RHBA-2003:337 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated shadow-utils packages that fix a bug related to reading large passwd
and group entries are now available for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 2.1.

Description

Shadow-utils provides programs for converting the passwd and group files
stored in /etc/ to and from shadowed formats, and for manipulating the
contents of those files.

Versions of shadow-utils prior to 4.0.0 would incorrectly read the contents
of these files if any entry exceeded 4094 characters in length. This
update includes a backported fix for this bug.

Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux system with very large entries in the
passwd and group files should upgrade to these packages, which resolve this
issue.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 98381 - /etc/group file hosed.

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)