Ubuntu 24.04 – Kernel Note

v5.3.4 Released

v5.3.4

This release adds Geolocation blocking at the SMTP level. While Mailborder already has Geolocation Policies to quarantine email from certain countries, the email has to be accepted first and then evaluated and quarantined. Blocking at the SMTP level prevents the email from ever being accepted thus reducing the load on the server. See [ Transport > Mail Transport Settings > Enable Geoblock ]

Changelog

SMTP level GeoBlock option in Mail Transport Settings.
Old configuration files are now moved to and saved in /etc/mailborder/conf.d/backups/
Added option to disable SMTP authentication if not in use under Mail Transport Settings. This will override smtpd_sasal_auth_enable if present in /etc/mailborder/conf.d/postfix-main.cf.
Updated the Unbound DNS server to ignore IPv6 requests. To enable it again, edit /etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/mailborder.conf and remove the do-ip6: no option.
Added a description field to all Mail Transport Settings lists. This includes Rate Limit Exceptions, MTA Whitelist, and MTA Blacklist.
Minor UI fixes.

Getting the Most out of DNS

The caching DNS server that comes with Mailborder will provide improved performance results, but you must configure your server to use it. The following will set your primary DNS server to the one running on Mailborder with secondary public DNS servers.

Edit the file: /etc/systemd/resolved.conf

Under the [Resolve] section, make the following changes:

DNS=127.0.0.1 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8
Save the file and run this command:

sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved

Next, edit the file in the /etc/netplan/ directory. The name can vary, but it is usually something like 50-cloud-init.yaml.

In that file, find the nameserver section and set 127.0.0.1 as the first DNS server. Run this command to apply the settings:

netplan try

How to Upgrade Mailborder

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

We offer support for OS upgrades. If you have an annual support contract, this support is included without charge. If you do not have a support contract, we will perform a scheduled upgrade for you remotely for a discounted rate of $159. This service is highly recommended even if you are adept with Linux.

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 24.04 is in April 2029.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 ended in April 2023.

If you have not upgraded to at least Ubuntu 22.04 (as of this writing in Jan 2025), we suggest that you do so. However, we do recommend that you contact Mailborder support prior to doing the upgrade. It is not straight forward and requires manually correcting several modules. We highly recommend the support option for upgrades.

v5.3.3 Bug Fix

v5.3.3

This release addresses a potential bug when automatically writing a configuration file that could lead to certain tasks not running. The primarily impacts new installations, but could potentially impact upgraded servers. After mitigating this bug, upgrade to the latest version using apt.

All trial licenses have been reset if you need to install a new trial or perform a new installation. If you server is hosted in a Mailborder data center, your server is not affected by this bug and will be upgraded automatically.

How to Mitigate
If you have upgraded to v5.3.1 or v5.3.2, check this file:

/etc/mailborder/conf.d/engine.cf

It should look like this:

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
verbose = yes
x_service_spam=spamd
run=1

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
verbose = yes
x_service_spam=spamassassin
run=1

If you see something like "verbose=norun=1", correct it by putting the line break after "verbose=no". The "run=1" should only appear once.

Changelog

Fixed a bug in mb-setup what wrote the engine.cf incorrectly.
Fix a bg in mb-os-check that could write engine.cf incorrectly.

How to Upgrade Mailborder

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 24.04 is in April 2029.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 ended in April 2023.

Hosted Mailborder Servers

If your server is hosted and controlled by Mailborder in our data centers, then your OS is automatically updated as part of the maintenance plan.

v5.3.2 Released

v5.3.2

This release is a focus of performance improvements for DNS resolution and Spamassassin message evaluation. Bind9 has been replaced with the Unbound caching DNS server. Unbound is lighter weight and generally considered a faster DNS server. With Spamassassin being very DNS dependent, making this change has led to significant performance improvements in testing.

This release is only available for Ubuntu 22.04 and later due to library requirements. You will need to upgrade your OS using do-release-upgrade until you get to Ubuntu 22.04 before the new Mailborder software will be available to install. The End of Life for Ubuntu 20.04 is April 2025, so it time to upgrade anyway if you are using that OS or earlier.

If you need help upgrading the OS, contact Mailborder support and we will schedule a time to upgrade your server(s). If you have Premium Support, the assistance from Mailborder support to perform the upgrade is included at no additional cost. Otherwise, there will be a fee of $159 to assist in the upgrade.

Changelog

Bind9 has been replaced with Unbound caching DNS server.
/etc/default/spamassassin has been updated with new configuration options. It also includes different options for different server sizes.
Unbound has a custom configuration that focuses on speed.
DNS root server hints file will now be updated automatically with each Mailborder version update.
Postfix configuration build was updated to better block blacklisted remote MTAs
Spamassassin debug will now run during configuration rebuilds to filter out any problem rules.
Javascript updates in the GUI.

Getting the Most out of DNS

Edit the file: /etc/systemd/resolved.conf

Under the [Resolve] section, make the following changes:

DNS=127.0.0.1 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8
DNSStubListener=no

Save the file and run this command:

sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved

Next, edit the file in the /etc/netplan/ directory. The name can vary, but it is usually something like 50-cloud-init.yaml.

In that file, find the nameserver section and set 127.0.0.1 as the first DNS server. Run this command to apply the settings:

netplan try

How to Upgrade Mailborder

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 24.04 is in April 2029.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 ended in April 2023.

v5.3.1 Released

v5.3.1

It has been a while since an update was released, and this is a major update. Most of the focus in this version were updates to the scanning logic, improved detection, and added features to the GUI. AI was leveraged for some improvements and a lot of new language options for the interface.

Changelog

Free 30-day trial licenses are now available during installation. No registration or request required.
Ubuntu 24.04 now supported.
Mailborder now support 42 different languages. Most of them are AI generated. If you see anything incorrect, please let us know.
The interface now supports RTL layouts for the appropriate languages. It isn't perfect, but this feature will continue to be developed. There will likely be a reworked interface in the future will full RTL language support.
DKIM is now configurable in the GUI. It will generate the appropriate DNS entries for you. All you need to do after that is make the required DNS records.
SPF checking is now configurable in the GUI.
The latest repository install script has been updated to confirm with the newer standards in Ubuntu. This will make future upgrade from one release to another much more streamlined. If you still have the repo for deb.mailborder.com in your /etc/apt/sources.list file, then you should remove those entries and get the updated repo script from here: Repo Install
Debian control packages updated to make release upgrades easier.
GeoIP database will now be updated daily from the Mailborder update servers.
A new malware and phishing update infrastructure is now in place on the Mailborder update servers. Mailborder servers now pull these updates every few hours.
Emails can now be downloaded in the Master GUI if the email is stored on any Mailborder server. This would include archived or quarantined items.
The mail logs in the GUI now display delivery status information such as Sent, Defer, Bounce, etc.
The command mb-trace has been added to trace an email through all syslog files. This is the same executable used to update the delivery status in the GUI.
The installation of new Mailborder servers has been streamlined. There now also a setup page in the GUI to assist in setup.
Updated Fail2Ban filters to auto-ban bad remote servers.
Javascript detection in Process Policies.
Process Policies have had their configuration options extended.
Cluster settings has been paired down and moved to other areas such as Transport and into Process Policies where appropriate.
Additional server status, license, and properties is now included on the Dashboard.
Extensive updates to mb-os-checks to automate self-checks and corrective actions.
Adjustments to the database running configuration to improve performance.
New templates for Master server reports and Portal User Reports.
Improved Postfix configuration and route handling.
Improved configuration options in the GUI for Postfix transport.
Rework of Display Name Phishing logic to improve accuracy.
Bug fix: automatic reboot was ignoring status control file.
Much more, but you probably already stopped reading this list.

How to Upgrade

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 24.04 is in April 2029.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 ended in April 2023.

v5.2.4 Released

v5.2.4

Changelog

Added monitor for zombie Mailborder tasks stuck in the running mode. Tasks older than 1 hour in the run mode will automatically be aborted to avoid task blocking.
Added a new command for the CLI. The mb-gdu command is a command line file browser than will show the size of directories and files. Useful if you have a server running low on disk space. The tool is from the open source dundee/gdu project.
Added display name phishing detection. This is where an attacker sets the display name to include an email address that does not match the actual sender email address. For example: "Bob Jones <bob@company.com>" as the display name but the actual sender address is something like hacker@gmail.com. This does not impact bounce addresses or Reply-To address. This check assigns a spam score of 30 when the condition is found. The score and checking can be changed. See /etc/mailborder/engine.cf for more details.
Corrected a condition where ClamAV could report the wrong virus signature version if more than one virus update file is present.
Updated MaxMind country database for IP addresses.
Updated SourceGuardian loaders to the latest version.
Added license expiration notification email to the Mailborder maintenance function.
Updated MySQL server parameters for new Mailborder installations freeing up some memory for other applications.
Corrected a bug in the Portal User notification for Quarantined emails. This only impacted new Portal Users and only for 24 hours.

How to Upgrade

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 ended in April 2023. If you have not upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04, we suggest that you do so. However, we do recommend that you contact Mailborder support prior to doing the upgrade. It is not straight forward and requires manually correcting several modules. We highly recommend the support option for upgrades.

The OS upgrade KB is here: https://mailborder.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/14698885841559

v5.2.3 Released

v5.2.3

Changelog

Changed default protocol for Postfix to ipv4 for new installs.
Added smtpd_relay_before_recipient_restrictions to Postfix options for Ubuntu 22.04 installs.
Adjusted the Mailborder milter to compensate for changes in PHP 8.x.
Increased logging for RBL checks when in verbose mode.
Updated libraries for changes in PHP 8.x.
Corrected missing license attributes in Child servers during library loads.
Converted ctype_digit checks to is_numeric to compensate for changes in PHP 8.x.
Added redundant checks for database calls in the GUI.
Added name shortening for extremely long file names during evaluation to prevent potential DDOS vector.
Moved MTA whitelist IP entries to a separate CIDR only file.
Added error notice to Portal release for emails that are no longer available for release.

Note: v5.2.2 was not released due to an incompatibility error.

How to Upgrade

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

OS Upgrade Support

Contact: https://www.mailborder.com/contact

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

The KB is here: https://mailborder.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/14698885841559

v5.2.2 Released

v5.2.1 Released

v5.2.1

Changelog

Corrected PHP 8.x compatibility bug in mb-filter reading geolocations for IP addresses with no location information on Ubuntu 22.04.
Corrected PHP 8.x compatibility bug in the SPF library expander on Ubuntu 22.04.
Added postfix smtpd_relay_before_recipient_restrictions options to default configuration to suppress Postfix info messages on Ubuntu 22.04.
Corrected PHP 8.x compatibility bug in mb-summary that prevented summary emails being sent on Ubuntu 22.04.

How to Upgrade

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

v5.2.0 Released

v5.2.0

Changelog

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is now supported.
Added Spamassassin KAM ruleset. This ruleset is large and not enabled by default. It can be enabled and disabled using the mb-sa-kam command on each Mailborder server.
Added option to create missing swap file on new installations.
Reorganized opendkim and opendmarc structures for future GUI release.
Improved Vita logging service wait throttle handling.
Added version control to dovecot.
Added opendmarc ignored hosts file.
Disabled helo_checks by default in SPF checks for new installs. Old installations will still be enabled.
Disabled verify_sender by default in SPF checks for new installs. Old installations will still be enabled.
Updated DTRX with latest version.
Changed time limit measurement from ctype_digit to ctype_numeric in mb-filter.
Fixed Office 365 duplicate attachments getting random file extensions resulting in quarantined items.
Changed how mb-milter checks sender addresses for RFC compliance to allow for bounce tracking email addresses.
Updated mb-spamc to include more example uses in help menu.
Updated mb-spf-eval to filter user constraints.
Updated CLI library to reflect --multiscan parameter in ClamAV.
Reduced stream socket timeout from 30 to 5 seconds for connections to 127.0.0.1 when injecting emails back into the SMTP process after filtering before requeuing delivery attempts.
Reduced streeam socket attempts from 12 to 2 for connections to 127.0.0.1 when injecting emails back into the SMTP process after filtering before requeuing delivery attempts.
Typo correction in CLI library.
Restructured active process checks in daemon library for Mailborder service.
Changed jail cleanup from 30 days to 5 days in daemon library for Mailborder service.
Changed corrupt cleanup from 30 days to 5 days in daemon library for Mailborder service.
Revamped the entire send process for messages in daemon library increasing processing speeds.
Updated GeoIP library.
Updated PHP ixed loaders.
Removed Firefox ban from GUI loads.
Corrected Thai language file.
Updated QR code generator for 2FA.
Updated Postfix master.cf to include override options when injected back into the SMTP system.
Added smtp_milter to Postfix master.cf for DKIM signing when injected back into the SMTP system.
Updated rsyslog to ignore more repetitive Mailborder syslog entries.
Modified date formatting in ado/process for the Master GUI.
Disabled autocomplete in some GUI fields.
Added DKIM table to database for future GUI integration.
Added automatic rebuild task if configuration is older than 2 hours.
Corrected some depricated PHP items.

How to Upgrade

Run the following commands as the root user:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 22.04 is in April 2027.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

The end of (free) support for Ubuntu 20.04 is in April 2025.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS