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Upgrade from TheHive 4.x#

Info

This guide describes how to upgrade TheHive from version 4.1.x to 5.0.x.

This guide considers:

If you are using a cluster, specific notes are highlighted to guide you.

Switch to Elasticsearch as indexing engine

TheHive 5.x uses Elasticsearch as indexing engine. If you used Lucene as indexing engine with TheHive 4.1.x, reindexing the data is mandatory. It might take some time regarding the size of your database.

Preparation#

I'm using a cluster

Follow these instructions for all nodes of the cluster.

The database application will be upgraded during the migration. We highly recommend making backups of the database, index and files before running the operation.

FAQ

Q: How to make backups ?

A: Read our backup and restore guide

Attention

Make sure that you can login as an admin user with a password in TheHive database (the local auth provider should be enabled, by default it is enabled).

Stop all running applications#

  1. Start by stopping TheHive:

    stop thehive service
    sudo systemctl stop thehive

  2. Once TheHive is successfully stopped, stop database service

    stop cassandra service
    sudo systemctl stop cassandra

  3. Only if already using Elasticsearch as indexing engine

    stop elasticsearch service
    sudo systemctl stop elasticsearch

Upgrade Java#

I'm using a cluster

Follow these instructions for all nodes of the cluster.

Follow the installation process to install the required version.

Upgrade or install Elasticsearch#

I'm using a cluster

Elasticsearch was mandatory for cluster of TheHive 5.x. Unless an update might is necessary, you can go to Upgrade Cassandra.

Follow the installation process to install and configure the required version.

Upgrade Cassandra#

I'm using a cluster

Follow this part for all nodes of the Cassandra cluster, and ensure to restart sucessfully all nodes of the cluster before upgrading all nodes of TheHive cluster to version 5.

Backup configuration file#

Save the existing configuration file for Cassandra 3.x. It will be used later to configure Cassandra 4:

sudo cp /etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml /etc/cassandra/cassandra3.yaml.bak

Install Cassandra#

Follow the installation process to install the required version.

During the installation process, replace existing configuration files (as the old configuration is saved): 

Configuration file '/etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml'
 ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
 ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
   What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
 The default action is to keep your current version.
*** cassandra.yaml (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? Y

Configuration#

Update the new configuration file, and ensure the following parameters are correctly set with these values:

cluster_name: 'thp'
num_tokens: 256

Info

If you had a more customized configuration file for Cassandra 3.x, review all the file and ensure to adapt it accordingly.

Start the service#

sudo systemctl start cassandra

Upgrade sstables#

On each Cassandra nodes, upgrade the sstables: 

nodetool upgradesstables

Then repair the keyspaces: 

nodetool repair --full

Install thehive#

I'm using a cluster

Before starting this part of the guide, ensure your Cassandra cluster is fully operational, by running the command nodetool status

nodetool status
# nodetool status

Datacenter: datacenter1
=======================

Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--  Address      Load      Tokens  Owns (effective)  Host ID                               Rack
UN  10.1.1.2  1.41 GiB  256     100.0%            ba6daa4e-6d14-4b21-a06c-d01b3bdd659d  rack1
UN  10.1.1.3  1.39 GiB  256     100.0%            201ab99c-8e16-49b1-9b66-5444043eb1cd  rack1
UN  10.1.1.4  1.36 GiB  256     100.0%            a79c9a8c-c99b-4d74-8e78-6b0c252aeb86  rack1

Then, we recommend stopping all existing nodes of TheHive (4.x) and then, upgrading and starting only one node to TheHive 5. When everything works fine with this node, Other nodes can be updated and started.

Prepare for the new installation#

TheHive configuration file: /etc/thehive/application.conf

Starting with TheHive 5.0.0, configuration has been simplified; most of the administration parameters can be configured directly in the UI. The configuration file (/etc/thehive/application.conf) may only contain the necessary information to start the application successfully; which are:

  • Secret
  • Database
  • Indexing engine
  • File storage
  • Enabled connectors
  • Akka configuration in the case of a cluster

Authentication, Webhooks, Cortex and MISP configurations can be set in the UI.

Note

Cortex and Misp connector module keys were renamed from play.modules.enabled to scalligraph.modules

  • Save your current configuration file:
sudo cp /etc/thehive/application.conf /etc/thehive/application.conf.bak
  • For the current use case, i.e., a standalone server, the final configuration file should look like this:
sample of /etc/thehive/application.conf
# TheHive configuration - application.conf
#
#
# This is the default configuration file.
# This is prepared to run with all services locally:
# - Cassandra for the database
# - Elasticsearch for index engine
# - File storage is local in /opt/thp/thehive/files
#
# If this is not your setup, please refer to the documentation at:
# https://docs.thehive-project.org/thehive/
#
#
# Secret key - used by Play Framework
# If TheHive is installed with DEB/RPM package, this is automatically generated
# If TheHive is not installed from DEB or RPM packages run the following
# command before starting thehive:
#   cat > /etc/thehive/secret.conf << _EOF_
#   play.http.secret.key="$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 64 |#   head -n 1)"
#   _EOF_
include "/etc/thehive/secret.conf"


# Database and index configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to connect to local Cassandra 4.x and a
# local Elasticsearch services without authentication.
db.janusgraph {
  storage {
    backend = cql
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    # Cassandra authentication (if configured)
    # username = "thehive"
    # password = "password"
    cql {
      cluster-name = thp
      keyspace = thehive
    }
  }
  index.search {
    backend = elasticsearch
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    index-name = thehive
  }
}

# Attachment storage configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to store files locally in the folder.
# The path can be updated and should belong to the user/group running thehive service. (by default: thehive:thehive)
storage {
  provider = localfs
  localfs.location = /opt/thp/thehive/files
}

# Define the maximum size for an attachment accepted by TheHive
play.http.parser.maxDiskBuffer = 1GB
# Define maximum size of http request (except attachment)
play.http.parser.maxMemoryBuffer = 10M

# Service configuration
application.baseUrl = "http://localhost:9000"
play.http.context = "/"

# Additional modules
#
# TheHive is strongly integrated with Cortex and MISP.
# Both modules are enabled by default. If not used, each one can be disabled by
# commenting the configuration line.
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.cortex.CortexModule
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.misp.MispModule
  • Save your current configuration file:
sudo cp /etc/thehive/application.conf /etc/thehive/application.conf.bak
  • For the current use case, i.e., a standalone server, the final configuration file should look like this:
sample of /etc/thehive/application.conf
# TheHive configuration - application.conf
#
#
# This is the default configuration file.
# This is prepared to run with all services locally:
# - Cassandra for the database
# - Elasticsearch for index engine
# - File storage is local in /opt/thp/thehive/files
#
# If this is not your setup, please refer to the documentation at:
# https://docs.thehive-project.org/thehive/
#
#
# Secret key - used by Play Framework
# If TheHive is installed with DEB/RPM package, this is automatically generated
# If TheHive is not installed from DEB or RPM packages run the following
# command before starting thehive:
#   cat > /etc/thehive/secret.conf << _EOF_
#   play.http.secret.key="$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 64 |#   head -n 1)"
#   _EOF_
include "/etc/thehive/secret.conf"


# Database and index configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to connect to local Cassandra 4.x and a
# local Elasticsearch services without authentication.
db.janusgraph {
  storage {
    backend = cql
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    # Cassandra authentication (if configured)
    # username = "thehive"
    # password = "password"
    cql {
      cluster-name = thp
      keyspace = thehive
    }
  }
  index.search {
    backend = elasticsearch
    hostname = ["127.0.0.1"]
    index-name = thehive
  }
}

# Attachment storage configuration
# By default, TheHive is configured to store files locally in the folder.
# The path can be updated and should belong to the user/group running thehive service. (by default: thehive:thehive)
storage {
  provider = localfs
  localfs.location = /opt/thp/thehive/files
}

# Define the maximum size for an attachment accepted by TheHive
play.http.parser.maxDiskBuffer = 1GB
# Define maximum size of http request (except attachment)
play.http.parser.maxMemoryBuffer = 10M

# Service configuration
application.baseUrl = "http://localhost:9000"
play.http.context = "/"

# Additional modules
#
# TheHive is strongly integrated with Cortex and MISP.
# Both modules are enabled by default. If not used, each one can be disabled by
# commenting the configuration line.
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.cortex.CortexModule
scalligraph.modules += org.thp.thehive.connector.misp.MispModule

# Cluster configuration
akka {
  cluster.enable = on
  actor {
    provider = cluster
  }
remote.artery {
  canonical {
    hostname = "<My IP address>"
    port = 2551
  }
}
## seed node list contains at least one active node
cluster.seed-nodes = [
                      "akka://application@<Node 1 IP address>:2551",
                      "akka://application@<Node 2 IP address>:2551",
                      "akka://application@<Node 3 IP address>:2551"
                    ]
}

Note

By default, Cortex and MISP modules are enabled. If you won't use them or one of them, the corresponding line can be commented.

Our recommendation: use the default configuration sample, update it with your custom-parameter values, and keep the old file to configure services in the web UI.

Specific configuration required (for the upgrade only)#

I'm using a cluster

This part only concerns the first node, the one that will be started to perform the database and index upgrade.

These lines should be added to the configuration file only while upgrading to version 5, and removed later on.

db.janusgraph.forceDropAndRebuildIndex = true

Install TheHive#

I'm using a cluster

Follow these instructions for the first node of TheHive.

When starting TheHive 5.x for the first time, ensure all nodes of database clusters are up and running correctly.

Once the upgrade is successful with the first node, install and start TheHive on other nodes.

  • Update the repository address
wget -O- https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/strangebee-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/thehive-project.list ; echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/strangebee-archive-keyring.gpg] https://deb.strangebee.com thehive-5.2 main' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/strangebee.list
  • Install new package - old package of thehive4 will be removed
sudo apt update
sudo apt install thehive
  • Add Cassandra repository keys
sudo rpm --import https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg
  • Setup your system to connect the RPM repository. Create and edit the file /etc/yum.repos.d/strangebee.repo:
/etc/yum.repos.d/strangebee.repo
[thehive]
enabled=1
priority=1
name=StrangeBee RPM repository
baseurl=https://rpm.strangebee.com/thehive-5.2/noarch
gpgkey=https://archives.strangebee.com/keys/strangebee.gpg
gpgcheck=1
  • Then install the package using yum:
sudo yum install thehive

During the installation, if you already prepared your configuration file during Prepare for the new installation chapter, continue without updating it with the maintainer's version.

Configuration file '/etc/thehive/application.conf'
==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
  What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
The default action is to keep your current version.
*** application.conf (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? N

Start services#

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  • Start Cassandra (if not already started)
sudo systemctl start cassandra
  • Start Elasticsearch (if not already started)
sudo systemctl start elasticsearch
  • Once both database services are started successfully, start TheHive
sudo systemctl start thehive

The first start of TheHive 5.x can take some time

When starting for the first time, TheHive is updating first the database schema, and proceed to reindexation. Both processes can take a certain time depending on the size of the database and the amount of data. Progression can be followed in log file /var/log/thehive/application.log. See Troubleshooting for more information.

Restart the service#

Once the service is started successfully, update the configuration file and remove the following lines:

/etc/thehive/application.conf
db.janusgraph.forceDropAndRebuildIndex = true

Then restart TheHive:

sudo systemctl restart thehive
I'm using a cluster

You can install and start TheHive on all other nodes.

Troubleshooting#

During the update, few logs can be seen in TheHive application.log file.

Example of logs and what they mean

[INFO] from org.janusgraph.graphdb.database.management.GraphIndexStatusWatcher in application-akka.actor.default-dispatcher-11 [|] Some key(s) on index global2 do not currently have status(es) [REGISTERED, ENABLED]: dateValue=INSTALLED,externalLink=INSTALLED,origin=INSTALLED,patternId=INSTALLED,revoked=INSTALLED,mandatory=INSTALLED,content=INSTALLED,isAttachment=INSTALLED,writable=INSTALLED,tactic=INSTALLED,stringValue=INSTALLED,owningOrganisation=INSTALLED,permissions=INSTALLED,actionRequired=INSTALLED,integerValue=INSTALLED,details=INSTALLED,locked=INSTALLED,slug=INSTALLED,cortexId=INSTALLED,owner=INSTALLED,workerId=INSTALLED,apikey=INSTALLED,level=INSTALLED,floatValue=INSTALLED,version=INSTALLED,occurDate=INSTALLED,url=INSTALLED,report=INSTALLED,tactics=INSTALLED,booleanValue=INSTALLED,cortexJobId=INSTALLED,category=INSTALLED,workerName=INSTALLED
TheHive install indexes of the new schema in the database
[INFO] from org.janusgraph.graphdb.olap.job.IndexRepairJob in Thread-97 [|] Index global2 metrics: success-tx: 1 doc-updates: 100 succeeded: 100
TheHive reindexes all data
* UPDATE SCHEMA OF thehive-enterprise (1): Create initial values
[INFO] from org.thp.scalligraph.models.Operations in application-akka.actor.default-dispatcher-11 [d471d8b643d17b6d|d88fe62679b77ab1] Adding initial values for GDPRDummy
[..]
[INFO] from org.thp.scalligraph.models.Operations in application-akka.actor.default-dispatcher-11 [|] Update graph in progress (100): Add pap and ignoreSimilarity to observables
Migrating data from v4. to v5
[WARN] from org.thp.thehive.enterprise.services.LicenseSrv in main [ef39c95eaa6de532|0ccf187e40a4cd34] No license found
No license found. This is a normal behavior during the upgrade from versions 4 to 5
INFO] from play.core.server.AkkaHttpServer in main [|] Listening for HTTP on /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9000
The service is available. Users/Administrators can log in
[INFO] from org.thp.thehive.connector.cortex.services.CortexDataImportActor in application-akka.actor.default-dispatcher-16 [|] Analyzer templates already present (found 203), skipping
[..]
[INFO] from org.thp.thehive.services.ttp.PatternImportActor in application-akka.actor.default-dispatcher-14 [|] Import finished, 707 patterns imported
Few operations are processed after making the service available, like installing MITRE Enterprise ATT&CK patterns catalog or Analyzers templates.
[ERROR] from org.janusgraph.diskstorage.log.util.ProcessMessageJob in pool-22-thread-1 [|] Encountered exception when processing message [Message@2022-03-24T16:50:40.655134Z:7f0001017672-ubuntu2=0x809F9F0568850528850550850558850570850600850610850618850650850668850710850738850758850760850808850900850910850A60850A70850A78850B00850B08853520853B3885150E8941608541688541788542088542688542708581] by reader [org.janusgraph.graphdb.database.management.ManagementLogger@3e1a6eae]:java.lang.IllegalStateException: Cannot access element because its enclosing transaction is closed and unbound
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.StandardJanusGraphTx.getNextTx(StandardJanusGraphTx.java:380)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.vertices.AbstractVertex.it(AbstractVertex.java:61)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.relations.CacheVertexProperty.<init>(CacheVertexProperty.java:38)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.RelationConstructor.readRelation(RelationConstructor.java:88)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.RelationConstructor.readRelation(RelationConstructor.java:71)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.RelationConstructor$1.next(RelationConstructor.java:57)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.RelationConstructor$1.next(RelationConstructor.java:45)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.types.vertices.JanusGraphSchemaVertex.getDefinition(JanusGraphSchemaVertex.java:94)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.transaction.StandardJanusGraphTx.expireSchemaElement(StandardJanusGraphTx.java:1599)
at org.janusgraph.graphdb.database.management.ManagementLogger.read(ManagementLogger.java:97)
at org.janusgraph.diskstorage.log.util.ProcessMessageJob.run(ProcessMessageJob.java:46)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:304)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1128)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:628)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:829)
During indexing, Janusgraph may display this message, this error is coming from a bug in janusgraph, don't mind it as the indexing will continue normally. This will have no impact on TheHive