cbapi: Carbon Black API for Python

Release v1.3.2.

cbapi provides a straightforward interface to the Cb Protection and Response REST APIs. This library provides a Pythonic layer to access the raw power of the REST APIs of both products, making it trivial to do the easy stuff and handling all of the “sharp corners” behind the scenes for you. Take a look:

>>> from cbapi.response import CbResponseAPI, Process, Binary, Sensor
>>> #
>>> # Create our CbAPI object
>>> #
>>> c = CbResponseAPI()
>>> #
>>> # take the first process that ran notepad.exe, download the binary and read the first two bytes
>>> #
>>> c.select(Process).where('process_name:notepad.exe').first().binary.file.read(2)
'MZ'
>>> #
>>> # if you want a specific ID, you can put it straight into the .select() call:
>>> #
>>> binary = c.select(Binary, "24DA05ADE2A978E199875DA0D859E7EB")
>>> #
>>> # select all sensors that have ran notepad
>>> #
>>> sensors = set()
>>> for proc in c.select(Process).where('process_name:evil.exe'):
...     sensors.add(proc.sensor)
>>> #
>>> # iterate over all sensors and isolate
>>> #
>>> for s in sensors:
...     s.network_isolation_enabled = True
...     s.save()

If you’re more a Cb Protection fellow, then you’re in luck as well:

>>> from cbapi.protection.models import FileInstance
>>> from cbapi.protection import CbProtectionAPI
>>> #
>>> # Create our Cb Protection API object
>>> #
>>> p = CbProtectionAPI()
>>> #
>>> # Select the first file instance
>>> #
>>> fi = p.select(FileInstance).first()
>>> #
>>> # print that computer's hostname. This automatically "joins" with the Computer API object.
>>> #
>>> fi.computer.name
u'DOMAIN\\MYHOSTNAME'
>>> #
>>> # change the policy ID
>>> #
>>> fi.computer.policyId = 3
>>> fi.computer.save()

As of version 1.2, cbapi now provides support for Cb Defense too!

>>> from cbapi.defense.models import Device
>>> from cbapi.defense import CbDefenseAPI
>>> #
>>> # Create our Cb Defense API object
>>> #
>>> p = CbDefenseAPI()
>>> #
>>> # Select any devices that have the hostname WIN-IA9NQ1GN8OI and an internal IP address of 192.168.215.150
>>> #
>>> devices = c.select(Device).where('hostNameExact:WIN-IA9NQ1GN8OI').and_("ipAddress:192.168.215.150").first()
>>> #
>>> # Change those devices' policy into the Windows_Restrictive_Workstation policy.
>>> #
>>> for dev in devices:
>>>     dev.policyName = "Restrictive_Windows_Workstation"
>>>     dev.save()

Major Features

  • Enhanced Live Response API
    The new cbapi now provides a robust interface to the Cb Response Live Response capability. Easily create Live Response sessions, initiate commands on remote hosts, and pull down data as necessary to make your Incident Response process much more efficient and automated.
  • Consistent API for Cb Response, Protection and Defense platforms
    We now support Cb Response, Protection and Defense users in the same API layer. Even better, the object model is the same for both; if you know one API you can easily transition to the other. cbapi hides all the differences between the three REST APIs behind a single, consistent Python-like interface.
  • Enhanced Performance
    cbapi now provides a built in caching layer to reduce the query load on the Carbon Black server. This is especially useful when taking advantage of cbapi’s new “joining” features. You can transparently access, for example, the binary associated with a given process in Cb Response. Since many processes may be associated with the same binary, it does not make sense to repeatedly request the same binary information from the server over and over again. Therefore cbapi now caches this information to avoid unnecessary requests.
  • Reduce Complexity
    cbapi now provides a friendly - dare I say “fun” - interface to the data. This greatly improves developer productivity and lowers the bar to entry.
  • Python 3 and Python 2 compatible
    Use all the new features and modules available in Python 3 with cbapi. This module is compatible with Python versions 2.6.6 and above, 2.7.x, 3.4.x, and 3.5.x.
  • Better support for multiple Cb servers
    cbapi now introduces the concept of Credential Profiles; named collections of URL, API keys, and optional proxy configuration for connecting to any number of Cb Protection, Defense, or Response servers.

API Credentials

The new cbapi as of version 0.9.0 enforces the use of credential files.

In order to perform any queries via the API, you will need to get the API token for your Cb user. See the documentation on the Developer Network website on how to acquire the API token for Cb Response, Cb Protection, or Cb Defense.

Once you acquire your API token, place it in one of the default credentials file locations:

  • /etc/carbonblack/credentials.response (credentials.protection for Cb Protection, or credentials.defense for Cb Defense)
  • ~/.carbonblack/credentials.response
  • (current working directory) .carbonblack/credentials.response

Credentials found in a later path will overwrite earlier ones.

The credentials are stored in INI format. The name of each credential profile is enclosed in square brackets, followed by key-value pairs providing the necessary credential information:

[default]
url=https://localhost
token=abcdef0123456789abcdef
ssl_verify=False

[prod]
url=https://cbserver.prod.corp.com
token=aaaaaa
ssl_verify=True

[otheruser]
url=https://localhost
token=bbbbbb
ssl_verify=False

The possible options for each credential profile are:

  • url: The base URL of the Cb server. This should include the protocol (https) and the hostname, and nothing else.
  • token: The API token for the user ID. More than one credential profile can be specified for a given server, with different tokens for each.
  • ssl_verify: True or False; controls whether the SSL/TLS certificate presented by the server is validated against the local trusted CA store.
  • proxy: A proxy specification that will be used when connecting to the Cb server. The format is: http://myusername:mypassword@proxy.company.com:8001/ where the hostname of the proxy is proxy.company.com, port 8001, and using username/password myusername and mypassword respectively.
  • ignore_system_proxy: If you have a system-wide proxy specified, setting this to True will force cbapi to bypass the proxy and directly connect to the Cb server.

Future versions of cbapi will also provide the ability to “pin” the TLS certificate so as to provide certificate verification on self-signed or internal CA signed certificates.

Backwards & Forwards Compatibility

The previous versions (0.8.x and earlier) of cbapi and bit9Api are now deprecated and will no longer receive updates. However, existing scripts will work without change as cbapi includes both in its legacy package. The legacy package is imported by default and placed in the top level cbapi namespace when the cbapi module is imported on a Python 2.x interpreter. Therefore, scripts that expect to import cbapi.CbApi will continue to work exactly as they had previously.

Since the old API was not compatible with Python 3, the legacy package is not importable in Python 3.x and therefore legacy scripts cannot run under Python 3.

Once cbapi 1.0.0 is released, the old cbapi.legacy.CbApi will be deprecated and removed entirely no earlier than January 2017. New scripts should use the cbapi.response.rest_api.CbResponseAPI (for Cb Response), cbapi.protection.rest_api.CbProtectionAPI (for Cb Protection), or cbapi.defense.rest_api.CbDefenseAPI API entry points.

The API is frozen as of version 1.0; afterward, any changes in the 1.x version branch will be additions/bug fixes only. Breaking changes to the API will increment the major version number (2.x).

API Documentation

Once you’ve taken a look at the User Guide, read through some of the examples on GitHub, and maybe even written some code of your own, the API documentation can help you get the most out of cbapi by documenting all of the methods available to you.

Indices and tables