Amaranten Firewall Changes from v8.00.05 to v8.00.06

Release date: 2003-05-21 [ISO]

Version 8.00.06 contains bug fixes to the Firewall Core and the Firewall Manager. This document outlines bug fixes as well as improvements for each component.

The upgrade procedures in this document refers to upgrades from earlier v8.0x installations.

·  New files installed by v8.00.06

·  How to upgrade earlier v8.0x firewalls to v8.00.06

·  HA upgrade procedure

·  Firewall Manager

[Changes]

[Bug Fixes] 

[Known Bugs / Problems]

·  Firewall Core

[Changes]

[Bug Fixes]

[Known Bugs / Problems]

·  Firewall Core - VPN specific  

[Changes] 

[Bug Fixes]

[Known Bugs / Problems]

·  Firewall Core - HA specific

[Changes] 

[Bug Fixes]

[Known Bugs / Problems]

For future reference: This document is stored in the "Docs" sub-folder of your Firewall Manager install folder.

Change logs / release notes for earlier versions of Amaranten Firewall are available in the release notes section of www.Amaranten.com/support.

 

 

 Summary of changes and bug fixes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All changes and bug fixes affecting the standard firewall core also affect VPN and HA cores, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Firewall Manager

  Bug fix: 

"0.0.0.0/0" gets replaced by the first comment row in the "Hosts & Networks" section

  Bug fix: 

Collision resolution fails for IKE/IPsec proposal lists in nested namespaces

  Bug fix: 

Manager misparses single-host aliases as groups

  Bug fix: 

DHCP client "preferred lease time" defaults to 1 minute

Firewall Core

  Change: 

"Safe mode" config parsing implemented

  Change: 

New setting allows Checkpoint SecuRemote UDP encapsulation through CFW

  Change: 

Ping monitor with automatic config re-read (NIC reset) implemented

  Change: 

FTP ALG now emits log entries if the configured "max line length" is exceeded

  Change: 

Log events now emitted for NetconBeforeRules/SNMPBeforeRules/IPsecBeforeRules

  Bug fix: 

Turning ICMPRet/SYNRelay off for a service doesn't take effect until after reboot

  Bug fix: 

If enabled, the DHCP relayer will tamper with DHCP packets it should not touch

Firewall Core - VPN specific

  Change: 

Config parser will now allow missing certificates

  Change: 

Public key precalculations removed

  Bug fix: 

IKE delete messages not sent on config re-read

  Bug fix: 

VPN tunnels between HA clusters and some gateway types would fail

  Bug fix: 

"Local nets" consisting of netobject groups would not work properly

Firewall Core - HA specific

  Change: 

Cluster Heartbeats changed to avoid reflected duplicates (extraneous logs)

  Change: 

ARP queries are now sent from the shared IP (from the active cluster member)

  Change: 

Relayed DHCP requests now use the shared IP as "gateway identifier"

  Bug fix: 

Erroneous "This rule will never trigger" warnings

  Known bug: 

No state synchronization for FTP ALG

 

 New files installed by v8.00.06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a list of the files that are new to the v8.00.06 release. All paths are relative to your Firewall Manager install folder.

» 

Cores/fwc-8.00.06-full.cfx
This is the v8.00.06 full firewall core. Upload it to your existing firewall, or create new boot media with it. It contains VPN as well as HA functionality.

» 

Cores/fwc-8.00.06-novpn.cfx
This is a version of the v8.00.06 core without VPN support. It is roughly half the size of the full version.

» 

Cores/fwcoreup8.exe
This is the core used to remotely upgrade v7.0x and earlier firewalls. It will install a "8.00.02-full" core.

» 

Docs/Changes-8.00.05-to-8.00.06.html
This document.

» 

FWMgr8.exe
This is the v8.00.06 Firewall Manager. Earlier version 8 Firewall Managers will be overwritten. Version 7 Firewall Managers (if installed) will not be overwritten, as they are named "FWMgr7.exe", and are also typically installed in a different directory.

 

 How to upgrade earlier v8.0x firewalls to v8.00.06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upgrading a previous v8.0x firewall to v8.00.06 is completely straightforward.
Simply upload the new core, "fwc-8.00.06-full.cfx", to your firewall and restart it.
(Alternatively, upload the "-novpn" version if you do not wish VPN functionality.)

 

 HA upgrade procedure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no incompatibilities in the HA synchronization protocol between 8.00.06 HA cores and earlier v8.0x HA cores. No special procedures are required.

Simply upload the new firewall core file to the firewalls in your cluster and make sure that the first upload and restart is successful before uploading to the second firewall.

We recommend beginning with the firewall that is currently active, even though this will necessitate two failovers. The reason for this is that ALG sessions are not synchronized.

The "immediate availability" method

  • Upload the core to the currently active firewall ("firewall A") and restart it.
  • Issue a 'reconfigure' on the firewall B to rapidly fail back to the now upgraded firewall A. Make sure firewall A functions properly.
  • Upload the core to firewall B and restart it.
  • End result: Firewall A is now the active node, just as it was before the upgrade procedure.

Note that this leaves the second firewall untested, even though it most likely will work just as well as the first firewall. If you want to specifically test the second firewall, you can:
1) cause two failovers manually,   or
2) connect to it via e.g. the remote console just to make sure it's running,   or
3) if ALG synchronization is not a concern, follow this procedure:

The "long-term safe" procedure:

  • Upload the core to the currently inactive firewall ("firewall B") and restart it.
  • Issue a 'reconfigure' on firewall A. This causes failover to firewall B. Make sure firewall B functions properly.
  • Upload the core to firewall A and restart it.
  • Issue a 'reconfigure' on firewall B to fall back to firewall A. Make sure firewall A functions properly.
  • End result: Firewall A is now the active node, just as it was before the upgrade procedure.

Again, note that the "availability" issues only affect ALGs. All other states are, as usual, fully synchronized and not affected in either procedure.

 

 Firewall Manager Bug Fixes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"0.0.0.0/0" gets replaced by the first comment row in the "Hosts & Networks" section

    Issue:

A numeric "0.0.0.0/0" anywhere but the "Hosts & Networks" section would get replaced by the contents of the first comment row in the "Hosts & Networks" section. If, however, there are no comment rows, the bug would not trigger.

    Result:

The firewall manager would most likely refuse to save the configuration.

    Fix:

Fixed in v8.00.06 and v8.10.00

   Affects:

v8.00.00 - v8.00.05

 

Collision resolution fails for IKE/IPsec proposal lists in nested namespaces

    Issue:

IKE and IPsec proposal lists for firewalls in a namespace that resides inside a second namespace, where the proposal lists are defined, would always be reported as "colliding" each time the firewall's configuration was opened.

    Fix:

Fixed in v8.00.06 and v8.10.00

    Affects:

v8.00.00 - v8.00.05

 

Manager misparses single-host aliases as groups

    Issue:

It is possible to alias one host as another host, e.g. having "ip_ext=1.2.3.4" and then "wwwsrv-pub=ip_ext".

    Problem:

This results in two problems:

» 

Such host aliases could not be used in ranges, e.g.
"host1=1.2.3.4, host2=2.3.4.5, range1=host1 - host2" would work, but
"alias1=host1, alias2=host2, range2=alias1 - alias" would not.

» 

If host aliases were used as interface IP addresses, the manager wo