EDR: Alerts and Emails Not Sent When Using a Custom SMTP Server and No Password

Products

• Carbon Black EDR (formerly Cb Response)

Issue/Introduction

• Alerts and emails are no longer being sent when using a custom SMTP server that does not require a password. 
• Similar error message found in /var/log/cb/enterprise/enterprise.log

  2020-05-28 19:40:45 [47926] <err> cb.enterprise.base_task - Exception during ActionManager
  Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/enterprise/base_task.py", line 71, in _run
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/enterprise/tasks/action_manager.py", line 24, in run_task
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/enterprise/tasks/action_manager.py", line 48, in _init_default_configs
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/core/actions/types/email_sender/action.py", line 37, in __init__
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/core/actions/types/email_sender/action.py", line 89, in _init_updatable_fields
   File "/usr/share/cb/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cb/core/actions/types/email_sender/email_router.py", line 149, in email_router_factory
  AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startswith'

Environment

• EDR Server: 7.0.0 - 7.1.1

Cause

Empty password field is being entered as "null" 

Resolution

1. Log into the backend server via ssh or terminal
2. Run the following command

   psql -p 5002 cb -c "update communication_settings_history set smtp_password = '' where smtp_password is null and mail_server_type = 'own';"

3. Restart services. CB Response: How to restart server services

Additional Information

• Emails and Alerts will not fire when there is a connection break with the emails server. 
• CB-31488 to be fixed in 7.2.0