Intune on Linux

Intune manages Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux devices that are enrolled with the Microsoft Intune app. It deploys Bash platform scripts, but no Linux app packages. So one root platform script downloads, verifies, installs and configures DefenseClaw. This recipe follows the MDM contract; read that first for the exit codes, detection and logs.

Before you start

• Devices: a distribution and version on Microsoft's list of Intune-supported Linux platforms, enrolled with the Microsoft Intune app, running systemd 239 or later. The package depends on systemd 239. On a host where systemd is not running, the package installs but the deployment stays inactive.
• Release: verify checksums.txt and read the pin of the artifact you deploy, as in What you deliver. Ubuntu needs the .deb, RHEL the .rpm. The payload archive defenseclaw-enterprise-<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz works on both.
• Config: write the config as described in Configuration. Keep the AI Defense key out of it.

1. Host the artifact

Put the package or payload archive on an HTTPS location the devices can reach, for example an Azure Blob Storage container or your artifact server. The wrapper downloads it with curl (or wget) and accepts only https:// URLs. If the download needs a proxy, set DC_HTTPS_PROXY in the next step; only the download uses it.

2. Fill in the wrapper's settings block

Copy packaging/mdm/linux/defenseclaw-enterprise.sh and edit the settings block at the top of your copy. Intune runs the script with no arguments, so every value goes here:

DC_ACTION=ensure
DC_SOURCE_URL="https://downloads.example.com/defenseclaw/defenseclaw-enterprise-1.4.0-linux-amd64.deb"
DC_SOURCE_SHA256="replace-with-the-64-hex-sha256-from-checksums.txt"
DC_TRUST_MODE=hash_pinned
DC_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.4.0"

For GPG trust, when the release ships signatures, set DC_TRUST_MODE=signed, DC_GPG_KEYRING to a root-owned keyring you deploy separately (convert defenseclaw-enterprise-release-key.asc with gpg --dearmor), and DC_SIGNATURE_URL to the artifact's .asc. The wrapper still checks DC_SOURCE_SHA256 when you set it.

Ubuntu and RHEL need different packages. Create one script per distribution and assign each to a device group that holds only that distribution, or use the payload archive in a single script.

Then paste the config between the DEFENSECLAW_CONFIG markers in dc_inline_config. This minimal config protects Claude Code and Codex in observe mode; build yours from Choose the agents to protect:

dc_inline_config() {
    cat <<'DEFENSECLAW_CONFIG'
config_version: 8
deployment_mode: managed_enterprise
data_dir: /var/lib/defenseclaw
policy_dir: /etc/defenseclaw/policies
enterprise:
  profile: standalone
gateway:
  api_bind: 127.0.0.1
  api_port: 18970
guardrail:
  enabled: true
  mode: observe
  connectors:
    claudecode:
      enabled: true
    codex:
      enabled: true
DEFENSECLAW_CONFIG
}

On Linux, data_dir must be exactly /var/lib/defenseclaw. Never put the AI Defense key in the script: Microsoft states that custom scripts must not carry sensitive information.

3. Add the platform script

Go to Devices > Manage devices > Scripts and remediations > Platform scripts > Add > Linux:

Assign it to device groups. On each run the wrapper downloads the artifact, verifies it, installs the package only when its version differs from the installed one, runs ensure with the config, and exits with the lifecycle's code. A busy package manager, for example during unattended upgrades, exits 75 (mdm_package_manager_busy).

4. Report health

The platform script's own run status is the first signal: it fails whenever ensure fails. For a separate health signal, add a second root platform script: a copy of packaging/mdm/linux/detect.sh with DC_REQUIRE_HEALTHY=1 and, optionally, DC_MIN_VERSION="1.4.0" in its settings block. In the default exit format it exits 0 when DefenseClaw is installed, new enough and passes verify, and 1 otherwise, so its run status reports health. Set its retries to No retries.

Intune's custom compliance cannot run detect.sh: Microsoft runs Linux discovery scripts in the signed-in user's context, and DefenseClaw's status is readable only by root.

On the device, the package database answers inventory for the deb and rpm channels:

dpkg-query -W -f='${Status} ${Version}\n' defenseclaw-enterprise
rpm -q defenseclaw-enterprise

Deliver the Cisco AI Defense key

After DefenseClaw is installed, deliver the key once through an administrator channel, such as SSH, your configuration-management tool or a secrets agent that runs as root. First make sure the config turns the feature on; see Cisco AI Defense key.

sudo /opt/defenseclaw/bin/defenseclaw-gateway enterprise secret set \
  --name ai-defense-api-key --from-file /root/ai-defense.key
sudo /opt/defenseclaw/bin/defenseclaw-gateway enterprise secret status

Or, from tooling that can drop a root-only file, run the wrapper with --secret-name ai-defense-api-key --secret-file /path/to/root-only-file. Delete the source file afterwards. Storing the key re-runs ensure, which applies it.

Change the config, upgrade and roll back

• Change the config: edit the config in the script and save it. The next run validates and applies it. An invalid config fails the run with config_invalid and leaves the installed config unchanged.
• Upgrade: host the new artifact, then update DC_SOURCE_URL, DC_SOURCE_SHA256 and DC_PRODUCT_VERSION. Keep each host on one channel: a host installed from the deb or rpm refuses a payload-archive upgrade.
• Roll back: rpm -U refuses an older rpm. See Roll back.

Remove DefenseClaw

First remove the devices from the install script's assignment. Then assign a root platform script with packaging/mdm/linux/uninstall.sh. It stops and removes the services, removes DefenseClaw's hooks and machine-policy entries (administrator entries stay), and removes the deb or rpm. Set DC_PURGE=1 in its settings block to also remove /etc/defenseclaw (config, policies, key), the state and the logs. On a host with nothing installed it exits 0, so repeated runs are harmless.

Notes

• SELinux: after installing files, the lifecycle runs restorecon on /opt/defenseclaw and /etc/defenseclaw, so they get their default contexts.
• Logs: the wrapper writes /var/log/defenseclaw-enterprise-mdm.log (root, 0600). The package's own ensure result is in /var/lib/defenseclaw-enterprise/last-package-result.json.
• Status on a device:

sudo /opt/defenseclaw/bin/defenseclaw-gateway enterprise linux status --json