managing-elastic-siem

name	managing-elastic-siem
description	Use when working with Elastic Siem — elastic Security SIEM detection management, alert triage, rule configuration, and threat hunting. Covers security alerts, detection rules, timeline investigations, endpoint events, and case management. Use when investigating security alerts, reviewing detection rule health, analyzing threat patterns, or managing Elastic Security configurations.
connection_type	elastic-siem
preload	false

Elastic Security SIEM Management Skill

Manage and analyze Elastic Security alerts, detection rules, cases, and threat hunting queries.

API Conventions

Authentication

All API calls use Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY -- injected automatically. Never hardcode tokens.

Base URL

https://$ELASTIC_HOST:9200 (Elasticsearch) and https://$KIBANA_HOST:5601 (Kibana Security API)

Core Helper Function

#!/bin/bash

elastic_api() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -H "kbn-xsrf: true" \
            "${KIBANA_HOST}${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -H "kbn-xsrf: true" \
            "${KIBANA_HOST}${endpoint}"
    fi
}

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Extract only needed fields with jq
• Target <=50 lines per script output
• Always filter by relevant time range to avoid huge response sets
• Never dump full API responses

Discovery Phase

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Open Alerts Summary ==="
elastic_api POST "/api/detection_engine/signals/search" \
    '{"query":{"bool":{"filter":[{"term":{"signal.status":"open"}}]}},"size":0,"aggs":{"by_severity":{"terms":{"field":"signal.rule.severity"}}}}' \
    | jq '{total_open: .hits.total.value, by_severity: [.aggregations.by_severity.buckets[] | {severity: .key, count: .doc_count}]}'

echo ""
echo "=== Detection Rules ==="
elastic_api GET "/api/detection_engine/rules/_find?per_page=1" \
    | jq '"Total rules: \(.total), Page: \(.page)"' -r

echo ""
echo "=== Active Cases ==="
elastic_api GET "/api/cases/_find?status=open&perPage=1" \
    | jq '"Open cases: \(.total)"' -r

Analysis Phase

Alert Triage

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Critical/High Open Alerts (last 7 days) ==="
elastic_api POST "/api/detection_engine/signals/search" \
    '{"query":{"bool":{"filter":[{"term":{"signal.status":"open"}},{"range":{"@timestamp":{"gte":"now-7d"}}},{"terms":{"signal.rule.severity":["critical","high"]}}]}},"size":20,"sort":[{"@timestamp":"desc"}]}' \
    | jq -r '.hits.hits[]._source | "\(.["@timestamp"][0:16])\t\(.signal.rule.severity)\t\(.signal.rule.name[0:50])\t\(.host.name // "N/A")"' \
    | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Alerts by Rule ==="
elastic_api POST "/api/detection_engine/signals/search" \
    '{"query":{"bool":{"filter":[{"term":{"signal.status":"open"}}]}},"size":0,"aggs":{"by_rule":{"terms":{"field":"signal.rule.name","size":10}}}}' \
    | jq -r '.aggregations.by_rule.buckets[] | "\(.doc_count)\t\(.key[0:60])"' | column -t

Detection Rules Health

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Rules by Status ==="
for status in enabled disabled; do
    COUNT=$(elastic_api GET "/api/detection_engine/rules/_find?filter=alert.attributes.enabled:${status}&per_page=1" | jq '.total')
    echo "$status: $COUNT"
done

echo ""
echo "=== Failed Rules ==="
elastic_api GET "/api/detection_engine/rules/_find?filter=alert.attributes.executionStatus.status:error&per_page=20" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.name[0:40])\t\(.execution_summary.last_execution.status)\t\(.execution_summary.last_execution.message[0:50])"' \
    | column -t | head -15

Case Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Open Cases ==="
elastic_api GET "/api/cases/_find?status=open&perPage=20&sortField=createdAt&sortOrder=desc" \
    | jq -r '.cases[] | "\(.created_at[0:16])\t\(.severity)\t\(.status)\t\(.title[0:50])\t\(.totalAlerts) alerts"' \
    | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Cases by Assignee ==="
elastic_api GET "/api/cases/_find?perPage=100&status=open" \
    | jq -r '[.cases[] | .assignees[0].uid // "unassigned"] | group_by(.) | map({assignee: .[0], count: length}) | sort_by(.count) | reverse | .[] | "\(.assignee): \(.count)"' | head -10

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Elastic Siem Report
════════════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• kbn-xsrf header: Required for all Kibana API POST/PUT/DELETE requests
• Signal vs alert: Older versions use signal, newer use alert -- check your version
• Detection engine API path: Changed between versions -- verify /api/detection_engine/ vs /api/alerting/
• Pagination: Use per_page and page params -- default page size is 20
• ECS fields: Elastic Common Schema field names differ from raw log fields