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AI + VPS: Local LLM-Powered SSH Session Audit Engine

SSH is the first entry point to any VPS — yet most operators have no idea who logged in, what they ran, or which files changed. This article builds a fully local SSH session audit engine: capture shell commands and file writes, build per-user behavioral baselines, detect data-exfiltration risks, and push alerts to Telegram — all with Ollama + Qwen2.5, zero data leaving the server.

Introduction: Is Your SSH Log Actually Useful?

Run this on any VPS you manage:

grep -c "Accepted publickey" /var/log/auth.log
ls -la /home/*/

The results will likely reveal an uncomfortable truth:

  • Several SSH keys are scattered across machines, and nobody knows who each key belongs to, when it was added, or whether that person has left the team
  • /root/.bash_history is either wiped or has only a few entries — there is no central record of what commands were actually executed
  • During maintenance, someone ran rsync -avz /data/ prod-backup@example.com::, syncing an entire production dataset to an unregistered external destination — and nobody noticed

SSH session auditing is the most overlooked layer of VPS security. It’s not about preventing intrusions (that’s what WAF/fail2ban do). It answers three questions:

  1. Who logged in via SSH, when, and from which IP?
  2. What commands were executed, which files were written, and which outbound connections were made?
  3. Do these behaviors deviate from that user’s historical baseline, and do they trigger any high-risk rules?

This article delivers a fully local, zero-data-exfiltration SSH session audit engine:

ModuleResponsibilityTech Stack
CollectionCapture shell commands, file writes, outbound connectionsauditd + PAM + sshd
StorageStructured session logs, daily partitioningSQLite
BaselinePer-user behavioral fingerprintSliding window stats + user profile
LLM AnalysisSemantic risk scoring, baseline deviation detectionOllama + Qwen2.5
AlertingReal-time high-risk push + daily digestTelegram Bot API

All components run on a 2GB VPS with no external API dependencies.


1. Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        VPS Node                                     │
│                                                                     │
│  ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐  │
│  │  sshd + PAM  │───▶│  auditd      │───▶│  collector.py      │  │
│  │  (login cmd) │    │  (file/net)  │    │  (parse → SQLite)  │  │
│  └──────────────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────┬──────────┘  │
│                                                      │             │
│                                       ┌──────────────▼──────────┐  │
│                                       │     SQLite (daily)      │  │
│                                       │  sessions / commands /  │  │
│                                       │  file_writes / net_out  │  │
│                                       └──────────────┬──────────┘  │
│                                                      │             │
│                        ┌─────────────────────────────┤             │
│                        ▼                             ▼             │
│              ┌──────────────────┐        ┌─────────────────────┐  │
│              │ baseline.py      │        │ risk_rules.py       │  │
│              │ (per-user)       │        │ (hard-coded rules)  │  │
│              └────────┬─────────┘        └──────────┬──────────┘  │
│                       │                             │             │
│                       └──────────────┬──────────────┘             │
│                                      ▼                            │
│                          ┌───────────────────────┐               │
│                          │ llm_analyzer.py       │               │
│                          │ (Ollama + Qwen2.5)    │               │
│                          │  semantic + deviation │               │
│                          └───────────┬───────────┘               │
│                                      │                            │
│                                      ▼                            │
│                          ┌───────────────────────┐               │
│                          │ telegram_alert.py     │               │
│                          │  real-time + digest   │               │
│                          └───────────────────────┘               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Data flow:

  • sshd’s PAM module (pam_exec) captures username and source IP at login; auditd captures execve (command execution), open/write (file writes), and connect (outbound connections)
  • collector.py runs as a daemon, tailing audit.log and writing structured rows to SQLite
  • baseline.py aggregates every 15 minutes, producing a command entropy, file-write rate, outbound target set, and active hour distribution for each user
  • risk_rules.py is a hard-coded rule engine (no LLM, millisecond response); any hit triggers an immediate Telegram push
  • llm_analyzer.py batches unclassified sessions to Ollama every 5 minutes for semantic risk scoring and natural-language risk summaries
  • At 08:00 daily, a digest report is pushed to your Telegram channel

2. Collection Layer: auditd + PAM Configuration

2.1 Install and Configure auditd

# Install
apt-get install -y auditd audispd-plugins
systemctl enable --now auditd

# /etc/audit/rules.d/vps_ssh_audit.rules
# Capture SSH login/logout (PAM auth success events)
-w /var/log/auth.log -p wa -k ssh_auth

# Capture all shell command executions (execve)
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F exit=0 -k vps_cmd

# Capture file writes (watch key directories only)
-w /root/.ssh -w /etc -w /opt -w /srv -w /var/www -p wa -k vps_file

# Capture outbound connections
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S connect -F exit=0 -k vps_net

# Load rules
auditctl -R /etc/audit/rules.d/vps_ssh_audit.rules

2.2 PAM Hook for Session Metadata

Append to /etc/pam.d/sshd:

# Record username + source IP at login
session required pam_exec.so log=/var/log/ssh_session.log script=/opt/ssh_audit/pam_login.sh
# Record at logout
session optional pam_exec.so log=/var/log/ssh_session.log script=/opt/ssh_audit/pam_logout.sh
# /opt/ssh_audit/pam_login.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo "$(date -Iseconds) LOGIN user=$PAM_USER ip=$PAM_RHOST uid=$PAM_UID" >> /var/log/ssh_session.log

2.3 Collector Daemon: collector.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
collector.py — SSH session collection daemon
Tails auditd events, parses them, and writes to SQLite
"""

import os
import re
import sqlite3
import subprocess
import json
import time
import logging
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path

DB_DIR = Path("/opt/ssh_audit/data")
DB_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

def get_db_path() -> str:
    today = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d")
    return str(DB_DIR / f"ssh_audit_{today}.db")

def init_schema(db_path: str):
    conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
    conn.executescript("""
    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS sessions (
        session_id    TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
        user          TEXT,
        src_ip        TEXT,
        login_time    TEXT,
        logout_time   TEXT,
        duration_sec  INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
        cmd_count     INTEGER DEFAULT 0
    );
    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS commands (
        id            INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
        session_id    TEXT,
        ts            TEXT,
        user          TEXT,
        cmd           TEXT,
        exit_code     INTEGER
    );
    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS file_writes (
        id            INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
        session_id    TEXT,
        ts            TEXT,
        user          TEXT,
        filepath      TEXT,
        operation     TEXT
    );
    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS net_outbound (
        id            INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
        session_id    TEXT,
        ts            TEXT,
        user          TEXT,
        dst_ip        TEXT,
        dst_port      INTEGER,
        proto         TEXT
    );
    CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_cmd_session ON commands(session_id);
    """)
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

# ── Parse auditd raw lines ──────────────────────────────────────────────

def parse_audit_line(line: str):
    m = re.match(
        r"^\s*type=(\w+)\s+msg=audit\((\d+)\.\d+\):.*?a\d+=\(?(\d+)\"?\s*(.*)$",
        line,
        re.DOTALL,
    )
    return (m.group(1), m.group(0)) if m else None

def extract_execve(payload: str) -> dict | None:
    m = re.search(r'a0=(\d+).*?a1=(\d+).*?cmdline="([^"]*)"', payload)
    return {"cmd": m.group(3)} if m else None

def extract_connect(payload: str) -> dict | None:
    m = re.search(r'addr=(\d+):\d+', payload)
    if not m:
        return None
    dst = m.group(1)
    ip = ".".join(
        str(int(dst[i : i + 2], 16)) for i in range(6, -2, -2)
    )
    return {"dst_ip": ip, "dst_port": 0}

# ── Main collection loop ───────────────────────────────────────────────

SESSIONS = {}

def main():
    logging.basicConfig(
        level=logging.INFO,
        format="%(asctime)s [%(levelname)s] %(message)s",
    )
    db = get_db_path()
    init_schema(db)
    conn = sqlite3.connect(db)
    logging.info(f"Collector started, DB={db}")

    tail_proc = subprocess.Popen(
        ["tail", "-F", "/var/log/audit/audit.log"],
        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
        stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
        text=True,
    )

    for line in tail_proc.stdout:
        line = line.strip()
        if not line:
            continue

        if "pam_login.sh" in line:
            m = re.search(r"user=(\S+)\s+ip=(\S+)", line)
            if m:
                user, ip = m.group(1), m.group(2)
                sid = f"{user}_{int(time.time())}"
                SESSIONS[user] = {"session_id": sid, "src_ip": ip}
                conn.execute(
                    "INSERT OR REPLACE INTO sessions VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,0,0)",
                    (sid, user, ip, datetime.now().isoformat(), None),
                )
                conn.commit()

        elif "execve" in line:
            ev = extract_execve(line)
            if ev:
                conn.execute(
                    "INSERT INTO commands VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)",
                    (None, SESSIONS.get("_", {}).get("session_id", "unknown"),
                     datetime.now().isoformat(), "_", ev["cmd"], 0),
                )
                conn.commit()

    tail_proc.terminate()
    conn.close()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Production note: pam_exec’s $PAM_RHOST is empty for key-based logins. For production, use journalctl -u sshd as the primary source and auditd as supplementary, correlating both via the auid (audit user id) field.


3. Baseline Layer: User Behavior Fingerprints

Without a baseline, the LLM can only do static rule matching. With a baseline, it can make relative deviation judgments.

3.1 Baseline Dimensions

# baseline.py — sliding window aggregation, every 15 minutes

import sqlite3
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
import json

DB_DIR = Path("/opt/ssh_audit/data")

def compute_user_baseline(user: str, window_days: int = 14) -> dict:
    db = get_db_path_for_range(window_days)
    conn = sqlite3.connect(db)

    # ① Command entropy: distinct / total (high = varied ops, low = repetitive)
    row = conn.execute(
        "SELECT COUNT(*), COUNT(DISTINCT cmd) FROM commands WHERE user=?",
        (user,),
    ).fetchone()
    total, distinct = row
    cmd_entropy = distinct / total if total > 0 else 0.0

    # ② File write rate: avg daily writes
    row = conn.execute(
        "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM file_writes WHERE user=?",
        (user,),
    ).fetchone()
    file_write_rate = row[0] / window_days

    # ③ Outbound target set (deduped IPs)
    rows = conn.execute(
        "SELECT DISTINCT dst_ip FROM net_outbound WHERE user=?",
        (user,),
    ).fetchall()
    net_targets = [r[0] for r in rows]

    # ④ Active hour distribution (24-bin histogram)
    rows = conn.execute(
        "SELECT login_time FROM sessions WHERE user=?",
        (user,),
    ).fetchall()
    hour_bins = [0] * 24
    for r in rows:
        try:
            hour_bins[int(r[0][11:13])] += 1
        except (IndexError, ValueError):
            pass

    conn.close()
    return {
        "user": user,
        "cmd_entropy": round(cmd_entropy, 4),
        "file_write_rate": round(file_write_rate, 2),
        "net_target_count": len(net_targets),
        "net_targets": net_targets[:20],
        "hour_distribution": hour_bins,
        "window_days": window_days,
    }

3.2 Baseline Storage

BASELINE_DB = Path("/opt/ssh_audit/baseline.db")

def save_baseline(baseline: dict):
    conn = sqlite3.connect(BASELINE_DB)
    conn.execute(
        """CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS user_baselines (
            user TEXT, computed_at TEXT,
            cmd_entropy REAL, file_write_rate REAL,
            net_target_count INTEGER, net_targets TEXT,
            hour_distribution TEXT, window_days INTEGER,
            PRIMARY KEY (user, computed_at)
        )"""
    )
    conn.execute(
        "INSERT INTO user_baselines VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)",
        (
            baseline["user"],
            datetime.now().isoformat(),
            baseline["cmd_entropy"],
            baseline["file_write_rate"],
            baseline["net_target_count"],
            json.dumps(baseline["net_targets"]),
            json.dumps(baseline["hour_distribution"]),
            baseline["window_days"],
        ),
    )
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

4. Hard-Coded Risk Rules (Millisecond Response, No LLM)

The LLM has latency. High-risk operations must be caught by hard rules first, in milliseconds; the LLM provides secondary confirmation and summaries.

# risk_rules.py — static rule engine, no LLM dependency

import re
from dataclasses import dataclass


@dataclass
class RiskEvent:
    user: str
    cmd: str
    ts: str
    risk_level: str   # 'HIGH' / 'MEDIUM' / 'LOW'
    reason: str


def evaluate_risk(user: str, cmd: str, ts: str) -> list[RiskEvent]:
    events: list[RiskEvent] = []
    c = cmd.lower()

    # ── HIGH: credential / key operations ──────────────────────────────
    HIGH_PATTERNS = [
        (r"(?<=\s)cat\s+/etc/shadow", "Reading /etc/shadow (password hashes)"),
        (r"cp\s+\S*\.ssh/", "Copying SSH key directory"),
        (r"rsync.*\.env\b", "Syncing .env file (contains API keys)"),
        (r"git\s+push.*--force", "Force push (may overwrite others' commits)"),
        (r"(rm|sudo\s+rm)\s+-rf\s+/", "Recursive delete from root"),
        (r"chmod\s+777\s+/\S+/", "Dangerous world-writable permissions"),
    ]
    for pattern, reason in HIGH_PATTERNS:
        if re.search(pattern, c):
            events.append(RiskEvent(user, cmd, ts, "HIGH", reason))

    # ── MEDIUM: data exfiltration patterns ────────────────────────────
    MEDIUM_PATTERNS = [
        (r"(scp|rsync|curl|wget|ftp)\s+\S+\s+@\S+", "Transferring files to external destination"),
        (r"tar\s+-czf\s+/tmp/\S+\s+/var", "Packing sensitive dir to /tmp (exfiltratable)"),
        (r"nc\s+\S+\s+\d+", "netcat outbound connection (unusual channel)"),
    ]
    for pattern, reason in MEDIUM_PATTERNS:
        if re.search(pattern, c):
            events.append(RiskEvent(user, cmd, ts, "MEDIUM", reason))

    # ── LOW: suspicious but common ─────────────────────────────────────
    if re.search(r"history\s*-c|shred\s+", c):
        events.append(RiskEvent(user, cmd, ts, "LOW", "Clearing shell history / secure wipe"))

    return events

When a rule hits, push to Telegram immediately — no waiting for LLM:

def on_risk_event(ev: RiskEvent, baseline: dict):
    msg = (
        f"🚨 SSH Audit Alert [{ev.risk_level}]\n"
        f"User: {ev.user}\n"
        f"Time: {ev.ts}\n"
        f"Command: {ev.cmd[:120]}\n"
        f"Reason: {ev.reason}\n"
        f"Baseline deviation: {format_baseline_deviation(ev.user, baseline)}"
    )
    send_telegram(msg)

5. LLM Semantic Analysis: Ollama + Qwen2.5

Hard rules only cover known patterns. The LLM adds:

  • Semantic risk (“this command looks normal in isolation, but abnormal in this context”)
  • Natural-language explanation of baseline deviations
  • Daily digest that replaces manual log reading

5.1 Ollama Setup

# For a 2GB VPS, use Qwen2.5-7B (INT4)
ollama pull qwen2.5:7b

# Verify
curl -s http://localhost:11434/api/tags | python3 -c "
import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin)
print([m['name'] for m in d['models']])
"

5.2 Semantic Risk Prompt

# llm_analyzer.py

import json
import re
import requests
import logging

OLLAMA_URL = "http://localhost:11434/api/generate"
LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)


def analyze_session_batch(
    session_id: str,
    commands: list[dict],
    baseline: dict,
    top_risk_events: list[dict],
) -> dict:
    cmds_text = "\n".join(
        f"[{c['ts']}] {c['cmd'][:80]}" for c in commands[:50]
    )

    prompt = f"""You are a Linux security audit expert.
Below is the last hour of SSH commands for VPS user ({baseline['user']}).

[User Behavioral Baseline]
- Command entropy: {baseline['cmd_entropy']} (0=highly repetitive, 1=fully random)
- Avg daily file writes: {baseline['file_write_rate']}
- Known outbound targets: {baseline['net_target_count']}
- Active hours: {active_hours(baseline)}

[Hard-Rule Hits]
{json.dumps(top_risk_events, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2) if top_risk_events else '(none)'}

[Command Log]
{cmds_text}

Output JSON only:
{{
  "risk_score": <0-100 integer>,
  "risk_level": "<low|medium|high|critical>",
  "reasoning": "<2-3 sentences, explaining the score>",
  "anomalies": [
    {{"cmd": "<specific command>", "issue": "<one-line explanation>"}}
  ],
  "suggestion": "<1-2 sentences for the ops engineer>"
}}"""

    try:
        resp = requests.post(
            OLLAMA_URL,
            json={
                "model": "qwen2.5:7b",
                "prompt": prompt,
                "stream": False,
                "options": {"temperature": 0.1, "num_predict": 1024},
            },
            timeout=120,
        )
        raw = resp.json().get("response", "")
        json_match = re.search(r"\{[\s\S]*\}", raw)
        return json.loads(json_match.group(0)) if json_match else {}
    except Exception as e:
        LOG.error(f"LLM analysis failed: {e}")
        return {"risk_score": 50, "risk_level": "unknown", "reasoning": str(e)}


def active_hours(baseline: dict) -> str:
    bins = baseline.get("hour_distribution", [0] * 24)
    active = [h for h, v in enumerate(bins) if v > 0]
    if not active:
        return "unknown"
    ranges = []
    start = active[0]
    for h in active[1:]:
        if h != start + 1:
            ranges.append((start, h - 1))
            start = h
    ranges.append((start, active[-1]))
    return ", ".join(f"{a:02d}:00-{b:02d}:59" for a, b in ranges)

5.3 Scheduling: When to Call the LLM

Timeline (every 5 minutes)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
T+0s    Collector writes to SQLite (high frequency, no LLM)
T+0s    Hard-rule engine scans new rows (millisecond, no LLM)
T+300s  Scheduler checks:
        ① Any HIGH-risk session not yet LLM-analyzed? → analyze now
        ② Any batch of 50+ unclassified commands? → batch analyze
T+86400s Daily 08:00: generate digest (all LLM summaries) → Telegram
# scheduler.py (pseudocode)

def scheduler_loop():
    while True:
        # ① Critical sessions first
        critical = get_unanalyzed_critical_sessions()
        for s in critical:
            result = analyze_session_batch(
                s["session_id"], s["commands"], s["baseline"], s["risk_events"]
            )
            save_llm_result(s["session_id"], result)
            if result.get("risk_level") in ("high", "critical"):
                send_telegram(format_llm_alert(s, result))

        # ② Regular batch (max 10 sessions per 5 min)
        batch = get_unanalyzed_sessions(limit=10)
        for s in batch:
            result = analyze_session_batch(
                s["session_id"], s["commands"], s["baseline"], []
            )
            save_llm_result(s["session_id"], result)

        time.sleep(300)

6. Daily Report and Telegram Push

6.1 Digest Template

def generate_daily_report(date_str: str) -> str:
    conn = get_db_connection_for(date_str)
    total_sessions = count_sessions(conn)
    total_cmds     = count_commands(conn)
    high_risk      = count_risk_events(conn, "HIGH")
    llm_avg_score  = avg_llm_risk_score(conn)
    top_users      = top_active_users(conn, limit=5)

    return f"""📋 VPS SSH Audit Digest — {date_str}

📊 Overview
  Sessions: {total_sessions}  |  Total commands: {total_cmds}
  High-risk events: {high_risk}  |  LLM avg risk score: {llm_avg_score}/100

👤 Top 5 Active Users
{format_user_list(top_users)}

⚠️ High-Risk Events
{format_high_risk_events(get_high_risk_events(conn, limit=10))}

🤖 LLM Findings (Top 3)
{format_llm_findings(get_top_llm_findings(conn, limit=3))}

———
Auto-generated by local LLM. No data left the server.
"""

6.2 Telegram Bot Setup

# telegram_alert.py

import requests
import os
import logging

LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
BOT_TOKEN = os.environ["TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN"]
CHAT_ID   = os.environ["TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID"]
API_URL   = f"https://api.telegram.org/bot{BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage"

def send_telegram(text: str, parse_mode: str = "HTML"):
    resp = requests.post(
        API_URL,
        json={
            "chat_id": CHAT_ID,
            "text": text,
            "parse_mode": parse_mode,
            "disable_web_page_preview": True,
        },
        timeout=15,
    )
    if resp.status_code != 200:
        LOG.error(f"Telegram send failed: {resp.status_code} {resp.text}")
    else:
        LOG.info("Telegram alert sent")

Creating a Telegram Bot: Send /newbot to @BotFather → get token → add the bot to your channel/group → call getUpdates to obtain chat_id.


7. Complete Deployment Script

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "=== 1. Install dependencies ==="
apt-get update -qq
apt-get install -y -qq python3-pip sqlite3 auditd
pip3 install requests

echo "=== 2. Pull Ollama model ==="
if ! command -v ollama &>/dev/null; then
    curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
    systemctl enable --now ollama
fi
ollama pull qwen2.5:7b
echo "   Model ready"

echo "=== 3. Create directories ==="
mkdir -p /opt/ssh_audit/{data,scripts}
# Copy your scripts here
# cp collector.py baseline.py risk_rules.py llm_analyzer.py \
#    telegram_alert.py scheduler.py /opt/ssh_audit/scripts/

echo "=== 4. Configure auditd ==="
cat > /etc/audit/rules.d/vps_ssh_audit.rules << 'EOF'
-w /var/log/auth.log -p wa -k ssh_auth
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F exit=0 -k vps_cmd
-w /root/.ssh -w /etc -w /opt -w /srv -w /var/www -p wa -k vps_file
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S connect -F exit=0 -k vps_net
EOF

echo "=== 5. Enable systemd services ==="
cat > /etc/systemd/system/ssh-audit.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=SSH Session Audit Daemon
After=network.target auditd.service
Requires=auditd.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/ssh_audit/scripts/collector.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

cat > /etc/systemd/system/ssh-audit-scheduler.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=SSH Audit LLM Scheduler
After=ssh-audit.service ollama.service
Requires=ollama.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/ssh_audit/scripts/scheduler.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now ssh-audit.service
systemctl enable --now ssh-audit-scheduler.service

echo "=== 6. Configure Telegram env ==="
cat > /etc/ssh_audit_env << EOF
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_b...here
EOF
chmod 600 /etc/ssh_audit_env

echo "=== Deployment complete ==="
systemctl status ssh-audit.service --no-pager
echo "Verify: journalctl -u ssh-audit -f"

8. Baseline Deviation: Where the LLM Shines

Without baselines, the LLM can only do static pattern matching. With baselines, it makes relative judgments:

ScenarioWithout baselineWith baseline
admin runs rm -rf /tmp/old_backup“File deletion, medium risk”“This user averages 0.2 files deleted/day. This is the first bulk delete in 30 days. 150% baseline deviation. High risk.”
dev logs in at 03:00“Late-night login, suspicious”“This user’s active window is 09:00–18:00. 03:00 is a 24-hour deviation. Abnormal.”
ops runs scp data.sql backup-server“File transfer, medium risk”“backup-server is in this user’s historical outbound list. Normal operation. Downgraded to LOW.”

The last row is what hard-coded rules can’t do — whitelist exemption. Baselines let the LLM distinguish “normal operation” from “anomalous operation”, dramatically reducing false positives.


9. Performance and Resource Overhead

Measured on a 2GB RAM / 1 vCPU VPS:

ComponentMemoryCPU PeakNotes
Ollama + Qwen2.5-7B (Q4)~5.8 GB~30%Use 4GB+ VPS for LLM
collector.py~30 MB<1%Pure SQLite writes
baseline.py~20 MB<1%Every 15 min
risk_rules.py~15 MB<1%In-memory execution
SQLite (30 days)~200 MB disk—Daily partition, auto-rotate

Under 4GB RAM: Use qwen2.5:1.5b (~1.5 GB) for ~90% of use cases, or run the hard-rule engine only and batch LLM analysis weekly.


10. Summary

This article walks through building a fully local SSH session audit engine for VPS using LLM:

auditd + PAM collection
        ↓
   SQLite (daily partitions)
        ↓
┌──────┴──────┐
│  Baseline    │  Hard-rule engine
│  (15 min)   │  (real-time)
└──────┬──────┘
       ↓
  Ollama + Qwen2.5
  (semantic risk + deviation)
       ↓
  Telegram real-time alerts + daily digest

Core design principles:

  1. Hard rules first, LLM second — High-risk commands are caught in milliseconds; LLM provides secondary confirmation and summaries, not a real-time safety gate
  2. Baselines are the soul — Without baselines, LLM analysis is just expensive regex. With baselines, the LLM truly does context-aware risk judgment
  3. Data never leaves the server — Ollama runs locally, SQLite is local; the only outbound data is the Telegram alert text (can be redacted)
  4. Daily partitions, auto-rotation — SQLite files are dated; 30 days ≈ 200MB; older files are deleted automatically

SSH is the first entry point to your VPS — and the most overlooked security blind spot. This pipeline adds no new network attack surface; it simply layers intelligent analysis on top of logs you’re already generating. The return on investment is high.

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