RHBA-2005:228 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated kernel-utils package that fixes various bugs is now available.

Description

The kernel-utils package contains several utilities that can be used to
control the kernel or machine hardware. Included are:

• dmidecode - gives information about the BIOS and motherboard revisisons
• microcode_ctl - updates the microcode on Intel CPUs
• smartctl - monitor the health of disks

This updated kernel-utils package addresses the following issues:

• The microcode_ctl utility has been updated to version 1.11, which

incorporates support for AMD64, and updated microcode data.

• The microcode_ctl utility was using binaries from /usr at a stage in the

boot process where /usr may not have been mounted.

• A bogus "" in the initscript for the microcode_ctl utility was fixed.
• Alignment problems when the dmidecode utility was run on the IBM eServer

xSeries 445 were fixed.

• The irqbalance utility was updated and changed to work on AMD64

architecture hardware. Additionally, a bug that prevented its man page from
being installed was fixed.

• The x86info utility was updated to recognize several new processors, and

no longer requires an executable stack.

All users of kernel-utils 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 - 90023 - irqbalance missing man page
• BZ - 112355 - dmidecode v2.2 does not work on IBM eServer xSeries 445
• BZ - 130916 - /etc/firmware/microcode.dat is out of date
• BZ - 150338 - /etc/init.d/microcode_ctl has bad arguments to microcode_ctl

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)