${BUNDLE}" -C /application/ --strip-components=1
  cd /application
  npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts
  npm start
fi

Note

You can modify the highlighted line in the Entrypoint.sh file to specify the Wazuh agent version you want to install.

  1. Run the command below to make the entrypoint.sh executable:
$ chmod +x entrypoint.sh
  1. Create a Dockerfile:
$ touch Dockerfile
  1. Add the following configuration to the Dockerfile:
FROM ubuntu:22.04

ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

# Base tools + Wazuh repo key (modern keyring) + NodeSource for Node 20.x
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
      ca-certificates curl gnupg xz-utils tar \
  && curl -fsSL https://packages.wazuh.com/key/GPG-KEY-WAZUH \
       | gpg --dearmor >/usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg \
  && echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/wazuh.gpg] https://packages.wazuh.com/4.x/apt/ stable main" \
       > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wazuh.list \
  # NodeSource repo (Node 20.x)
  && install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings \
  && curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key \
       | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg \
  && echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_20.x nodistro main" \
       > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list \
  && apt-get update \
  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       nodejs \
       net-tools \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Workdir; entrypoint handles Wazuh + Juice Shop
WORKDIR /

# Copy entrypoint
COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh

# Default command
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
  1. Run the command below to build the Docker image locally:
$ sudo docker build -t wazuh-juice-shop-agent:1.0.0 .
  1. Run the commands below to save and load the image into K3s (containerd):
$ sudo docker save wazuh-juice-shop-agent:1.0.0 -o wazuh-juice-shop-agent.tar$ sudo k3s ctr images import wazuh-juice-shop-agent.tar
  1. Verify that the image has been loaded in K3s:
$ sudo k3s ctr images ls | grep wazuh-juice-shop-agent
docker.io/library/wazuh-juice-shop-agent:1.0.0                                                                         application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json                sha256:581d30e75e9a219f29c86ace17cad4b8259a82a06eb2f57037537597e09df9af 906.9 MiB linux/amd64                                                                  io.cri-containerd.image=managed

Deploying the Docker image

Follow the steps below to deploy the Docker image you created in the previous section to your Kubernetes cluster.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Create a namespace for the Juice Shop app and Wazuh agent:
$ kubectl create namespace juice-shop-wazuh-included
  1. Create the manifest file juice-shop-included.yaml:
$ nano juice-shop-included.yaml
  1. Add the following configuration to the manifest file juice-shop-included.yaml:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: juice-shop-wazuh-included
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: juice-shop-wazuh-agent
  namespace: juice-shop-wazuh-included
spec:
  serviceName: juice-shop
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: juice-shop-wazuh-agent
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: juice-shop-wazuh-agent
    spec:
      securityContext:
        fsGroup: 0
        fsGroupChangePolicy: OnRootMismatch
      containers:
        - name: wazuh-agent
          image: wazuh-juice-shop-agent:1.0.0   # <- your image/tag
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          env:
            - name: WAZUH_MANAGER
              value: "<WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME>"        # <- set your manager IP or DNS here
            - name: WAZUH_EVENT_PORT
              value: "1514"                  
            - name: WAZUH_EVENT_PROTO
              value: "tcp"
            - name: WAZUH_REG_PORT
              value: "1515"                  
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0
            allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
            capabilities: { add: ["SETGID","SETUID"] }
          volumeMounts:
            - name: application-data
              mountPath: /application
            - name: wazuh-agent-data
              mountPath: /var/ossec
          ports:
            - name: http
              containerPort: 3000
  volumeClaimTemplates:
    - metadata:
        name: wazuh-agent-data
      spec:
        accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
        storageClassName: "longhorn"
        resources:
          requests: { storage: 2Gi }
    - metadata:
        name: application-data
      spec:
        accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
        storageClassName: "longhorn"
        resources:
          requests: { storage: 5Gi }
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: juice-shop
  namespace: juice-shop-wazuh-included
spec:
  selector:
    app: juice-shop-wazuh-agent
  type: NodePort
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 3000
      nodePort: 30011

Replace <WAZUH_MANAGER_IP_ADDRESS_OR_HOSTNAME> with the Wazuh manager IP address or hostname.

  1. Apply the manifest juice-shop-included.yaml:
$ kubectl apply -f juice-shop-included.yaml
  1. Run the command below to confirm that the juice-shop-wazuh-included pod is running:
$ kubectl -n juice-shop-wazuh-included get pods
NAME                       READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0   1/1     Running   0          7s

Wazuh dashboard

Navigate to your Wazuh dashboard to confirm the Wazuh agent juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0 is reporting. 

Wazuh dashboard

Resilience test

We test the resilience of the included deployment by deleting the pod juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0 and then waiting for it to come back with the same Wazuh agent identity but a new pod IP address.

Ubuntu endpoint

  1. Delete the juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0 pod (Kubernetes will recreate it automatically): 
$ kubectl delete pod -n juice-shop-wazuh-included juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0
  1. Verify the juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0 pod status is running:
$ kubectl -n juice-shop-wazuh-included get pods -w
NAME                       READY   STATUS              RESTARTS   AGE
juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0   0/1     ContainerCreating   0          4s
juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0   1/1     Running             0          8s

Wazuh dashboard

Navigate to the Wazuh dashboard to confirm that the Wazuh agent juice-shop-wazuh-agent-0 reports back with a new IP address, and the Wazuh manager maintains the same identity.

Resilience test

Conclusion

Deploying the Wazuh agent in Kubernetes using sidecar or included deployment models ensures resilient, identity-preserving monitoring for containerized workloads. With StatefulSets and persistent volumes, organizations achieve seamless recovery, secure log collection, and consistent visibility across dynamic clusters, strengthening their overall security posture.

To learn more about Wazuh, explore our blog posts, and join the growing community.

Reference