RHBA-2009:0283 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated device-mapper-multipath packages that fix a bug are now available.

Description

The device-mapper-multipath packages provide tools to manage multipath
devices by giving the device-mapper multipath kernel module instructions on
what to do, as well as by managing the creation and removal of partitions
for device-mapper devices.

• multipath must be able to open a file descriptor for each path that it

monitors, plus 32 other file descriptors. By default, multipath can open
1024 file descriptors, which is sufficient for it to monitor 992 paths. If
multipath is not able to open all the file descriptors that it needs, the
multipath daemon will not function correctly, and in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.3, this situation exposes a kernel memory leak that can cause a
system to stop responding. Previously, multipath would not warn users that
it could not open enough file descriptors. Now, when multipath runs out of
file descriptors, it prints an error message. System administrators can
allow multipath to open more file descriptors by setting "max_fds" in the
multipath.conf file to a sufficiently high number, or by setting "max_fds"
to "max" to allow multipath to open as many file descriptors as the system
allows.

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated device-mapper-multipath
packages, which resolve this issue.

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/docs/DOC-11259

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 for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 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 IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.3 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 481740 - multipathd doesn't close pipe fds on a failed fork

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)