Mirth Connect 4.4.0 includes new features such as downloading commercial extensions during installation as well as changes, updates, and improvements. Mirth Connect 32-bit Windows executable and zip files will not be supported after December 31, 2023. If you are running Mirth Connect using 32-bit for Windows, make plans to use Mirth Connect 64-bit for Windows in the future.

• Core Mirth Connect
  • New Features
    • Added New Functionality to the Mirth Connect Setup Wizard (Installation Process)
    • Improved Event Log Messages
    • New Event When the Server Has Finished Starting Up
  • Fixed Defects
    • Email Contents Output to System.out When Using the ServerSMTPConnection.send() Method
    • Mirth Connect API GET messages Endpoint is Throwing a NullPointerException When Using Only Required Parameters
    • Users Can Be Created With a Blank Username
    • Creating a New Channel Group Before the Channel Panel Fully Loads Deletes ALL Other Channel Groups
    • Code Template Editor Window Not Scrolling
    • SFTP File Writer Incorrectly Overwriting Existing Files
    • Code Reference for Getting HTTP Request Parameters Uses a Deprecated Function
  • Documentation
    • Command-Line Installer Documentation
• Security Improvements
  • Library Updates
  • Functional Changes
    • Default Digest Algorithm Changed
    • Remote code execution vulnerability when using Java 8 and elevated permissions
• Commercial Extension Improvements
  • Advanced Clustering Plugin
    • Running Mirth Connect Client on Java 17+ caused SerializerException
  • Enhancement Bundle Plugin
    • Enhancement Bundle Released
  • FHIR Connector Plugin
    • FHIR Connector Fails to Load Models into UI on Java 17+
  • Multi-factor Authentication Plugin
    • MFA Duo Login Window is Blank on Java 17
• Docker Images
  • Support for Arm Processors
  • Update Alpine Linux Version

You can find the list of completed issues for this release here.

We added the following features to the Mirth Connect Setup Wizard:

1. We added the ability to download and install your Mirth Connect commercial extensions at the time Mirth Connect is installed or upgraded. This simplifies the process so that users no longer have to download commercial extensions prior to the installation.

2. When upgrading Mirth Connect, the Setup Wizard now displays the existing values for the Destination Directory, License Key, Network Ports, and Password Requirements from your mirth.properties file rather than the standard default values or the values that were entered previously.

NOTE: For Linux users upgrading from 4.3.0, new URL links have been added to the Mirth Connect screens of the Setup Wizard to allow navigating to the desired version from the main document/wiki pages. To get the updated links, uninstall and then re-install Mirth Connect.

When an Advanced Search is done on the PATIENT_ID metadata using the “=” operator, the Value entered for the search in now included in the “Patient ID” column of the Event browser for the "Queried PHI" event that is created.

When the Mirth Connect server has finished its startup process, it now creates a server event named "Server startup complete". This event is useful for measuring the server startup time. Additionally, users can register an event listener that triggers some action when the server event occurs. Thanks to user tonygermano for submitting a pull request implementing this feature. (Community Issue)

We fixed a defect where using the ServerSMTPConnection.send() method would output the email contents to System.out. This fix prevents potential security threats since PHI may be included in the output.

We fixed a defect where using only the required parameters for the Mirth Connect API GET messages endpoint throws a NullPointerException due to certain other parameters being null. These parameters now default to their listed values if no values are specified.

We fixed an issue in which you could create a new user account with a blank username via the REST API. The API now enforces a non-empty username. (Community Issue)

We fixed an issue where if you create a new channel group before the channel panel fully loads, all other channel groups will be deleted. Now, you will only be able to create a new channel group AFTER the channel panel fully loads.

We fixed an issue with the Code Template editor window where the editor window can resize itself past the bottom edge of the Mirth Connect Administrator and no vertical scrollbar appears to help navigate the rest of the editor window. Now, the Code Template editor window will no longer resize itself past the bottom edge of the Mirth Connect Administrator and it will dynamically adjust its size relative to the Administrator.

We fixed a defect in which the File Writer, using the SFTP method, would incorrectly overwrite existing files when it was configured to error if the file already exists. Thanks to user ChristopherSchultz for submitting a pull request to fix this issue. (Community Issue)

We fixed a defect where using the Get HTTP Request Parameter function will log an error message stating that the get(key) method is deprecated and will soon be removed. The function will now use the non-deprecated getParameter(key) method instead. (Community Issue)

We've added a page to the Getting Started section of the User Guide with detailed information about using the command-line installer.

We've changed the default digest/hash algorithm from SHA256 to PBKDF2WithHmacSHA256. In addition, the default iteration count was changed from 1000 to 600000. Support for Argon2 was also added. This was done to conform with modern password security recommendations. (Community Issue)

If you had already explicitly set digest.algorithm, then no changes are made, Mirth Connect will still use the digest algorithm that you have set.

If you had not already explicitly set digest.algorithm, then the new default algorithm will be used going forward. New "fallback" properties will be set to the old defaults, so old digest values can still be verified. When a user updates their password, the digest value will be updated to use the new algorithm at that time.

We fixed a defect where posting XML payloads to the API could cause certain objects (like DataSources) to be deserialized, which could be used to issue remote commands on the server. This doesn't affect any server running Java 9+, it only happens on Java 8, and only when the Mirth Connect process is given sufficient elevated OS permissions. Java 11 at a minimum is recommended, and Java 8 support will be phased out at some point. But if you do absolutely need to use Java 8, then we recommend upgrading to Mirth Connect 4.4 or later.

We fixed a SerializerException issue when launching the client with Java 17.

We've released the new Enhancement Bundle extension. This extension provides miscellaneous additional functionality to Mirth Connect users. Currently, the new features include the ability to do the following:

• Search and view messages from multiple channels at once
• Export messages according to specified search criteria from multiple channels at once
• Restrict permission to export messages from multiple channels using the Role-Based Access Control extension

We fixed an issue where the FHIR models would fail to load in the Administrator UI when launching the client with Java 17. This did not affect the actual Mirth Connect server, only the client.

We fixed an issue with MFA Duo when launching the Mirth Connect Administrator with Java 17. Previously, the Duo login window was blank and wouldn't allow the user to log in. For this to work properly, the Mirth Connect Administrator Launcher must be updated to version 1.4.1.

Starting with version 4.4.0, all Mirth Connect Docker images will support Arm processors in addition to x86 processors. See our DockerHub or GitHub pages for more information.

We have updated our Mirth Connect Docker images to use the latest 3.x.x version of Alpine Linux. See our DockerHub or GitHub pages for more information.