RHBA-2009:0969 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated samba packages that fix several bugs and add an enhancement are
now available.

Description

Samba is a suite of programs used by machines to share files, printers, and
other information.

These updated packages upgrade Samba to version 3.0.33. For a full list of
bug fixes and enhancements, refer to the Samba release notes. They also
provide the following bug fixes:

• net is a tool for the administration of Samba and remote CIFS servers. A

previous addition to net contained a built-in assumption that when a user
ran a net subcommand (for example, net join) at the command line, the user
would always provide not only their username, but the corresponding
password too. Therefore, the subcommand would fail when this password was
not provided. In this updated version of Samba, the user is prompted for a
password if one is required.

• the exit codes used by mount are all positive integers, but the

mount.cifs mount helper used an exit code of -1 when it failed to perform a
mount. This negative value would be misinterpreted by mount, which would
then provide error code 16 to the user, meaning "the mtab file could not be
updated". This information was incorrect. In this updated package, the exit
code for a mount failure in mount.cifs has been changed from -1 to 1, which
mount interprets correctly.

• a previous bug fix to resolve a conflict between security descriptors set

by Samba and those set by Microsoft Excel changed the way in which Samba
handled Access Control Entries (ACEs). As a result, removing inherited
Access Contol Lists (ACLs) from child directories became impossible in
Samba; the inherited permissions would disappear, only to reappear
immediately. Initial attempts to correct this behavior resulted in the
original conflict reappearing because Samba performed chown operations
after having already processed the incoming POSIX ACL. Samba now performs
chown operations first, and will set an ACL only if and when the chown
operation succeeds. Users can change inherited permissions in Samba without
inadvertently interfering with the ownership of Microsoft Excel documents.

Users of samba 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/docs/DOC-11259

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 - 175922 - winbindd can't write /etc/samba/secrets.tdb
• BZ - 459304 - Cannot join Windows 2003 domain with RHEL 4.7 Samba
• BZ - 460904 - rebase to Samba 3.0.33
• BZ - 466285 - mount.cifs exits with incorrect error code

CVEs

(none)

References

• http://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-3.0.33.html