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The Samba team at SerNet GmbH has reached the first milestone (1/17) in its project funded by Sovereign Tech Agency. This milestone focuses on strengthening the security of the MS-NRPC component and hardening Netlogon communication, addressing critical requirements in upcoming Windows versions. By transitioning domain controller communication and client-controller interactions to Kerberos-based authentication, the Samba team is ensuring enhanced security and interoperability. This work has been made possible through funding secured by SerNet and funds assigned by the Sovereign Tech Agency (STA, formerly known as Sovereign Tech Fund).

The Samba development team has successfully implemented and published the following improvements and optimizations:

• DCE/RPC client improvements, add support for security context multiplexing
• winbindd optimizations for connecting to domain controllers
• Fix handling of invalid bind packets in the DCE/RPC server
• Implement NetrGetLogonCapabilities QueryLevel 2
• gsskrb5 enhancements: GSS_C_DCE_STYLE implies GSS_C_MUTUAL_FLAG as acceptor
• Implementation of netr_ServerAuthenticateKerberos in client and server: Preparation, Server Support, Client Support

The implemented security enhancements will be available in the public Samba software repositories, ensuring that all users of Samba benefit from the ongoing development work. This milestone represents not only a technical achievement but also a commitment to the open-source community, made possible through SerNet’s efforts in securing funding and providing development leadership.

For further information about the project, have a look at the project overview. The Samba STA project is an initiative to enhance the functionality, security, and scalability of Samba, a critical open-source software for interoperability and identity access management in mixed-OS environments. The project, funded by the STA, focuses on completing 17 milestones over 18 months, covering areas such as modern security protocols, failover functionality, and UNIX extensions. Development results are continuously made publicly available.

The SerNet Samba team’s contributions from this year’s SNIA Developer Conference (SDC 2024) are now available to watch online. Ralph Böhme, Volker Lendecke, and Stefan Metzmacher – all also key members of the international Samba team – shared valuable insights during their sessions. 

Whether you missed the event or want to revisit the content, you can now access the recordings here:

• Samba Development Status Update – Ralph Böhme
• NFS and SMB Common Infrastructure – Volker Lendecke
• SMB Witness Service – Stefan Metzmacher

Check out this opportunity to explore the latest innovations in Samba and storage technologies.

The Samba team at SerNet just released the packages for SAMBA+ 4.21.1 and  SAMBA+ 4.19.9. Packages for various SUSE and Red Hat platforms as well as for Debian GNU/Linux and Ubuntu are available now.

The new versions address several issues, which are listed in the release notes:

• Samba 4.21.1 Release Notes
• Samba 4.19.9 Release Notes

SAMBA+ packages are available as software subscriptions and can be purchased in the SAMBA+ shop. Detailed information and prices can be found at the US SAMBA+ Shop (for USD Pricing) or the World SAMBA+ Shop (for EUR Pricing).

Existing subscriptions include new SAMBA+ packages. If you have any further questions or would like to request a quote, please feel free to contact us.