Release 16.12.0
Date of Release: 17 June 2026
General remarks
- For Glasswall Python wrapper integrations, this release requires an update to v5.11.0 to ensure compatibility with the latest content management policies.
New features
- New OOXML content management policy:
write_reservation.- Controls write reservation passwords in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Controls write reservation passwords in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. A policy setting of
- New DOCX and PPTX content management policy:
embedded_fonts.- Removes embedded font structures while ensuring document text remains readable using system fonts. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Removes embedded font structures while ensuring document text remains readable using system fonts. A policy setting of
- New DOCX content management policy:
field_codes.- Controls a subset of field codes with known attack vectors. Sanitization removes the field code definition while retaining its most recently generated text. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Controls a subset of field codes with known attack vectors. Sanitization removes the field code definition while retaining its most recently generated text. A policy setting of
- New DOCX content management policy:
footnotes_endnotes.- Removes footnote and endnote XML parts and their references, including superscript markers. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Removes footnote and endnote XML parts and their references, including superscript markers. A policy setting of
- New OOXML content management policy:
custom_markup.- Unifies handling of custom XML markup in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files under a single switch. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Unifies handling of custom XML markup in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files under a single switch. A policy setting of
- New OOXML content management policy:
printer_information.- Controls printer information in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Controls printer information in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. A policy setting of
- New XLSX content management policy:
scenarios.- Removes Excel scenario definitions while retaining the currently active cell values, so visible worksheet content is unchanged. A policy setting of
sanitiseis applied by default.
- Removes Excel scenario definitions while retaining the currently active cell values, so visible worksheet content is unchanged. A policy setting of
- Extended the
digital_signaturescontent management policy to OOXML Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (previously available for PDF only). A policy setting ofsanitiseis applied by default. - Extended the
headers_footerscontent management policy to XLSX files (previously available for DOCX only). A policy setting ofsanitiseis applied by default. - Encrypted OOXML files now return a dedicated
gw2ret_fileencryptedstatus instead ofFileTypeUnknown.
Fixes and improvements
- Removed the editor/rebuild camera switching mechanism (
run_mode,editor_camerasandrebuild_camerasconfiguration). - Removed the legacy signal-handling integration from the engine and Java wrapper, along with the associated references in the documentation.
- Improved performance when processing PDFs that contain many embedded JPEG images.
- Fixed issue in DOCX where files containing a
<w:attachedTemplate>reference returned a general failure. - Fixed issue in DOCX where files containing an extended chart failed to process with an "End of stream not reached" error.
- Fixed issue in SVG where JavaScript in
xlink:hrefattributes was managed under thehyperlinkspolicy rather than removed during script sanitization. - Fixed issue in SVG where indentation was removed after processing, causing the output hash to differ from the input even when no changes were reported.
- Fixed issue in XLSX where internal hyperlinks were reported on subsequent passes after external hyperlinks were sanitized.
- Fixed issue in PDF where files were blank after Export/Import.
- Fixed issue in PDF where files containing metadata and pieceinfo were incorrectly rejected.
- Fixed issue in PDF where the engine returned a
FileRejected(-16) status when no disallow policy was configured. - Fixed issue in ELF where some files failed with "Validation of ELF32_LE_SectionHeader.sh_flags failed".
- Fixed issue in Mach-O where certain files caused segmentation faults on import.
- Fixed issue in MPEG where some files failed with "Validation of MPEGPackHeader.pack_start_code failed".
- Fixed issue in PDF where importing XML stream data produced "-10" errors.
- General bug fixes and stability improvements across multiple supported file formats.
- Updates to the example policy file and policy file schema.
Defects and limitations
- The JavaScript wrapper is currently excluded from the release package.
- The Word Search Java wrapper compatibility is currently limited to JRE8.
- PDFs generated via the MS Outlook Adobe plug-in are not supported.
- Word Search analysis XML no longer reports structural content or changes.
- Processing times may be impacted by changes made to licensing features.
- Processing files using multiple threads is not supported. Spawning multiple processes is advised to facilitate parallel processing.
- Word Search is provided as a beta feature:
textorregexcannot be the same forrequireorallow/disallowas this will regenerate the file and ignore thedisalloworrequiresetting.- The pipe symbol (
|) at the start or end ofrequirecan potentially cause the Engine to hang when using regex search policies.