RHBA-2011:0564 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated SeaBIOS packages that fix several bugs and add various enhancements are
now available.

Description

This SeaBIOS package is a legacy BIOS implementation which can be used as a
coreboot payload.

This update contains the following bug fixes and updates:

• When booting an MS-DOS 6.22 guest on an Intel host, SeaBIOS put the hardware

in a state KVM couldn't handle, resulting in a crash. This patch restores
segment limits in the handle_1589 code, so it no longer crashes. (BZ#622350)

• The ability to specify boot order from the qemu command line will allow for

better control of a guest's behavior. Qemu should build list of all bootable
devices and pass the preferred order into Seabios. This update applies 28
patches in order to do this. These include creating a separate IPL entry for
each CD/DVD qemu in seabios, providing full EDD 3.0 information for virtio disk,
adding the romfile_name() and strchr() functions, as well as functions for boot
device path parsing. It tracks the source of each optionrom deployed, renames
add_ordered_drive() to add_drive() and is used in map_hd_drive(), among many
others. This will significantly enhance a user's experience and level of
control. (BZ#643688)

• In order to support the above feature SeaBIOS needed to be rebased. Included

in this patch are seven Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 local patches that are
forward ported: fix resume from S3 with QXL device; set Type 3 (chassis)
manufacturer information to "Red Hat"; set system manufacturer/product name to
Red Hat/KVM; set BIOS vender/version fields to Seabios/0.5.1; allow
vendor/manufacturer/version product names to be set on config.h (*); do not
advertise hpet to a guest OS; set CONFIG_S3_RESUME_VGA_INIT to 1. (BZ#666922)

• Previously, BIOS did not behave according to T13 EDD3.0 spec. This patch adds

support for the spec, resulting in more information about interface and device
paths. If a guest provides a buffer with enough space for T13 EDD information it
will return EDD according to the T13 spec, otherwise it will use the Phoenix
one. (BZ#673751)

• On a Windows virtual machine it was possible to 'Safely Remove' too many

devices, including the graphics adapter, the PCI to ISA bridge device, and the
PCI RAM controller, resulting in system instability. This patch uses the _RMV
method to indicate whether device can be removed, thus fixing the issue.
(BZ#671544)

• When guest was loaded to grub during reboot a "Guest moved using index from 0

to 580" error would occur, then the guest would quit. This update applies an
upstream patch which sets vring_virtqueue to be zeroed, preventing old values
being reused after reboot, fixing the problem. (BZ#668707)

• When running 'CHAOS-Concurrent Hardware And OS test', it passes while the

child job 'run pwrtest' failed. This update applies a patch that turns RTC_S4
FACP bit to on, fixing the problem (BZ#663240)

All users of SeaBIOS are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
resolves 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
https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 622350 - KVM crashes inside SeaBIOS when attempting to boot MS-DOS
• BZ - 643688 - Allow to specify boot order on qemu command line.
• BZ - 663240 - [WHQL] pwrtest failed in the job "CHAOS-Concurrent Hardware And OS test"
• BZ - 666922 - Rebase seabios to latest upstream version
• BZ - 668707 - "Guest moved used index from 0 to 580" occur when guest load to grub during reboot
• BZ - 673751 - Provide EDD3.0 info in accordance with T13 spec.

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)