RHBA-2011:0934 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated file packages that fix several bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The file command is used to identify a particular file according to the type of
data contained in the file.

[Updated 7 September 2011]
This update fixes a bug in which the file utility did not parse ELF (Executable
and Linkable Format) binary files correctly. If an entry in the program header
table contained a file offset beyond the end of file, dynamically linked files
were reported as being linked statically. The file utility now recognizes files
in the described scenario correctly. (BZ#730336)

As well, this update fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, the file utility could have been unable to recognize RPM

files for certain supported architectures. This update improves the file type
recognition, and the RPM files for all supported architectures are now correctly
identified as expected. (BZ#676045, BZ#712992, BZ#712988)

• Prior to this update, the file utility did not correctly recognized the IBM

System z kernel images. This problem has been corrected so that the IBM System z
kernel images are now correctly recognized as expected. (BZ#688700)

• Prior to this update, the file utility attempted to show information related

to core dumps for binary files that were not core dumps. This undesired behavior
has been fixed in this update so that information related to core dumps is
showed only for core dumps and not for the binary files which are not core
dumps. (BZ#692098)

• Prior to this update, file patterns for LaTeX checked only the first 400 bytes

of a file to determine the pattern type. This caused an incorrect pattern type
recognition as some files could have contained a larger number of comments at
the beginning of the file. Furthermore, file patterns which matched a Python
script were tried before the LaTeX patterns and this undesired behavior could
have caused an incorrect pattern type recognition as LaTeX files could have
included a source code written in Python. With this update, the aforementioned
problems have been fixed by increasing the number of first bytes checked for a
LaTeX file to 4096 bytes, and by trying the LaTeX patterns before the Python
patterns. (BZ#675691)

• Prior to this update, there were several spelling mistakes contained in the

magic(5) manual page. This update corrects the spelling mistakes in the
respective manual page. (BZ#690801)

• Prior to this update, the file utility treated MP3 files as text files, and

therefore was unable to recognize the MP3 files. This undesired behavior has
been fixed in this update, and the file utility now treats the MP3 files as
binary files and is able to properly recognize them. (BZ#716665)

All users of file are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs.

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 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• 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 from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 675691 - recognition of TeX and LaTeX files needs an improvement
• BZ - 676045 - file doesn't detect RPM architecture
• BZ - 688700 - File does not correctly identify a linux kernel image on s/390x
• BZ - 690801 - magic(5) manpage fixes
• BZ - 692098 - file claims that some binaries are "from '%s'" with values that don't make sense
• BZ - 716665 - file doesn't recognize mp3
• BZ - 730336 - The libmagic ELF Program Header table parser does not work correctly

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)