{"id":136,"date":"2017-04-23T18:50:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T21:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.linuxpro.com.br\/2017\/04\/novo-zimbra-8\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T03:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:42:10","slug":"novo-zimbra-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.linuxpro.com.br\/en\/2017\/04\/novo-zimbra-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbra 8.7.7 and the Universal UI that never shipped"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mascote<\/p>\n

Note (2026):<\/strong> news from April 2017. Two things have changed since then, and both matter: the Universal UI shown here was never released<\/strong> \u2014 Zimbra itself suspended the project months later \u2014, and the 8 series reached end of support. In 2026, the current series is 10.1<\/strong> (Daffodil), with General Support through 31\/12\/2027. If you landed here looking for what to install today, skip to what to do in 2026<\/a>.<\/div>\n

With a new webmail interface<\/h2>\n

It looks like Synacor<\/a>, Zimbra's owner at this point, is doing a great job \u2014 unlike some companies that bought the software and did practically nothing. Synacor is driving a subtle and promising evolution of the product.<\/p>\n

To make things more interesting for developers, there is now a new way to compile a development version, zm-build<\/strong>, available on Zimbra's GitHub<\/a>. I hope this same build will soon be possible for Debian and openSUSE.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The latest Zimbra version I tested was 8.7.1, which has an installation video on the channel<\/a>, and it was already much lighter than its predecessors. The trend is for it to become lighter still.<\/p>\n

But for a simpler environment, without much hardware to spend on email, I still suggest ISPConfig with Postfix<\/a>. I know I am biased, but let's face it: you cannot be lightweight while using Java, two HTTP servers, and a ton of processes in .jar<\/code>. If you doubt it, try bringing up Zimbra on a server with 2 GB of RAM and see what happens.<\/p>\n

Zimbra Universal UI \u2014 public beta<\/h2>\n

During the first COMMIT, Zimbra's technology and development event, the new Universal UI<\/strong>was presented: a redesigned interface for Zimbra Collaboration, with modern standards and a focus on improving the user experience.<\/p>\n

\"Tela<\/p>\n

New calendar view<\/h3>\n

The calendar was redesigned with a modern look. One highlight is the new way to add events quickly, without popups, for greater efficiency.<\/p>\n

\"Calend\u00e1rio<\/p>\n

New contacts view<\/h3>\n

For contacts, a more modern avatar display. If a contact does not yet have an image, Zimbra shows their initials.<\/p>\n

\"Lista<\/p>\n

New tasks view<\/h3>\n

The tasks view became cleaner, replacing the progress bar with a progress circle.<\/p>\n

\"Visualiza\u00e7\u00e3o<\/p>\n

In 2017, this section invited users to test Universal UI on a cloud instance and linked to the developer build. Both addresses went offline \u2014 and the next section explains why.<\/em><\/p>\n

What happened to Universal UI<\/h2>\n

It never left beta. The original announcement post on Zimbra's blog<\/a>, dated 27 March 2017, now opens with a notice added later: \u201cWhile we are suspending plans for Universal UI\u2019s release, we are aggressively advancing another exciting project\u2026\u201d<\/em> \u2014 we are suspending plans to release Universal UI. The cloud beta was shut down, the developer build went offline, and the subject died.<\/p>\n

The idea survived, though. What Zimbra described as \u201canother exciting project\u201d became the Modern Web App<\/strong>, launched with Zimbra 9<\/strong> (GA on 7 April 2020). It is the same thesis \u2014 the 2005 Ajax interface retired, the interface rewritten with modern tooling \u2014 only delivered three years later under another name. In the 10.1 series, the product continues to offer both: the Modern Web App<\/em> and the Classic Web App<\/em>, the old client many people refuse to let go of.<\/p>\n

It serves as a reminder when reading technical news: a public beta presented at an event is not a roadmap. Between a demo and a release, there is room for a full cancellation.<\/p>\n

If you still run Zimbra 8, read this<\/h2>\n

The 8 series is over. 8.8.15 Joule, which was the most widely installed LTS in Brazil, had guidance<\/em> through 31\/12\/2024; 9 Kepler had extended support through 30\/06\/2025. An 8.7.7 like the one in this news story has gone unpatched for many years \u2014 and unpatched webmail is not a legacy system, it is an open door.<\/p>\n

The scale of the risk is not theoretical. CVE-2025-27915<\/strong>, a stored XSS<\/em> in the Classic Web Client exploited through an attachment .ics<\/code>, was used in a campaign targeting the Brazilian Armed Forces<\/strong> \u2014 simply opening the message let JavaScript run in the victim's session and create a filter forwarding the entire mailbox. The fix shipped on 27 January 2025, for 9.0.0 Patch 44, 10.0.13, and 10.1.5. Anyone on an unsupported series received no fix at all.<\/p>\n

Today's path:<\/p>\n

# o que voc\u00ea tem rodando\nsu - zimbra -c 'zmcontrol -v'\nsu - zimbra -c 'zmcontrol status'\n<\/code><\/pre>\n