After doing so I lost all internet connection, and by looking in the logs I found this error in the IPS log:
utm snort[25135]: FATAL ERROR: /etc/snort/rules/astaro.rules(451) Unknown rule option: 'flow8to_client,established'.
I removed all the modifications I made in the web UI and stopped and restarted the IPS. It is still producing the same error. So I went as far to ssh into the box, modify the offending rule to have the correct option (flow:to_client,established), saved it and restarted. Well something keeps putting it back the the incorrect verbiage. So I ended up disable the rule to get the IPS to work.
The offending rule is:
drop tcp $EXTERNAL_NET $HTTP_PORTS -> $HOME_NET any (msg:"D BROWSER-PLUGINS VMWare VMCtl Class ActiveX function call access"; flow8to_client,established; file_data; content:"VmCOM.VmCtl"; fast_pattern[:$]nly; pcre:"/(?P\w+)\s*=\s*(\x22VmCOM\.VmCtl\x22|\x27VmCOM\.VmCtl\x27)\s*\x3b.*(?P\w+)\s*=\s*new\s*ActiveXObject\s*\(\s*(?P=c)\s*\)(\s*\.\s*GuestInfo\s*|.*(?P=v)\s*\.\s*GuestInfo\s*)|(?P\w+)\s*=\s*new\s*ActiveXObject\s*\(\s*(\x22VmCOM\.VmCtl\x22|\x27VmCOM\.VmCtl\x27)\s*\)(\s*\.\s*GuestInfo\s*|.*(?P=n)\s*\.\s*GuestInfo\s*)\s*\(/Osmi"; metadata[:P]olicy security-ips drop, service http; classtype:attempted-user; sid:11014613[;)]
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