pcscd filling /var/log/messages with SCardConnect() Card Not Inserted errors when Firefox running

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Hi,

Running RHEL 6.7 managed by Satellite 5.6 proxy subscribed to RHEL Workstation v.6 for x86_64 channel.

pcsc-lite-1.5.2-15 and firefox-38.6.1.1 installed.

The pcscd daemon is generating pcscd: winscard.c:362:SCardConnect() Card Not Inserted error messages every few seconds when Firefox is running and no smart card is inserted in the reader. This is a fairly recent problem; these errors were not present when I was tailing /var/log/messages several months ago while working on another issue.

I understand this problem was identified and fix issued several years ago by pcsc-lite author/maintainer: http://ludovicrousseau.blogspot.com/2011/07/pcscd-debug-output.html

I also found a Redhat bug that was closed after an errata was issued: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=707412

From my very limited knowledge of Redhat subscriptions and Satellite servers, I have the latest version of pcsc-lite available for Redhat 6.x workstations and would guess the errata the was issued in 2011 is a part of the rpm I have now.

Hoping someone can suggest a next step for me to resolve this problem.

Thanks!

Jim

Responses

Same problem running RHEL 6.7 workstation. System is fully patched so it's not a package version issue. pcscd and esc/escd generate a lot of messages whether the smart card is inserted or not. pcscd is configured to use the "critical" logging level so we should not be generating any lesser logging events.

We also have auditing turned up very high, just about "every" system event is logged, and the pcscd messages do stop logging when auditd is stopped. It appears our problem stems from pcscd generating a lot of "system events" and our auditing being at the paranoid level.

All that said, it is only pcscd that generates audit events at the level we see. There is a new pscsd/escd message in the logs every second or less. We require that smart card login is used and that auditing is very high. What gives with pcscd and possible fixes available?

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