2.2. Configuration

Warning

Poorly-configured MySQL and Bugzilla installations have given attackers full access to systems in the past. Please take the security parts of these guidelines seriously, even for Bugzilla machines hidden away behind your firewall.

2.2.1. localconfig

Once you run checksetup.pl with all the correct modules installed, it displays a message about, and write out a file called, localconfig. This file contains the default settings for a number of Bugzilla parameters.

Load this file in your editor. The only value you need to change is $db_pass, the password for the user you will create for your database. Pick a strong password (for simplicity, it should not contain single quote characters) and put it here.

The other options in the localconfig file are documented by their accompanying comments. If you have a slightly non-standard MySQL setup, you may wish to change one or more of the other "$db_*" parameters.

You may also wish to change the names of the priorities, severities, operating systems and platforms for your installation. However, you can always change these after installation has finished; if you then re-run checksetup.pl, the changes will get picked up.

2.2.2. MySQL

2.2.2.1. Security

MySQL ships as insecure by default. It allows anybody to on the local machine full administrative capabilities without requiring a password; the special MySQL root account (note: this is not the same as the system root) also has no password. Also, many installations default to running mysqld as the system root.

  1. To disable the anonymous user account and set a password for the root user, execute the following. The root user password should be different to the bugs user password you set in localconfig in the previous section, and also different to the password for the system root account on your machine.

      bash$ mysql mysql
      mysql> DELETE FROM user WHERE user = '';
      mysql> UPDATE user SET password = password('new_password') WHERE user = 'root';
      mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

    From this point forward, to run the mysql command-line client, you will need to type mysql -u root -p and enter new_password when prompted.

  2. If you run MySQL on the same machine as your web server, you should disable remote access to MySQL by adding the following to your /etc/my.conf:

      [myslqd]
      # Prevent network access to MySQL.
      skip-networking
  3. Consult the documentation that came with your system for information on making mysqld run as an unprivileged user.

  4. For added security, you could also run MySQL, or even all of Bugzilla in a chroot jail; however, instructions for doing that are beyond the scope of this document.

2.2.2.2. Allow large attachments

You need to configure MySQL to accept large packets, if you want to have attachments larger than 64K. Add the text below to your /etc/my.conf. There is also a parameter in Bugzilla for setting the maximum allowable attachment size, (default 1MB). Bugzilla will only accept attachments up to the lower of these two sizes.

  [mysqld]
  # Allow packets up to 1M
  set-variable = max_allowed_packet=1M

2.2.2.3. Add a user to MySQL

You need to add a new MySQL user for Bugzilla to use. (It's not safe to have Bugzilla use the MySQL root account.) The following instructions assume the defaults in localconfig; if you changed those, you need to modify the SQL command appropriately. You will need the $db_pass password you set in localconfig in Section 2.2.1.

We use an SQL GRANT command to create a "bugs" user. This also restricts the "bugs" user to operations within a database called "bugs", and only allows the account to connect from "localhost". Modify it to reflect your setup if you will be connecting from another machine or as a different user.

Run the mysql command-line client and enter:

  mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,INDEX,ALTER,CREATE,
         DROP,REFERENCES ON bugs.* TO bugs@localhost
         IDENTIFIED BY '$db_pass';
  mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES

Note

If you are using MySQL 4, you need to add the LOCK TABLES and CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES permissions to the list.

2.2.3. checksetup.pl

Next, rerun checksetup.pl. It reconfirms that all the modules are present, and notices the altered localconfig file, which it assumes you have edited to your satisfaction. It compiles the UI templates, connects to the database using the 'bugs' user you created and the password you defined, and creates the 'bugs' database and the tables therein.

After that, it asks for details of an administrator account. Bugzilla can have multiple administrators - you can create more later - but it needs one to start off with. Enter the email address of an administrator, his or her full name, and a suitable Bugzilla password.

checksetup.pl will then finish. You may rerun checksetup.pl at any time if you wish.

2.2.4. Web server

Configure your web server according to the instructions in the appropriate section. The Bugzilla Team recommends Apache.

2.2.4.1. Apache httpd

Load httpd.conf in your editor.

Uncomment (or add) the following line. This configures Apache to run .cgi files outside the cgi-bin directory.

  AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

Apache uses <Directory> directives to permit fine-grained permission setting. Add the following two lines to a <Directory> directive that applies either to the Bugzilla directory or one of its parents (e.g. the <Directory /var/www/html> directive). This allows Bugzilla's .htaccess files to override global permissions, and allows .cgi files to run in the Bugzilla directory.

  Options +ExecCGI +FollowSymLinks
  AllowOverride Limit

Add index.cgi to the end of the DirectoryIndex line.

checksetup.pl can set tighter permissions on Bugzilla's files and directories if it knows what user the webserver runs as. Look for the User line in httpd.conf, and place that value in the $webservergroup variable in localconfig. Then rerun checksetup.pl.

2.2.4.2. Microsoft Internet Information Services

If you need, or for some reason even want, to use Microsoft's Internet Information Services or Personal Web Server you should be able to. You will need to configure them to know how to run CGI scripts. This is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q245225 for Internet Information Services and Q231998 for Personal Web Server.

Also, and this can't be stressed enough, make sure that files such as localconfig and your data directory are secured as described in Section 2.2.4.4.

2.2.4.3. AOL Server

Ben FrantzDale reported success using AOL Server with Bugzilla. He reported his experience and what appears below is based on that.

AOL Server will have to be configured to run CGI scripts, please consult the documentation that came with your server for more information on how to do this.

Because AOL Server doesn't support .htaccess files, you'll have to create a TCL script. You should create an aolserver/modules/tcl/filter.tcl file (the filename shouldn't matter) with the following contents (change /bugzilla/ to the web-based path to your Bugzilla installation):


  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/localconfig filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/localconfig~ filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/\#localconfig\# filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/*.pl filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/syncshadowdb filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/runtests.sh filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/data/* filter_deny
  ns_register_filter preauth GET /bugzilla/template/* filter_deny

  proc filter_deny { why } {
      ns_log Notice "filter_deny"
      return "filter_return"
  }
        

Warning

This probably doesn't account for all possible editor backup files so you may wish to add some additional variations of localconfig. For more information, see bug 186383 or Bugtraq ID 6501.

Note

If you are using webdot from research.att.com (the default configuration for the webdotbase paramater), you will need to allow access to data/webdot/*.dot for the reasearch.att.com machine.

If you are using a local installation of GraphViz, you will need to allow everybody to access *.png, *.gif, *.jpg, and *.map in the data/webdot directory.

2.2.4.4. Web Server Access Controls

Users of Apache can skip this section because Bugzilla ships with .htaccess files which restrict access in the manner required. Users of other webservers, read on.

There are several files in the Bugzilla directory that should not be accessible from the web. You need to configure your webserver so they they aren't. Not doing this may reveal sensitive information such as database passwords.

  • In the main Bugzilla directory, you should:

    • Block: *.pl, *localconfig*, runtests.sh

    • But allow: localconfig.js, localconfig.rdf

  • In data:

    • Block everything

    • But allow: duplicates.rdf

  • In data/webdot:

    • If you use a remote webdot server:

      • Block everything

      • But allow *.dot only for the remote webdot server

    • Otherwise, if you use a local GraphViz:

      • Block everything

      • But allow: *.png, *.gif, *.jpg, *.map

    • And if you don't use any dot:

      • Block everything

  • In Bugzilla:

    • Block everything

  • In template:

    • Block everything

You should test to make sure that the files mentioned above are not accessible from the Internet, especially your localconfig file which contains your database password. To test, simply point your web browser at the file; for example, to test mozilla.org's installation, we'd try to access http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/localconfig. You should get a 403 Forbidden error.

2.2.5. Bugzilla

Your Bugzilla should now be working. Access http://<your-bugzilla-server>/ - you should see the Bugzilla front page. If not, consult the Troubleshooting section, Section 2.5.

Log in with the administrator account you defined in the last checksetup.pl run. You should go through the parameters on the Edit Parameters page (see link in the footer) and see if there are any you wish to change. They key parameters are documented in Section 3.1; you should certainly alter maintainer and urlbase; you may also want to alter cookiepath or requirelogin.

This would also be a good time to revisit the localconfig file and make sure that the names of the priorities, severities, platforms and operating systems are those you wish to use when you start creating bugs. Remember to rerun checksetup.pl if you change it.

Bugzilla has several optional features which require extra configuration. You can read about those in Section 2.3.