Software Update: PacketFence 5.0.2

An NAC system can be used to secure a network environment, among other things. This allows network devices to be blocked automatically, based on pre-set policies, if an undesirable situation occurs. Think of unknown network devices of visitors, a worm that is trying to spread or an authorized device that is equipped with a different operating system via a boot flop or live CD. PacketFence is such a nac system, with support for 802.1x and vlan isolation, which allows a network device to be placed in the correct vlan after analysis. For more information, please refer to this page and to the 32nd [In]Secure Magazine, in which an article about this package can be found. The developers have released version 5.0.2 with the following announcement:

Version 5.0.2

Enhancements:

• Added availables options (submit unknowns and update database) to the Fingerbank Settings page.
• PacketFence will now leave clients.conf.inc empty if cluster mode is disabled.

Bug Fixes:

• PacketFence will longer unregister a device in pending state if the device is hitting the portal more than once while in “pending” state.
• Fixed broken violation release process.
• Fixed multiple lines returning from pfconfig.
• Fixed undefined variables in portal template files.
• Fixed provisioners OS detection with Fingerbank.

Version 5.0.1

Enhancements:

• A number of strings have seen their translations improved.
• The Debian and Ubuntu documentation has been split and made clearer.
• Detailed which features may not work in active/active cluster mode in the documentation.

Bug Fixes:

• Added missing CHI File driver.
• Delete left about Config::Fingerprint module in Debian and Ubuntu.
• Fixed pfmon not starting when running a standalone PF server.
• Fixed broken OS reporting.
• Added missing dependency on perl-SOAP-Lite for packetfence-remote-snort-sensor.
• Updating iplog without a lease time now reset end_time to default (0000-00-00 00:00:00) to avoid “closing” a valid entry
• fixed pfcmd watch emailing functionality.
• dhcpd will now properly obey the “disabled” configuration.

PacketFence v5.0 released

The Inverse team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PacketFence 5.0.0. This is a major release with new features, enhancements and important bug fixes. This release is considered ready for production use and upgrading from previous versions is strongly advised. Here are the changes in v5.0:

New Features:

• New active/active clustering mode. This allows HTTP and RADIUS load balancing and improves availability
• Fingerbank integration for accurate device fingerprinting. It is now easier than ever to share devices fingerprinting.
• Built-in support for StatsD. This allows fine grained performance monitoring and can be used to create a dashboard using Graphite
• Local database passwords are now encrypted using bcrypt by default on all new installations. The old plaintext mode is still supported for legacy installations and to allow migration to the new mode
• Devices can now have a “bypass role” that allows the administrator to manage them completely manually. This allows for exceptions to the authorization rules
• Support for ISC DHCP OMAPI queries. This allows PacketFence to dynamically query a dhcpd instance to establish IP to MAC mappings

Enhancements:

• Completely rewritten pfcmd command. pfcmd is now much easier to extend and will allow us to integrate more features in the near future
• Rewritten IP/MAC mapping (iplog). Iplog should now never overflow
• New admin role action USERS_CREATE_MULTIPLE for finer grained control of the admin GUI. An administrative account can now be prevented from creating more than one other account
• PacketFence will no longer start MySQL when starting
• PacketFence will accept to start even if there are no internal networks
• Added a new listening port to pfdhcplistener to listen for replicated traffic
• Added a user named “default” in replacement of the admin one
• Adds support for HP ProCurve 2920 switches
• Iptables will now allow access to the captive portal from the production network by default
• Major documentation rewrite and improvements

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed violations applying portal redirection when using web authentication on a Cisco WLC
• Registration and Isolation VLAN ids can now be any string allowed by the RFCs
• Devices can no longer remain in “pending” state indefinitely

See the complete list of changes and the UPGRADE.asciidoc file for notes about upgrading.