Re: Persistent problems with rule updates for Registerd Users

[Jeff Kell <jeff-kell () utc edu>]

The one missing piece I would like to see that wasn't addressed in this
discussion...

Subscriber rules are obviously current.  Registered rules are apparently
a 30-day delayed tarball of whatever was current 30-days ago.  This
makes perfect sense for NEW rules.  It does not make sense for UPDATED
rules.

If there is a revision update to an existing rule, it should be updated
in ALL the branches, not just the VRT one.  Currently the revision
updates are also delayed 30 days.

I suppose the same logic could be applied to the other peripheral files
discussed below... it would make sense to me that the only difference
between subscriber and registered access is the "new" rules.  Everything
else should be consistent (snort.conf, classification, reference, etc)
across the board.

I realize this is much more difficult that just freezing a few tarballs
and holding them for 30 days; you'd have to update the frozen copies
with changes to the files (other than the "new" rules).

Jeff

On 1/4/2013 6:53 PM, Michael Steele wrote:
> There is no reason to do item 1. Once the new Snort update has been
> released to the public, and it contains the current configurations for
> that day, then there is no need to update it again until the next
> Snort release.
>
>  
>
> There is no reason to do item 2. As long as the rule sets contain the
> most current configurations at all times.
>
>  
>
> When a new Snort version is released to the public, the new Snort
> release, the Subscribers rule set, and the Registered Users rule set
> should all have the same CURRENT configuration files, the absolute latest.
>
>  
>
> After the initial Snort release there is no need to update the Snort
> executable until the next Snort release, just the Subscriber rule set,
> and the registered User rule set need to be updated keeping the
> configuration files always current between initial Snort releases.
>
>  
>
> The two configuration files that are being maintained on the Snort.org
> site are available for those that prefer not to download the full set
> of rules  just for one of those configuration files. However, both of
> those files should always match what is found in either set of rules.  
>
>  
>
> Not sure how people would be notified that if they only require the
> snort executable that they might need to go onto the snort.org site
> and update the snort.conf, and the classification.config, as they may
> be outdated  between snort releases?
>
>  
>
> I don't want to automate anything that is not absolutely necessary. I
> could automate the complete Windows Intrusion Detection System
> (WinIDS) installation process, but nobody learns anything, and that's
> the whole point behind why WinSnort.com exists.
>
>  
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael...
>
>  
>
> *From:*Joel Esler [mailto:jesler () sourcefire com]
> *Sent:* Friday, January 04, 2013 1:53 PM
> *To:* Michael Steele
> *Cc:* snort-users () lists sourceforge net; 'Jeff Kell'
> *Subject:* Re: [Snort-users] Persistent problems with rule updates for
> Registerd Users
>
>  
>
> On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:55 PM, "Michael Steele"
> <michaels () winsnort com<mailto:michaels () winsnort com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On the day Sourcefire released Snort 2.9.4.0 to the general public
>     all distributions, including the rule set for both groups should
>     have contained the very latest 'CURRENT' configuration files for
>     Snort 2.9.4.0, but they didn't (snort.conf contained reference to
>     'output database', and there were missing port assignments).
>
>  
>
> I simply forgot to delete those lines.  I apologize on behalf of
> Sourcefire for forgetting to remove those non-functional lines.  
> Sorry if that sounds a little snarky, but they were nonfunctional. 
>
>  
>
> As far as missing port assignments, I'm quite sure that they weren't
> missing port assignments at the time of release.  They are */now/*, as
> I've added ports since the time of release, but those changes would
> only affect a very small number of rules (probably 5 or 6) that aren't
> going to be in the registered rule release anyway until the snort.conf
> that goes with those rules rolls into registered anyway and everything
> is good to go.  We aren't going to reroll the tarball every time I
> make a change to the snort.confs.
>
>  
>
> So, here's our alternatives.  
>
>  
>
> 1. We can subtract the snort.conf, classification, threshold,
> reference, etc, from the tarball and distribute it only with the
> rules, which means that you
>
> A)  can't get a working Snort out of the box
>
> B)  MUST download the VRT rules in order to get Snort to work
>
> C)  Neither of these solutions would work for anyone.
>
>  
>
> 2.  We can subtract the snort.conf, classification, etc, from the rule
> tarball and distribute it only with the Snort tarball, which means that
>
> A)  We have no way to update it detection once Snort has been shipped.
>
> B)  Everyone gets screwed.
>
>  
>
> 3.  We can prevent different snort.confs, classification, etc from
> existing.  We'll work on that.
>
>  
>
> 4.  We can make Snort easier to set up by automating a lot of this.
>  Unfortunately, we won't be doing that for Windows users, as we're not
> going to compile our Shared Object rules for the Windows platform.
>  Should be easy enough for you to batch script up something for your
> "WinIDS" users though.
>
>  
>
>      After the initial release of Snort 2.9.4.0; to make SURE the end
>     users have access to all the 'CURRENT' configurations files on any
>     given day, why not just merge all the 'CURRENT' configuration
>     files when new rules are added to each group.
>
>  
>
> Not sure what you mean here.
>
>  
>
> When we release a new version of Snort the snort.conf that is shipped
> with the tarball should be up to date with the VRT snort.conf and that
> VRT snort.conf is what is in the tarball and what I put on the
> website.  I have a bug into development now to see if we can rectify
> this in the future so it can't happen anymore.  
>
>
>
>     There should be no reason why a new user can't just grab the Snort
>     executable, latest rule set (they are entitled to), install Snort,
>     extract the rule set into the snort folder, and end up with all
>     'CURRENT' configuration files that were relevant from the previous
>     day.
>
>  
>
> They can.  I don't see what you are saying here.
>
>  
>
> --
> *Joel Esler*
> Senior Research Engineer, VRT
> OpenSource Community Manager
> Sourcefire

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