Web Help Desk 12.7.13 release notes

Release date: August 8, 2023

Here's what's new in Web Help Desk (WHD) 12.7.13.

New features and improvements in WHD

Client details included with child tickets

When you create a new task that includes task elements, the child tickets generated from the parent ticket now include all client details included with the parent ticket. This feature helps save you time with manually adding client details to each child ticket.

When you open the parent ticket, select the Task Elements tab, and select the Inherent Value checkbox for the Client field, the Client field in the child ticket includes the client information.

See Automate parent/child ticket creation in the WHD Administrator Guide for details.

Office365 support for GCC High and Azure Government tenants

You can now connect to your Office365 mailbox and access your WHD incoming email messages using the Microsoft Government Community Cloud (GCC) High or Azure Government cloud platform. After you register your WHD account in Azure and update your WHD configuration file, you can access all incoming email messages using a GCC High/Azure Government tenant.

The GCC High and Azure Government cloud platforms provide additional security to prevent unauthorized access to your WHD email.

See Access an Office365 email account on a GCC High/Azure Government tenant in the WHD Administrator Guide for details.

Export purchase orders to a TSV or Excel file

You can now export a purchase order to a tab separated value (TSV) or Microsoft Excel file. This feature allows you to create purchase order reports using the exported data.

See Export data in the WHD Administrator Guide for details.

Other improvements

This release adds support for Fedora 33.

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Fixes

Case number	Description
00988321 01281745 01374395	Clients can now view the survey results after they complete the survey and click in the survey link.
01330748	The @Mention drop-down menu no longer displays blank records.
01319376	An internal server error now longer displays when you edit a client email address in a client profile.
01337035 01353969 01363128 01364193	Random characters no longer display in in the ticket Notes field.
01330827	The application no longer crashes when you create a ticket schedule.
N/A	An out of office request scheduled in advance will not be effective immediately but at the scheduled date and time.
N/A	Special characters in a tech name now display correctly in the Subject field of an out of office email.
N/A	Techs with Admin privileges now display in the Setup > Techs > Out of Office drop-down menus.
N/A	An out of office tech is no longer overwritten as the backup tech in ticket history when you assign a ticket.
01336331	The application no longer crashes when you create a ticket schedule that includes an email flag.
N/A	Imported images now display correctly in the FAQs.
N/A	Text contained within the < and > brackets is no longer deleted.
N/A	The Out of Office and Vacation tech now work together in parallel.
01330934 01350013 01350074 01351874 01352566 01353844 01360352	An error no longer displays when you click Save and Email for tickets created prior to version 12.7.12.
N/A	The Setup > Techs > Out Of Office drop-down menus now displays techs in alphabetical order.
01358553 01365763	The Custom field no longer displays the entered data.
N/A	You can now delete an Out of Office request.
N/A	You can now modify an Out of Office request.
N/A	The Out of Office feature no longer generates an error when more than one admin account exists.
01380448 01381360	A session no longer expires when you change a ticket request type to a different tech group.
N/A	Newly created techs immediately display in out of office.
01253418 01322618 01329717 01331846 01355732 01359565	You can now access a Microsoft Office365 email account on a GCC High/Azure Government tenant.
01384914	The default out of office message was updated.
01385445 01393126 01389136	The @Mention feature now sends an email notification to the correct tech or admin when a ticket note is saved.
01286884	The WMI discovery connection now discovers all assets in a Linux environment.
N/A	Searching FAQs by Model now displays the correct results.

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CVEs

SolarWinds would like to thank our Security Researchers below for reporting on the issue in a responsible manner and working with our security, product, and engineering teams to fix the vulnerability.

CVE-ID	Vulnerability Title	Description	Severity
CVE-2021-41182	XSS vulnerability in jQuery library	jQuery-UI is the official jQuery user interface library. Prior to version 1.13.0, accepting the value of the "altField" option of the Datepicker widget from untrusted sources may execute untrusted code. The issue is fixed in jQuery UI 1.13.0. Any string value passed to the "altField" option is now treated as a CSS selector. A workaround is to not accept the value of the "altField" option from untrusted sources.	Medium

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Security Enhancements

SolarWinds has implemented the necessary changes to the password complexity in the upcoming release, which is expected to be in Q3 2023.

SolarWinds has implemented the necessary input validation for file uploads in the upcoming release, which is expected to be in Q3 2023.

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Installation or upgrade

For new installations, you can download the installer from the SolarWinds website or from the Customer Portal. For more information, see the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide.

After you complete the installation, see the WHD Getting Started Guide. This guide picks up right after the installation process and walks you through the initial steps you need to take to start using the application.

WHD supports Windows Server 2019 and 2022 for production environments and Windows 11 for trial evaluations. These operating system require additional setup to install. See the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide for instructions.

To install WHD and enable FIPS, see Enable FIPS in a new deployment in the WHD Administrator Guide.

WHD no longer includes the additional configuration files required to enable Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) mode in the application. To install WHD and enable FIPS, see Enable FIPS in a new deployment in the WHD Administrator Guide.

If you are installing WHD 12.7.12 with FIPS mode disabled, make sure version 12.7.9 is running on the host server before you install. When the installation is completed, enable FIPS mode.

For upgrades, use the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide to plan and execute your upgrade. When you are ready, download the upgrade package from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.

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Before you upgrade!

If you are upgrading from a previous version, determine the upgrade path for your WHD deployment.

Upgrade your embedded PostgreSQL database

If you are running version 12.7.8 with the embedded PostgreSQL 13.3 database, follow the instructions in the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide to upgrade your deployment to version 12.7.13.

If you are running version 12.7.6 or earlier with the embedded PostgreSQL 9.x.x database, upgrade to 12.7.7 with PostgreSQL 13.9 first. See How to upgrade Web Help Desk to version 12.7.7 using PostgreSQL as the database for details. When you are finished, follow the instructions in the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide to upgrade your deployment to version 12.7.13.

Upgrade your FIPS deployment

If FIPS is enabled in your WHD 12.7.2 through 12.7.4 deployment, copy the following files to another location before you upgrade:

• <WebHelpDesk>\bin\nss-x64
• <WebHelpDesk>\conf\additional\fips-140-2

After you copy the files, upgrade to 12.7.5. When you are finished, upgrade to 12.7.13. See the WHD Installation and Upgrade Guide for details.

Install the MySQL JDBC driver

Beginning with WHD 12.7.1, Oracle Java was replaced with the OpenJDK. This update modifies the directory structure where the MySQL Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver is installed. To prevent errors after the upgrade, install the driver on your host server in the new location to prevent errors in the application after the upgrade.

See Install the MySQL JDBC Driver in the WHD Administrator Guide for installation instructions.

Upgrade Your Apache Tomcat software

The software installer includes Apache Tomcat 9.0.69, which provides enhanced security and is required for this release.

When you upgrade your WHD software, the upgrade procedure replaces the <WebHelpDesk>\conf\tomcat_web_template.xml file with an updated file including the Tomcat 9.0.69 settings.

Before you upgrade, back up your current tomcat_web_template.xml file to an external directory. When the upgrade is completed, add your personal settings to the updated file from your backup file.

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