Release Notes

Abstract

This technical note contains installation instructions, and a list of new features and resolved issues for the IBM Security QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 (2021.6.8.20240302192142) SFS. These instructions are intended for administrators who are upgrading to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 by using an SFS file.

Content

What's New

For more information on new and changed features in QRadar 7.5.0, see What's new in 7.5.0.

Minimum Permitted App Base Image Stream

In QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, you can disable older base image streams that might have security vulnerabilities by using the new Minimum Permitted App Base Image Stream system setting on the Admin tab. For more information, see Minimum Permitted App Base Image Stream.

Read-only Configuration

In QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the Read-only Configuration permission on the User Role Management window is updated to grant permission to view other users without the ability to create or edit them. For more information, see Creating a user role.

SSH extraction enhancements

In QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, QRadar Network Insights introduces enhanced extraction for the SSH protocol. This functionality includes the extraction of several new fields around the SSH connection establishment and also the "Hash" fingerprints of those connections. For more information, see Enriched inspection.

Tunnelling enhancements

QRadar Network Insights introduces enhanced protocol support for GRE and ERSPAN network traffic and new common features for all tunneled network traffic (including the existing VXLAN support). For more information, see Enriched inspection.

Leapp pretest added for RHEL-8 migration

You must run a Leapp pretest on your console or managed host before you upgrade from Red Hat Enterprise Linux V7.9 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux V8.8 to reduce the risk of failure. If the Leapp pretest fails on your deployment, the upgrade is blocked.

To run the Leapp pretest before you run the upgrade installer, use the following command:

/media/updates/installer --leapp-only

For more information, see Upgrading QRadar SIEM to 7.5.0 UP8.

Known Issues

After you upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 with SSH, CLI session is down temporarily

If you use SSH to upgrade to 7.5.0 Update Package 8, you will lose access to the CLI session for 20-30 minutes after the system reboot. You can use the Integrated Management Module (IMM), the Integrated Dell Remote Access controller (iDRAC), or a remote console, to monitor the upgrade.

Upgrading to RHEL-8 on systems with LUKS encrypted partitions is not supported
You must ensure that your deployment does not include hosts with LUKS encrypted partitions to successfully upgrade your system. For more information see, Upgrading QRadar SIEM.

HA host status does not update during the sync process
During the synchronization process, the host status does not reflect the sync status of the HA hosts and the remote host status remains in standby.

Important: In QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, administrators with High Availability (HA) appliances in their deployment must complete a post-installation step. For more information, see DT365145.

Leapp pretests do not verify sufficient disk space

Leapp pretests fail to ensure if the /storetmp directory has sufficient disk space to store the upgrade cache directory. You must ensure that all appliances have at minimum 10GB of space available in the /storetmp directory before you upgrade to 7.5.0 Update Package 8.

Leapp pretests are not supported on HA secondaries

When you install 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the --leapp-only installer option does not work with High Availability (HA) secondary nodes. For more information, see DT365203.

Leapp pretests are not supported on QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 ISO installations

When you install 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the --leapp-only installer option does not work on managed hosts that are running new installs of 7.5.0 Update Package 7. For more information, see DT365204.

Leapp pretests are not supported on detached console HA

To run a Leapp pretest on a detached console HA that is not a removed HA from a existing deployment, complete the following steps.

Run the following command:
/opt/qradar/bin/ssh_key_generating
Edit the /store/configservices/deployed/deployment.xml file to add the missing mhIp tag to the console node by using only one of the following methods:
- Edit the file by adding the mhIp tag manually:
  <managedHost xmlns="" hostName="hostName of the system" console="true" offsite="false" changed="false" id="1" privateIP="IP of the system" mhIp="Same as privateIP" publicIP="" natId="0">
- Edit the file by running the following command:
  mhip=$(/opt/qradar/bin/myver -vi); sed -e "/mhIp=/ n; /console=\"true\"/s/>/ mhIp=\"$mhip\">/" /store/configservices/deployed/deployment.xml

For more information, see DT365206.

Leapp pretests fail due to multiple physical network interface configurations
When you upgrade to 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the Leapp pretest fails if the tool detects any Network Interface Card (NIC) that uses kernel naming (eth) and multiple NICs existing on the same system. For more information on the known issue and the workaround, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/4067471.

The e1000 network driver is not supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

In 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the e1000 network driver is not supported in RHEL 8. This affects both bare metal and virtual environments. The newer e1000e network driver is fully supported in RHEL 8. For more information, see Removed device drivers.

Upgrades to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 can hang in environments using network address translation (NAT)

While upgrading to 7.5.0 Update Package 8 in an environment that uses network address translation, the upgrade process can hang as the pretest does not check public or NAT IPs. For more information, see DT378980.

NAT deployments fail as leapp-only pretests do not verify public IPs

Deployments in a NAT environment may fail to upgrade to 7.5.0 Update Package 8 even when --leapp-only pretest runs successfully. For more information, see DT378590.

Upgrade patch pretest fails on dual stack

After you upgrade to 7.5.0 Update Package 8, the RHEL-8 upgrade pretest fails after the system reboot.

Apps might go down during base image upgrade

After you install QRadar 7.5.0, your applications might go down temporarily while they are being upgraded to the latest base image.

Apps fail to restart after upgrade

After you upgrade some apps remain in an "error" state on deployments with 30+ apps. Restart the apps by using the qappmanager: /opt/qradar/support/qappmanager

For more information, see About the qappmanager support utility.

Cannot send udp syslog to QRADAR_CONSOLE_IP from app container on AppHost
In QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, you can not send Syslog UDP to QRADAR_CONSOLE_IP from app container on AppHost. For more information, see DT365799.

Duplicate app entries on Traefik when QRadar console is powered off and on again
If you power off your QRadar console via VSphere and power it on again, duplicate entires of apps exist on the Traefik UI. To resolve this issue, restart the Traefik service.

Factory reinstall on QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 in the recovery partition fails on M5 hardware.

Factory reinstall with Update Package 8 ISO in the recovery partition on M5 hardware is not supported.

Alternatively, you can use one of the following methods:

Reinstall QRadar from media. For more information, see Reinstalling QRadar from media.
Replace the factory reinstall image in the recovery partition with a previous version. For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6490659.

For more information, see DT364088.

Managed WinCollect 7 agents cannot receive updates from encrypted QRadar Managed Hosts with 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 05 and later
In 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 5 and later, changes for managed WinCollect agents on 7.3.1 Patch 2 (7.3.1-28) do not complete as expected for encrypted managed hosts that attempt to connect to the Console. To resolve this issue, you must upgrade to WinCollect 7.3.1 P3. For more information, see DT269649.

Error messages appear during decapper startup in QRadar Network Insights

The following error messages on the terminal broadcast messages or decapper logs indicate an automatic fallback to a legacy decapper library on virtual hosts.

EAL: rte_mem_virt2phy(): cannot open /proc/self/pagemap: Permission denied

EAL: Cannot use IOVA as 'PA' since physical addresses are not available

This fallback is necessary when IOMMU and virtualization passthrough are not available and enabled in the virtual platform configuration. The decapper continues to function, possibly with lowered throughput.

Cert file /etc/httpd-qif/tls/httpd-qif.cert fails the key modulus check in QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8

After you upgrade your QRadar Incident Forensics Standalone (6100) appliance to 7.5.0 Update Package 8, cert file /etc/httpd-qif/tls/httpd-qif.cert fails the key modulus check. For more information, see DT365205.

Admin password does not set correctly on auto-install

In some instances of QRadar installations using the auto-install method, the Admin password is not being set properly. To resolve this issues, manually update the Admin password in the QRadar host CLI. For more information, see DT258627.

RHEL 8.8 - scaserver does not start after system reboot

After you upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, scaserver is unable to start after system reboot.

HA pairing on QRadar console fails when Network File System (NFS) is configured on the QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 install

To resolve this issue, add HA pairing before configuring NFS. For more information, see Configuring NFS backup on an existing HA cluster.

For more information, see DT364450.

After you upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 5, WinCollect 7.X agents can experience management or configuration change errors

Important: A flash notice exists for this issue. For the latest information, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6953887.

Autoupdates (AU) issue after upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 or later
It is possible for autoupdates to revert to a previous version of autoupdates after you upgrade. Older versions of autoupdate might not update RPMs as expected.

After you upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 or later, type the following command to check your autoupdate version:

/opt/qradar/bin/UpdateConfs.pl -v

Review the issue and the resolution section for your auto update version in the following technical note, https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6515880.

Issue adding Data Nodes to a cluster

When you add a Data Node to a cluster, they must either all be encrypted, or all be unencrypted. You cannot add both encrypted and unencrypted Data Nodes to the same cluster.

Resolved Issues

For a list of Known Issues links of resolved issues in QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, see Known Issues. The Known Issues search page allows users to search for Known Issues by versions or status.

Some Known Issues links might take 24 hours to display properly after a software release is posted to IBM Fix Central.

The following is a list of Known Issues fixed in QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8:

DT257036: Unbound-anchor.service is reaching out publicly to DNS root servers
DT258217: False-positive offenses are produced after the restart of ecs-ep process
DT258235: Null Pointer Exception in Regex Monitor causes perfromance issues in event parsing
DT258345: Re-adding a managed host can appear to be hung at the final step in the 'Host is Being Added to Deployment' window
DT258961: False Positive offenses produced where rules use reference set not conditions
DT259134: Unknown offense created on destination QRadar when forwarding normalized data from Source QRadar
DT259571: Dropped events in log source protocol queue after upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 Up 7
DT259793: CRE Rule seems to be affecting the parsing of ADE AQL Properties
DT084375: The managed search results page can be slow to load in QRadar environments with a large amount of Ariel query handles
DT133052: QRadar - High availability crossover enable fails with ssh StrictHostKeyChecking
DT256838: 7.5.0 UP7 IF03 Java change causes Amazon Web Service Log Source Type to stop working
DT251945: Retain option available on freshly installed High Availability (HA) systems from factory reinstall
DT251920: Time server set during initial installation reset after running qchange
DT252014: HA Setup fails with "failed to change group ownership error"
DT252073: QRadar tunnel-monitor service incorrectly attempts to create connections from HA standby appliances
DT252127: Common rule test 'Event or flow processed by custom rules engine' can display a Number Format Exception
DT252102: When AQL properties created before 7.4.3 exist in the forwarding profile, offline forwarding is slow
DT252089: Invalid byte sequence for encoding "UTF8" while accessing reference data API or UBA import user
DT252090: Historical correlation offense summary page can display a 'file access error' when viewing grouped events
DT245546: STIG hardening on QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 might not set a boot password, forcing a reinstall
DT241221: HA Secondary disk space issues can occur when files for older versions of ECS are not removed
DT244451: Hostcontext can exceed the default 256MB allocation, leading to out of memory issues on hosts
DT244446: Custom rules: Match count rules do not trigger as expectedly when used with coalescing log sources
DT244729: Log File protocol configured to connect with SFTP can stop collecting events unexpectedly in 7.5.0 UP7
DT252131: Rule Wizard displays a blank pop up for the 'Name of the flow source is one of these sources' test
DT252139: Asset details window does not display the latest email address when changed
DT252100: Reference Table value incorrectly displayed in the rule responses of the Rule Wizard when edited
DT259368: QRadar Applications failing to install/update after upgrading to QRadar 7.5.0 UP6
DT224076: Rule Wizard displays 'The response count must be 0 or greater' when enabling response limiters with non-english UI locales.
DT238257: Nightly backups fail if applications are in error status
DT251980: Rule "Source/Destination asset weight is low" can trigger when weight is higher than the defined parameter

Upgrade information

QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 resolves reported issues from users and administrators from previous QRadar versions. This cumulative software update fixes known software issues in your QRadar deployment. QRadar software updates are installed by using an SFS file, and update all appliances attached to the QRadar Console.

The 750-QRADAR-QRSIEM-2021.6.8.20240302192142 SFS file can upgrade the following QRadar versions to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8:

QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 01
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 02
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 03
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 04
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 05
QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7 Interim Fix 06

Note: To successfully upgrade to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8, your deployment must be on QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 7.

However, this document does not cover all of the installation messages and requirements, such as changes to appliance memory requirements or browser requirements for QRadar. To review any additional requirements, see the QRadar Upgrade Guide.

See QRadar: Software update check list for administrators for a list of steps to review before you update your QRadar deployment.

Before you begin

Ensure that you take the following precautions:

Back up your data before you begin any software upgrade. For more information about backup and recovery, see the QRadar Administration Guide.
To avoid access errors in your log file, close all open QRadar sessions.
The QRadar software update cannot be installed on a managed host that is at a different software version from the Console. All appliances in the deployment must be at the same software revision to update the entire deployment.
Verify that all changes are deployed on your appliances. The update cannot install on appliances that have changes that are not deployed.
If this is a new installation, review the instructions in the QRadar Installation Guide.

Installing the QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 Software Update

These instructions guide you through the process of upgrading an existing QRadar version to QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8. To update appliances in parallel, see: QRadar: How to Update Appliances in Parallel.

Procedure

Download the software update to install QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 from the IBM Fix Central website:

https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/quickorder?parent=IBM%20Security&product=ibm/Other+software/IBM+Security+QRadar+SIEM&release=7.5.0&platform=Linux&function=fixId&fixids=7.5.0-QRADAR-QRSIEM-20240302192142&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&downloadMethod=ddp&source=fc
Use SSH to log in to your Console as the root user.
To verify you have enough space (10GB) in /store/tmp for the QRadar Console, type the following command:
```
  df -h /tmp /storetmp /store/transient | tee diskchecks.txt
```
- Best directory option: /storetmp
  It is available on all appliance types at all versions. In QRadar 7.5.0 versions /store/tmp is a symlink to the /storetmp partition.

If the disk check command fails, retype the quotation marks from your terminal, then rerun the command. This command returns the details to both the command window and to a file on the Console named diskchecks.txt. Review this file to ensure that all appliances have at minimum 10GB of space available in a directory to copy the SFS before attempting to move the file to a managed host. If required, free up disk space on any host that fails to have less that 10GB available.

Note: In QRadar 7.3.0 and later, an update to directory structure for STIG-compliant directories reduces the size of several partitions. This can impact moving large files to QRadar.

To create the /media/updates directory, type the following command:
```
  mkdir -p /media/updates
```
Use SCP to copy the files to the QRadar Console to the /storetmp directory or a location with 10GB of disk space.
Change to the directory where you copied the patch file. For example,
```
  cd /storetmp
```

To mount the patch file to the /media/updates directory, type the following command:

  mount -o loop -t squashfs /storetmp/750-QRADAR-QRSIEM-2021.6.8.20240302192142.sfs /media/updates

To run a Leapp pretest, type the following command:
```
  /media/updates/installer --leapp-only
```
To run the patch installer, type the following command:
```
  /media/updates/installer 
```
Note: The first time that you run the software update, there might be a delay before the software update installation menu is displayed.
Using the patch installer, select all.
- The all option updates the software on all appliances in the following order:
  1. Console
  2. No order required for remaining appliances. All remaining appliances can be updated in any order that you require.
- If you do not select the all option, you must select your Console appliance.
  
  As of QRadar 7.2.6 Patch 4 and later, you are only provided the option to update all or update the Console appliance. Managed hosts are not displayed in the installation menu to ensure that the Console is patched first. After the Console is patched, a list of managed hosts that can be updated is displayed in the installation menu. This change was made starting with QRadar 7.2.6 Patch 4 to ensure that the Console appliance is always updated before managed hosts to prevent upgrade issues.
  
  If you want to patch systems in series, you can update the Console first, then copy the patch to all other appliances and run the patch installer individually on each managed host. The Console must be patched before you can run the installer on managed hosts. When updating in parallel, there is no order required in how you update appliances after the Console is updated.
  
  If your Secure Shell (SSH) session is disconnected while the upgrade is in progress, the upgrade continues. When you reopen your SSH session and rerun the installer, the patch installation resumes.

Installation wrap-up

After the system reboot is not initiated after the patch completes and you have exited the installer, type the following command:
```
  umount /media/updates
```
Clear your browser cache before you log in to the Console.
Delete the SFS file from all appliances.

Results

A summary of the software update installation advises you of any managed hosts that were not updated. If the software update fails to update a managed host, you can copy the software update to the host and run the installation locally.

After all hosts are updated, send an email to your team to inform them that they will need to clear their browser cache before they log in to the QRadar SIEM interface.

[{"Type":"MASTER","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB24","label":"Security Software"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU048","label":"IBM Software"},"Product":{"code":"SSBQAC","label":"IBM Security QRadar SIEM"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"a8m0z000000cwtdAAA","label":"Upgrade"}],"ARM Case Number":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"}],"Version":"7.5.0"}]

Tips

Release of QRadar 7.5.0 Update Package 8 SFS (2021.6.8.20240302192142)