diff --git a/nixos/modules/security/auditd.nix b/nixos/modules/security/auditd.nix
index 45ea1d9b2af0..ff20cc2fbbf7 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/security/auditd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/security/auditd.nix
@@ -4,16 +4,260 @@
   pkgs,
   ...
 }:
+let
+  cfg = config.security.auditd;
 
+  settingsType =
+    with lib.types;
+    nullOr (oneOf [
+      bool
+      nonEmptyStr
+      path
+      int
+    ]);
+
+  pluginOptions = lib.types.submodule {
+    options = {
+      active = lib.mkEnableOption "Whether to enable this plugin";
+      direction = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.enum [
+          "in"
+          "out"
+        ];
+        default = "out";
+        description = ''
+          The option is dictated by the plugin. In or out are the only choices.
+          You cannot make a plugin operate in a way it wasn't  designed just by
+          changing this option. This option is to give a clue to the event dispatcher
+          about which direction events flow.
+
+          ::: {.note}
+          Inbound events are not supported yet.
+          :::
+        '';
+      };
+      path = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.path;
+        description = "This is the absolute path to the plugin executable.";
+      };
+      type = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.enum [ "always" ];
+        readOnly = true;
+        default = "always";
+        description = ''
+          This tells the dispatcher how the plugin wants to be run. There is only
+          one valid option, `always`, which means the plugin is external and should
+          always be run. The default is `always` since there are no more builtin plugins.
+        '';
+      };
+      args = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.nullOr (lib.types.listOf lib.types.nonEmptyStr);
+        default = null;
+        description = ''
+          This allows you to pass arguments to the child program.
+          Generally plugins do not take arguments and have their own
+          config file that instructs them how they should be configured.
+        '';
+      };
+      format = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.enum [
+          "binary"
+          "string"
+        ];
+        default = "string";
+        description = ''
+          Binary passes the data exactly as the audit event dispatcher gets it from
+          the audit daemon. The string option tells the dispatcher to completely change
+          the event into a string suitable for parsing with the audit parsing library.
+        '';
+      };
+      settings = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.nullOr (
+          lib.types.submodule {
+            freeformType = lib.types.attrsOf settingsType;
+          }
+        );
+        default = null;
+        description = "Plugin-specific config file to link to /etc/audit/<plugin>.conf";
+      };
+    };
+  };
+
+  prepareConfigValue =
+    v:
+    if lib.isBool v then
+      (if v then "yes" else "no")
+    else if lib.isList v then
+      lib.concatStringsSep " " (map prepareConfigValue v)
+    else
+      builtins.toString v;
+  prepareConfigText =
+    conf:
+    lib.concatLines (
+      lib.mapAttrsToList (k: v: if v == null then "#${k} =" else "${k} = ${prepareConfigValue v}") conf
+    );
+in
 {
-  options.security.auditd.enable = lib.mkEnableOption "the Linux Audit daemon";
+  options.security.auditd = {
+    enable = lib.mkEnableOption "the Linux Audit daemon";
+
+    settings = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.submodule {
+        freeformType = lib.types.attrsOf settingsType;
+        options = {
+          # space_left needs to be larger than admin_space_left, yet they default to be the same if left open.
+          space_left = lib.mkOption {
+            type = lib.types.either lib.types.int (lib.types.strMatching "[0-9]+%");
+            default = 75;
+            description = ''
+              If the free space in the filesystem containing log_file drops below this value, the audit daemon takes the action specified by
+              {option}`space_left_action`. If the value of {option}`space_left` is specified as a whole number, it is interpreted as an absolute size in mebibytes
+              (MiB). If the value is specified as a number between 1 and 99 followed by a percentage sign (e.g., 5%), the audit daemon calculates
+              the absolute size in megabytes based on the size of the filesystem containing {option}`log_file`. (E.g., if the filesystem containing
+              {option}`log_file` is 2 gibibytes in size, and {option}`space_left` is set to 25%, then the audit daemon sets {option}`space_left` to approximately 500 mebibytes.
+
+              ::: {.note}
+              This calculation is performed when the audit daemon starts, so if you resize the filesystem containing {option}`log_file` while the
+              audit daemon is running, you should send the audit daemon SIGHUP to re-read the configuration file and recalculate the correct per‐
+              centage.
+              :::
+            '';
+          };
+          admin_space_left = lib.mkOption {
+            type = lib.types.either lib.types.int (lib.types.strMatching "[0-9]+%");
+            default = 50;
+            description = ''
+              This is a numeric value in mebibytes (MiB) that tells the audit daemon when to perform a configurable action because the system is running
+              low on disk space. This should be considered the last chance to do something before running out of disk space. The numeric value for
+              this parameter should be lower than the number for {option}`space_left`. You may also append a percent sign (e.g. 1%) to the number to have
+              the audit daemon calculate the number based on the disk partition size.
+            '';
+          };
+        };
+      };
+
+      default = { };
+      description = "auditd configuration file contents. See {auditd.conf} for supported values.";
+    };
+
+    plugins = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.attrsOf pluginOptions;
+      default = { };
+      defaultText = lib.literalExpression ''
+        {
+          af_unix = {
+            path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-af_unix";
+            args = [
+              "0640"
+              "/var/run/audispd_events"
+              "string"
+            ];
+            format = "binary";
+          };
+          remote = {
+            path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-remote";
+            settings = { };
+          };
+          filter = {
+            path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-filter";
+            args = [
+              "allowlist"
+              "/etc/audit/audisp-filter.conf"
+              (lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-syslog")
+              "LOG_USER"
+              "LOG_INFO"
+              "interpret"
+            ];
+            settings = { };
+          };
+          syslog = {
+            path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-syslog";
+            args = [ "LOG_INFO" ];
+          };
+        }
+      '';
+      description = "Plugin definitions to register with auditd";
+    };
+  };
+
+  config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
+    assertions = [
+      {
+        assertion =
+          let
+            cfg' = cfg.settings;
+          in
+          (
+            (lib.isInt cfg'.space_left && lib.isInt cfg'.admin_space_left)
+            -> cfg'.space_left > cfg'.admin_space_left
+          )
+          && (
+            let
+              get_percent = s: lib.toInt (lib.strings.removeSuffix "%" s);
+            in
+            (lib.isString cfg'.space_left && lib.isString cfg'.admin_space_left)
+            -> (get_percent cfg'.space_left) > (get_percent cfg'.admin_space_left)
+          );
+        message = "`security.auditd.settings.space_left` must be larger than `security.auditd.settings.admin_space_left`";
+      }
+    ];
 
-  config = lib.mkIf config.security.auditd.enable {
     # Starting auditd should also enable loading the audit rules..
     security.audit.enable = lib.mkDefault true;
 
     environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.audit ];
 
+    # setting this to anything other than /etc/audit/plugins.d will break, so we pin it here
+    security.auditd.settings.plugin_dir = "/etc/audit/plugins.d";
+
+    environment.etc = {
+      "audit/auditd.conf".text = prepareConfigText cfg.settings;
+    }
+    // (lib.mapAttrs' (
+      pluginName: pluginDefinitionConfigValue:
+      lib.nameValuePair "audit/plugins.d/${pluginName}.conf" {
+        text = prepareConfigText (lib.removeAttrs pluginDefinitionConfigValue [ "settings" ]);
+      }
+    ) cfg.plugins)
+    // (lib.mapAttrs' (
+      pluginName: pluginDefinitionConfigValue:
+      lib.nameValuePair "audit/audisp-${pluginName}.conf" {
+        text = prepareConfigText pluginDefinitionConfigValue.settings;
+      }
+    ) (lib.filterAttrs (_: v: v.settings != null) cfg.plugins));
+
+    security.auditd.plugins = {
+      af_unix = {
+        path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-af_unix";
+        args = [
+          "0640"
+          "/var/run/audispd_events"
+          "string"
+        ];
+        format = "binary";
+      };
+      remote = {
+        path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-remote";
+        settings = { };
+      };
+      filter = {
+        path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-filter";
+        args = [
+          "allowlist"
+          "/etc/audit/audisp-filter.conf"
+          (lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-syslog")
+          "LOG_USER"
+          "LOG_INFO"
+          "interpret"
+        ];
+        settings = { };
+      };
+      syslog = {
+        path = lib.getExe' pkgs.audit "audisp-syslog";
+        args = [ "LOG_INFO" ];
+      };
+    };
+
     systemd.services.auditd = {
       description = "Security Audit Logging Service";
       documentation = [ "man:auditd(8)" ];
diff --git a/nixos/tests/audit.nix b/nixos/tests/audit.nix
index b99a0f98f0ad..7f1280060824 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/audit.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/audit.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
 {
 
   name = "audit";
 
+  meta = {
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ grimmauld ];
+  };
+
   nodes = {
     machine =
       { lib, pkgs, ... }:
@@ -12,7 +17,13 @@
             "-a always,exit -F exe=${lib.getExe pkgs.hello} -k nixos-test"
           ];
         };
-        security.auditd.enable = true;
+        security.auditd = {
+          enable = true;
+          plugins.af_unix.active = true;
+          plugins.syslog.active = true;
+          # plugins.remote.active = true; # needs configuring a remote server for logging
+          # plugins.filter.active = true; # needs configuring allowlist/denylist
+        };
 
         environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.hello ];
       };
@@ -25,6 +36,9 @@
     with subtest("Audit subsystem gets enabled"):
       assert "enabled 1" in machine.succeed("auditctl -s")
 
+    with subtest("unix socket plugin activated"):
+      machine.succeed("stat /var/run/audispd_events")
+
     with subtest("Custom rule produces audit traces"):
       machine.succeed("hello")
       print(machine.succeed("ausearch -k nixos-test -sc exit_group"))