RHBA-2005:086 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated gdm package that fixes various issues is now available.

Description

The GNOME Display Manager, gdm, is a highly configurable re-implementation
of xdm, the X Display Manager. It allows users to log into systems with the
X Window System running and supports running several different X sessions
on a local machine at the same time.

This updated gdm package fixes the following issues:

• gdm erroneously used the source IP instead of the connection address

of XDMCP request packets. This caused problems using XDMCP through NAT
firewalls.

• gdm did not determine the cannonical username before logging in. This

caused problems logging in with PAM and NSS setups that allow more than one
username per user.

• gdm did not wait for slow X servers to stop before restarting on logout.

This caused an error message similar to the following: "There already
appears to be an X server running on display 0. Should I try another? If
you answer no, I will attempt to start the server again."

• gdm tried to test for the existance of a user's home directory as root

instead of as the user being logged in, so an error was generated in
configurations where root did not have access to the user's home directory.

All users of gdm should upgrade to this updated package, which resolves
these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 141380 - gdm passes user input to sessreg, rather than pwent

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)