A new release of the IPFire distribution for creating routers and firewalls, version 2.29 Core 186, has been published. IPFire features a straightforward installation process and an intuitive web interface filled with informative graphs. The size of the installation ISO image is 421 MB (x86_64, AArch64).
The system is modular: in addition to basic packet filtering and traffic management functions, modules are available for IPFire that implement a threat prevention system based on Suricata, for creating files. server (Samba, FTP, NFS), mail servers (Cyrus-IMAPd, Postfix, Spamassassin, ClamAV, and Openmailadmin), and print servers (CUPS), organizing a VoIP gateway based on Asterisk and Teamspeak, creating a wireless access point, and setting up an audio and video streaming server (MPFire, Videolan, Icecast, Gnump3d, VDR). A special package manager called Pakfire is used to install add-ons in IPFire.
In the new release:
- Experimental support for the Btrfs file system has been added.
- The Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.6.32.
- Support for adjusting CPU frequency based on load to reduce energy consumption or increase performance has been implemented in the Raspberry Pi builds.
- Data from the Spamhaus eDROP (Extended Don’t Route Or Peer) blacklist has been combined with the DROP list. The eDROP and DROP lists differed in that the DROP contained ranges of addresses of spammers and cybercriminals allocated directly by registrars, while the eDROP included subnets allocated from the main blocks.
- The Alienvault blacklist has been removed, as its support has been discontinued.
- The Landlock isolation mechanism, provided by the Linux kernel for blocking file system access in the event of vulnerabilities in Suricata, has been enabled in the Suricata intrusion detection system.
- A patch has been added to eliminate unnecessary reboots of the Unbound DNS server during the processing of addresses assigned via DHCP.
- The versions of the following programs have been updated: Apache2 2.4.59, BIND 9.16.49, kmod 32, libhtp 0.5.48, OpenSSL 3.2.2, SQLite 3.45.3, squid 6.9, strongSwan 5.9.14, and Suricata 7.0.5.
- The Icinga monitoring system package, based on the outdated 1.x branch, which has not been supported since 2018, has been removed. Due to the small number of users of this module, it has been decided not to migrate to the Icinga 2.x branch and instead remove the package.
- Due to functionality issues, the sslh utility package, which allowed multiplexing HTTPS, SSH, OpenVPN, SOCKS5, tinc, and XMPP connections through a single network port 443, has been removed.
- The following packages have been updated: Bacula 13.0.4, dnsdist 1.9.3, Lynis 3.1.1, mympd 14.1.2, and Tor 0.4.8.11.
Additionally, it's worth noting the release of a new distribution for creating firewalls, NethSecurity 8, which is based on the NethServer 8 platform and designed for quick deployment of firewalls. Besides packet filtering, it offers intrusion detection and prevention, antivirus scanning, ad blocking, prioritization for different types of traffic, deep packet inspection (DPI), and content filtering (for example, you can selectively block Netflix, Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, and other services that may distract employees from work). The size of the bootable image in compressed form is 54 MB.
It supports operation in configurations with multiple external internet connection channels (MultiWAN). Tunneling through IPsec and OpenVPN is supported, as well as the deployment of wireless access points. The platform is designed as an integrated solution that can be used for installation on physical servers and virtual machines, as well as for creating bootable USB drives that turn any computer into a firewall.
Management of all supported features is carried out through a web interface. Among other things, the web interface allows for system administration, including operations such as creating/restoring configuration backups, factory resets, and managing update installations.
When used in infrastructure servers based on the NethServer distribution, it is possible to enable centralized remote management of all hosts with NethSecurity through the NethServer interface, as well as monitoring the operation of firewalls and log collection. Among other features, an SSH client is even available, which operates through the web interface.
Source: opennet.ru
