Powertech Antivirus (Server)

NOTE: In versions 4.3 and earlier, Powertech Antivirus was called Stand Guard Anti-Virus.
IMPORTANT: These release notes are for the Server versions of Powertech Antivirus. See Powertech Antivirus (Endpoint) for specific Powertech Antivirus Endpoint release notes. Powertech Antivirus Legacy release notes (version 6.0 and earlier) can be found here.

May 2025

Version 6.4

May 22, 2025

New Features

  • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 7 has been withdrawn.

  • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 has been added.

  • A new report type "Threat Report" has been added to show virus found events.

  • Support of Office 365 email authentication for sending report emails has been added.

  • Role based access control has been added, which allows defining user permissions.

  • Support for Dark Mode has been added to the Powertech Antivirus User Interface.

  • The Home screen has been updated.

Enhancements

  • Improved install error messages to reduce confusion between server initialization and application registration.

  • Added the ‘--iagreetothetermsoftheattachedlicense’ flag for silent install, which signifies that the user explicitly agrees to the terms of the attached license.

  • The Java runtime environment has been upgraded to 17.0.14.

  • PostgreSQL has been upgraded to 13.20.

  • Apache Tomcat has been upgraded to 10.1.39.

  • Flyway database migration tool has been upgraded to 11.6.0.

  • Other various library upgrades have been made to address vulnerabilities.

  • HelpSystems One has been rebranded as Fortra Application Hub.

Fixes

  • Installation has been fixed to run as expected in an environment where the su command requires a password.

  • The "Could not get database credentials." error, sometimes generated during server start-up has been fixed.

November 2024

Version 6.3

November 6, 2024

IMPORTANT: This will be the last PTAV Server release that supports Red Hat 7. Red Hat 9 support will follow in the next release.
New Features

  • The Insite migration tools have been removed from the install package. They are now available from the Powertech Antivirus Server download page on the Fortra Support portal.

  • The install package is now self-contained and the need to download PostgreSQL and Java from the Fortra Support portal during installation has been removed. This also removes the need for air-gapped installation steps.

  • The PTAV Server now permits compatible endpoints (version 6.3.0 and above) to pass tags during the registration process. The tag names are case-insensitive and missing tags are created upon registration.

  • Scheduled scans and reports can now be targeted at a subset of endpoints based on individual endpoint tag names. You can preview the endpoints that the chosen filter (both endpoint names and tags) targets.

  • When attempting to set up an SMTP email connection, additional logging is enabled when the “Validate Email Connection” button is pressed. This will assist in diagnosing connection problems. The logging is directed into the file ptavws.log.

  • A new report type "Endpoint Status" has been added. This report can be tailored to include various fields representing the current state of an endpoint.

  • The reports table can be filtered based upon the type of report.

Enhancements

  • The PTAV User Interface has been updated to give it a more modern look and feel.

  • Installer refinements have been made to simplify the output and reduce the number of prompts presented to the user.

  • The Java runtime environment has been upgraded to 11.0.24.

  • PostgreSQL has been upgraded to 13.16.

  • Apache Tomcat has been upgraded to 9.0.91.

  • Flyway database migration tool is upgraded to 9.22.3.

  • Other various library upgrades have been made to address vulnerabilities.

Fixes

  • If an antivirus scan fails abnormally the update message sent to the PTAV server is now processed as expected.

April 2024

Version 6.2

April 4, 2024

New Features

  • Powertech Antivirus now automatically supplies dashboarding capabilities to HelpSystems One upon registration.

  • Extended support for IBM i endpoints:

    • Anti-ransomware functionality can now be configured for IBM i endpoints. *Requires version 8.10 (R8M10) or higher of the Powertech Antivirus for IBM i software to be installed on the IBM i system. This version is planned for release in Q2 2024.

    • IBM i endpoint now provides an on-access scan configuration.

    • On-Demand scans for the IBM i now support the configuration values "Run Priority" and "Log Level".

  • Users can now download PDF reports without the need to email them.

  • Support for Linux/Unix endpoints has been enhanced:

    • The On-Demand scan configurations now allow the user to specify file extensions to be excluded by specifying the Exclude parameter as: *.dbf:*.log:*.ctl.

    • The On-Demand scan configuration now allows users to configure the number of threads used to run during a scan. This requires Endpoint version 6.3.0 which is not yet released.

Enhancements

  • Java runtime environment has been upgraded to 11.0.20.

  • Postgres has been upgraded to 12.18.

  • Kafka has been upgraded to version 3.5.1.

  • Apache Tomcat has been upgraded to 9.0.85.

  • The server used to provide DAT updates via https and sftp has been upgraded to support TLS 1.2.

  • Powertech Antivirus now creates self-signed certificates that can be trusted by client browsers. Documentation has been added to assist customers who wish to replace the self-signed certificates.

  • Support has been added for discreet control over the command used to initiate SMTP connections over TLS.

  • Powertech Antivirus Server can now send email notifications to servers that require a TLS 1.2 connection.

  • Info level Apache Tomcat logging is now enabled by default. Logs are created in /opt/ptavwebsvc/logs with filenames prefixed with Apache Tomcat.

  • The presentation of the side forms in the user interface has been enhanced to reflect our current corporate standard.

  • Reports have been rebranded to use the Fortra logo.

  • The User Guide now contains instructions on how to configure digital certificates for the browser-based user interface and avoiding the certificate warnings from browsers.

  • The User Guide has been expanded to provide more information about managing IBM i endpoints with Powertech Antivirus Server.

July 2023

Version 6.12

July 19, 2023

Enhancements

  • Library updates including:

    • Java 11.0.18

    • Tomcat 9.0.73

    • PostgreSQL 11.19

    • Kafka 2.8.2 + reload4j fixes

March 2023

Version 6.11

March 29, 2023

Fixes

  • Fixed an issue in the 6.1 release where lists that should contain items, such as Configurations, are empty and the following error appears in the ptavws.log file:

    "ERROR com.helpsystems.robotweb.server.WebErrorHandler - General exception: Handler dispatch failed; nested exception is java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: Expected non-static field org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.logger".

June 2022

Version 6.1

June 27, 2022

New Features

  • Powertech Antivirus now supports IBM i endpoints. The majority of the functionality available through the Powertech Antivirus for IBM i green screen software is available, including:

    • display of antivirus status;

    • scheduled on-demand scans;

    • scheduled scan reports;

    • management of on-demand scan configurations;

    • quarantine management.

  • Tags can now be created and assigned to endpoints. Users can configure tags and use them to filter and search endpoints.

  • A new prechecker script is available. The script can be run prior to installation, and verifies that:

    • required perl modules are installed;

    • the system has access to the HelpSystems One server and McAfee for DAT updates;

    • the cryptographic policy is compatible with the product.

Enhancements

  • Improved installation process.

  • Updated Java Mail client to support TLS 1.2.

  • Reports with defined e-mail recipients now include an "E-mail Report" option, which replaces the "Run" option for reports. The "E-mail Report" option is displayed only if at least one recipient is configured on the report.

Fixes

  • Updated Log4j to 2.17.1 to resolve vulnerabilities.

  • OS details required to enable license management are now sent in the health check data response for Solaris endpoints.

  • Fixed an issue where endpoints were appearing in the Endpoints list but not appearing in the Connection Settings list.

April 2022

Version 6.02

April 27, 2022

Updated the Spring Framework to 5.2.21.RELEASE to address the RCE (CVE-2022-22965) and Data Binding Rules (CVE-2022-22968) vulnerabilities.

December 2021

Version 6.01

December 21, 2021

  • The Apache Log4j JNDI vulnerability has been addressed by updating to 2.16.0.

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