RHBA-2009:1677 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated net-tools package that fixes several bugs and corrects errors in
the arp and ifconfig man pages is now available.

Description

The net-tools package contains basic networking tools, including ifconfig,
netstat, route, and others.

This updated net-tools package includes fixes for the following bugs:

• the OPTIONS section of the arp man page includes documentation for the

"-s" switch (used to manually create ARP address mapping entries). Entries
supplied with this switch are permanently stored in the ARP cache if the
temp flag is not specified and the original English man page notes this.
The German man page, however, noted "so werden die erzeugten Eintrage nicht
dauerhaft... eingetragen", which is incorrect. This update corrects this,
with the German man page now correctly noting "Der Eintrag wird permanent
im ARP-Cache gespeichert" if the temp flag is not specified. (BZ#322901)

• the ifconfig "tunnel" option creates a new Simple Internet Transition

(SIT) or IPv6-in-IPv4 device and this option expects an IPv6-style address
as a parameter. If an IPv4 address is used, the command fails. The ifconfig
man page, however, listed the option and parameter as "tunnel aa.bb.cc.dd"
which did not make it clear the IPv4 address must be provided in IPv6
notation. This update clarifies the man page notation. It now reads "tunnel
::aa.bb.cc.dd", making it clear IPv6-style address notation is required.
(BZ#453918)

• running netstat with the "-o" switch adds information about working TCP

timers to the command ouput. TCP timers for a connection can include "on",
"off", "keepalive" and "timewait". When network load is very high (ie when
the TCP Window Size is zero) the probe timer should be listed. Previously,
however, "unkn-4" was presented instead. With this update, if the probe
timer is working in the kernel, it will now, correctly, be listed in the
output of "netstat -o". (BZ#466845)

• when setting the MULTICAST mode on and off, ifconfig was showing an

unnecessary "Warning: Interface [interface name] still in ALLMULTI mode."
message. With this update, the message no longer presents. (BZ#477876)

• a fixed length, 1024 byte buffer in the statistics.c:process_fd()

function caused "netstat -s" to fail with a "error parsing
/proc/net/netstat: Success" error. The buffer has been increased to 2048
bytes and the command now displays summary statistics for each protocol as
expected. (BZ#493314)

All net-tools users should install this updated package, which makes these
corrections and addresses these issues.

Solution

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

This update is available via the 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 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 - 322901 - Sens negating error in man page translation (arp)
• BZ - 466845 - [PATCH] Change "unkn-4" to "probe0" in status of "netstat -o"
• BZ - 477876 - [RHEL5.2] 'ifconfig' command shows unnecessary warning message about iface still in ALLMULTI mode.
• BZ - 493314 - netstat -s does not show TcpExt

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)