RHBA-2011:1034 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated glibc packages that fix multiple bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

The glibc packages provide the standard C and standard math libraries used by
multiple programs on the system. Without these libraries, the Linux system
cannot function correctly.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, SELinux stopped the worker module on 64-bit

architectures, which prevented servers from loading. This was caused by the
executable stack not being allocated when the first 4 GB of the address space
were exhausted. This modifies the code so that servers now load correctly.
(BZ#448011)

• Prior to this update, the dynamic loader generated an incorrect ordering for

initialization according to the ELF specification. Initialization routines for
depended-upon objects were not being called before the objects, which depended
on them, were initialized. This manifested itself only when initializing
compiled C++ libraries whose global initialization depended upon the global
initialization of data in other libraries which were linked against at link
time, generating a DT_NEEDED entry. This update modifies the topological sort
algorithm for dependency resolution. Now, functions for initialization and
termination are ordered correctly. (BZ#604796)

• Prior to this update, the expansion of the "$ORIGIN" dynamic string token in

"RPATH" elements for privileged programs was disabled. Due to this problem,
certain libraries such as gconv did not work correctly. This update re-enables
this feature for libraries. Now, the libraries work as expected. (BZ#670988)

• Prior to this update, the resolver failed to return all addresses of

multi-homed hosts in /etc/hosts. Now, getaddrinfo correctly initializes the
resolver state on the first call. (BZ#676039)

• Prior to this update, the PHTREAD_CANCEL_DISABLE could, under certain

conditions, fail to prevent thread cancellations. Due to this problem,
pthread_cancel could cancel input/output (I/O) like write and read calls while
PTHREAD_CANCEL_DISABLE was in effect. With this update, the cancellations work
as expected. (BZ#684808)

• Prior to this update, the glibc libraries could fail to allocate enough memory

for the expanded strings when expanding the dynamic string tokens in load paths
for the dynamic linker or in module names for the "dlopen" function. Due to this
behavior, certain applications could freeze or terminate unexpectedly with an
error message. This update modifies the underlying source code to allocate
enough memory for the expanded strings. (BZ#694655)

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

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
https://access.redhat.com/kb/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 - 448011 - Upgrade to RHEL5.2 - SELinux Stopping Apache Worker from Loading
• BZ - 670988 - iconv regression
• BZ - 676039 - Resolver fails to return all addresses of multi-homed hosts in /etc/hosts
• BZ - 684808 - PTHREAD_CANCEL_DISABLE does not disable cancellation

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)