RHBA-2009:0203 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated ecryptfs-utils packages that fix a bug and add various enhancements
are now available.

Description

eCryptfs is a stacked, cryptographic file-system included in the Linux
kernel. It is transparent to the underlying file-system and provides
per-file granularity.

eCryptfs was first released as a Technology Preview for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.2. These updated ecryptfs-utils packages have all been upgraded to
upstream version 56, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements
over the previous version. In addition, these packages provide a graphical
program to help configure and use eCryptfs. To start this program, run the
following command:

ecryptfs-mount-helper-gui

Important: the syntax of certain eCryptfs mount options has changed. Users
who were previously using the initial Technology Preview release of
ecryptfs-utils are advised to refer to the ecryptfs(7) manual page, and to
update any affected mount scripts and /etc/fstab entries for eCryptfs file
systems.

These updated ecryptfs-utils packages provide various enhancements,
including a mount helper and supporting libraries to perform key management
and mount functions.

In addition, these updated ecryptfs-utils packages fix a bug related to the
'verbosity' parameter of the mount.ecryptfs command. The option
'verbosity=0' was incorrectly passed as a parameter to /sbin/mount, which
resulted in the following message being logged to syslog:
"ecryptfs_parse_options: eCryptfs: unrecognized option 'verbosity=0'". In
these updated packages, the mount.encryptfs command no longer attempts to
pass this parameter to /sbin/mount, thus resolving the issue.

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated ecryptfs-utils packages,
which resolve this issue and add these enhancements.

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 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 441494 - passwd_file does not work for key=passphrase
• BZ - 441822 - verbosity option of ecryptfs mount helper not recognized
• BZ - 449586 - RHEL5: update ecryptfs-utils to latest
• BZ - 467234 - openssl module reports invalid packet format error on file creation in ecryptfs filesystem

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)