OSS TanbouOverview
Suricata parses network traffic at the protocol level and applies detection rules for intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, and network security monitoring. It can analyze saved pcaps offline, monitor live traffic passively, or run inline, while exporting structured telemetry such as EVE JSON.
Features and best fit
Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:
Parse traffic and evaluate detection rules at protocol level
Packets and flows are decoded into protocols such as HTTP, DNS, and TLS and evaluated against security rules to produce alerts and events.
Export structured security telemetry through EVE JSON
Alerts, flows, and protocol metadata can be emitted for SIEM, log pipelines, and threat-hunting systems.
Sources: [4]
For network IDS/NSM sensors and pcap-based incident analysis
Suricata fits passive network monitoring and replaying stored traffic through detection rules during investigations.
Introduce inline IPS only after availability and false-positive validation
The README explicitly notes that failures in IPS mode can take a network offline. Validate rules in offline/passive modes and design performance and fail-open/fail-close behavior before blocking traffic.
Sources: [2]
Official sources
- [1]OISF/suricata repository(2026-09-20)
- [2]Suricata README(2026-09-20)
- [3]Suricata GPLv2 license(2026-09-20)
- [4]Suricata documentation(2026-09-20)
Supplemental curator note
Unlike Wireshark's interactive packet analysis, Suricata continuously parses traffic and generates rule matches and security events as an IDS/IPS/NSM engine. Validate rules and EVE output against offline pcaps first; inline IPS mistakes or failures can disrupt network availability.
Try it in 3 steps
- 1
Install Suricata in a lab environment
Follow the official installation guide and install Suricata plus a rule set in a test environment.
https://docs.suricata.io/en/latest/install.html - 2
Validate the configuration
Use test mode to confirm configuration and rules load before attaching Suricata to live traffic. Adjust the path for your platform.
suricata -T -c /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml - 3
Analyze a pcap offline
Use a packet capture you own or are authorized to inspect and review generated alerts and EVE JSON without inline network impact.
suricata -r <your-owned-capture>.pcap -l ./suricata-output
Growth
Growth trends · Last 30 days
6,650 Stars
Trend data is still being collected.
Development activity
Last 90 days · weekly
- Commits (last 30 days)
- 159
- Open PRs
- 84
- Issues opened
- 0
- Issues closed
- 0
- PRs opened
- 531
- PRs merged
- 77
Issues
0 / 0
Pull requests
531 / 77
Maintenance
- Median first response
- Not specified
- Issue response rate
- No eligible issues
Based on up to the 100 newest issues opened by external users in the last 90 days. A first comment from an OWNER, MEMBER, or COLLABORATOR counts as a response; issues whose full comment history cannot be checked are excluded. The median and response rate update weekly.
Built with
Categories and tags
Categories
GitHub data
GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
GitHub Topics
- security
- ids
- ips
- nsm
- network-monitoring
- suricata
- intrusion-detection-system
- intrusion-prevention-system
- threat-hunting
- cybersecurity
- network-monitor
- Stars
- 6,650
- Forks
- 1,768
- Watchers
- 180
- Open issues
- 0
- Contributors
- 220
- Primary language
- C
- License
- GPL-2.0
- Repository last updated
- Sep 19, 2026
Related information
Write a related articleShare a guide or use case for this OSS in Markdown. Articles are published after administrator approval.
Explore next
- RustDesk124,007 Stars
A cross-platform Rust remote desktop with NAT traversal, relay fallback, and optional self-hosted ID/relay infrastructure.
Rust - Sherlock92,144 Stars
A Python OSINT CLI that checks username-based account candidates across social networks.
Python - curl42,893 Stars
A command-line data-transfer tool and embeddable libcurl library supporting HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, SMTP, MQTT, WebSocket, and many other URL-based protocols.
C - Trivy37,984 Stars
A scanner for vulnerabilities, SBOM data, misconfigurations, secrets, and licenses across containers, Kubernetes, and repositories.
Go - Tailscale36,666 Stars
A WireGuard-based networking client whose tailscaled daemon and CLI connect devices to a private network.
Go
Report incorrect information
Tell us if any listing information is incorrect or outdated.