SECURITY ADVISORY: web services (Aug. 11, 2011)
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Aug. 11, 2011
The FreePBX development team has identified with some zero day security vulnerabilities related to httpd and php. These vulnerabilities may allow a remote user to gain full root control over a system, and are present in lots of popular asterisk-related distro's.
The FreePBX development team strongly urges all user of the FreePBX Distro to immediately upgrade their systems and patch these vulnerabilities. Additionally, users are reminded never to keep their web port accessible to the internet.
FreePBX 2.10 sneak peak: IVR's
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As in any pbx, IVR's have always been an integral component of FreePBX. For the better and for the extremely annoying, companies have been filtering inbound calls with IVR's for just about forever. While we can't change people's mentality (on both sides of the call) we CAN attempt to provide the best posible experience for those fortunate enough to be using FreePBX.
RFC: Backup & Restore
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There is a forum thread accepting comments, ideas, and suggestion for new features/improvements in the Backup & Restore module. Head over there now if you have any thoughts on how the module can be improved.
High Availability Backup and Restore
In our never ending quest to make FreePBX the best phone system that doesn't require money to buy (and even better than most that do cost money...), allow us to introduce you to the latest features in the Backup & Restore module. Last week we alluded to a critical server error, but left you guessing as to how we address that. This is a big step in that direction.
Preview the all-new Directory
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Do you use the Dial-by-Name option of the current FreePBX Directory? If no, read on as you might find there is goodness to come. If yes, have you ever wanted to add a user with no voicemail? have your admin called instead of you? wanted to add a Ring Group or Queue to it, call an external cell phone, or more?
The current Dial-by-Name directory achieves some basic goals but has always left a lot to be desired. In a lot of use cases it was plagued with issues that made it less than desirable and in my opinion often not viable.
FreePBX Intro: Past, Present and Future
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In case you missed it, our lead developer Philippe Lindheimer gave a wonderful presentation on FreePBX at Astricon this past Oct. (2009). The presentation gives a very nice overview of FreePBX, its capabilities, and what the future holds. See it here:
http://www.astricon.net/2009/astricon/presentation/FreePBX/index.htm
Restricting outbound calls in FreePBX (whitelist)
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Previously, we discussed preventing outbound calls from FreePBX by using two methods: Misc Applications and outbound routes. There is also (at least) two ways to allow outgoing calls using a whitelist, i.e. allowing calls only to the numbers specified.
Restricting outbound calls in FreePBX (blacklist)
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Perhaps one of the most requested features in FreePBX is the ability to configure calling permissions. While this is a complex and costly request from a development point of view, there are some simple techniques which can be used to provide some level of outbound call control. It is said that well written software can be used in a way totally different to what its author intended. Some of the current FreePBX modules can be 'exploited' to provide just such functionality. You may also want to have a look at the custom contexts module, however that is (still) considered a 'contributed' module, and isn't supported by FreePBX.
BLF and FreePBX feature codes
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One of the really cool things added to the latest version of FreePBX is support for Russell's devstate backport for Asterisk 1.4. Today I decided to have a look at how it works, and I found it to be extremely simple and straightforward to set up. Obviously, you need to add the backport to asterisk. Luckily, that is extremely easy - just follow the directions in the readme.
Miscellaneous/Custom application/extensions: How to extend FreePBX with custom dialplan (part 2 of 2)
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In part 1, we were discussing the basics of how the Asterisk dialplan works. To recap: asterisk is made up of contexts, which can in turn include more context, creating the whole dialplan. FreePBX takes advantage of this structure by creating a lot of contexts and then included these in each other. Until now, the easiest way to include your own custom dialplan was to put it in one of custom context that FreePBX intentionally leaves blank for the purpose of customization. Now (actually since version 2.3) FreePBX includes a module to make the process easier, simpler and cleaner.
