RHBA-2007:0785 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated util-linux packages that fix various bugs and add an
enhancement are now available.

Description

The util-linux package contains a large variety of low-level system
utilities that are necessary for a Linux system to function. Among
others, util-linux contains the fdisk configuration tool and the login
program.

These updated packages fix the following issues:

• under the raw major, minor number zero is reserved for /dev/rawctl.

Attempting to bind a raw device using the minor number zero, such as
/dev/raw/raw0, caused /dev/rawctl to be deleted. You can no longer bind raw
devices using the minor number zero.

• the nfs man page documented the "sec=krb5p" option. This option is not

in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 kernel, and therefore can not be used.

• the mount command used the incorrect permissions "000" for the

/etc/mtab~ lock file. Mounting a device caused a "can't open lock file
/etc/mtab~: Permission denied" error. The /etc/mtab~ lock file is now
created with the correct "0600" permissions.

• using ipcs on 64 bit architectures resulted in incorrect values for

memory segments larger than 2 GB. 64 bit architectures and memory segments
larger than 2 GB are now supported.

• the "fdisk -l" command did not display the disk and partition

information for virtualized Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 guests.

• mount had a broken protocol rollback mechanism causing the mount and

umount commands to use different protocols. If a firewall only allowed UDP
mount calls, and umount used TCP, you would not be able to unmount said
file system.

• using the automounter to mount over 500 simultaneous mounts resulted in

the mount process taking long periods of time, directories failing to
mount, and numerous errors in /var/log/messages. This was due to the mount
command not handling bindresvport() failures, and the "retry=" option
correctly.

• specifying a label or UUID with the mount command on Itanium

architectures caused a segmentation fault.

This update also adds the following enhancement:

• the Network File System (NFS) ReaddirPlus Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

can be a hindrance when working with large directories. A new NFS mount
option "nordirplus" has been added allowing you to disable the ReaddirPlus
RPC for that mount.

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve
these issues and add this enhancement.

Solution

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

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_10188

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 209993 - NFS mount/umount (protocol used)
• BZ - 230724 - raw confusing when users try to bind /dev/raw/raw0
• BZ - 236848 - mount/fstab.c:lock_mtab() should open with proper permissions
• BZ - 242000 - guest rhel4u5 "fdisk -l " can't display default disk and partitions on rhel5 virtualization

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)