RHBA-2011:1632 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated NetworkManager packages that fix multiple bugs and add various
enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

NetworkManager is a system network service that manages network devices and
connections, attempting to keep active network connectivity when available. It
manages Ethernet, wireless, mobile broadband (WWAN), and PPPoE devices, and
provides VPN integration with a variety of different VPN services.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• NetworkManager did not recognize IBM CTC (Channel-to-Channel) devices, which

made it impossible to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM S/390 machines
which used CTC devices. NetworkManager now detects these devices properly, with
the result that Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be installed on such machines.
(BZ#660666)

• When connecting to a WLAN, pressing the Enter key in NetworkManager's dialog

box had no effect and the dialog box remained open. However, the WLAN connection
could be established by clicking the Connect button with the mouse. This
happened because the Connect button was not defined as default action on
confirmation in the code. With this update, the Connect button was marked as
default and NetworkManager now launches the WLAN connection under these
circumstances. (BZ#696585)

• Due to a memory access error, the connection profile configured in

NetworkManager was not stored if an IPv6 address and an IPv6 gateway were
specified. The code has been modified to prevent this issue and connection
profiles are now stored correctly. (BZ#696916)

• Due to a timing issue in the libnm-glib library, NetworkManager produced a

D-Bus error when a network driver was unloaded from the kernel. This error
message was only for informational purposes and therefore did not need to appear
in syslog messages. The message has been suppressed in the libnm-glib code, and
the error message no longer occurs in any of the system logs. (BZ#706338)

• NetworkManager did not specify the initial frequency of an ad hoc wireless

network when the frequency was not set by the user. If the network frequency was
not set when authenticating with wpa_supplicant using the nl80211 supplicant
driver, the connection attempt failed. NetworkManager has been modified to set a
frequency that is supported by used network device if it is not specified by the
user. Users can now connect to ad hoc wireless networks without problems in the
scenario described. (BZ#747066)

• The RHSA-2010-0616 security advisory for the dbus-glib library introduced

changes restricting access to D-Bus properties. Therefore under certain
circumstances, NetworkManager failed to display the login banner when a user
connected to a VPN. NetworkManager has been modified to respect dbus-glib
limitations, and the login banner is now displayed correctly. (BZ#659685)

• The implementation of the wpa_supplicant application has recently been changed

to use the nl80211 supplicant driver instead the WEXT wireless extension. Both
methods use a different approach to show the level of a wireless network signal.
This difference was not reflected in NetworkManager's code, therefore the signal
level was shown incorrectly. NetworkManager has been modified to handle this
feature correctly when using nl80211, and the signal level is now displayed
correctly. (BZ#743555)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancements:

• NetworkManager did not send the system hostname to a DHCP server unless it was

explicitly configured with a configuration file. NetworkManager now sends the
hostname to the DHCP server by default. (BZ#590096)

• Roaming in RSA token-enabled enterprise Wi-Fi networks did not work properly,

which resulted in the wpa_supplicant component upgrade to version 0.7.3. This
update required new features to be implemented in NetworkManager. NetworkManager
now includes the background scanning feature for the wpa_supplicant component
and uses the nl80211 supplicant driver when adding a supplicant interface.
(BZ#713283)

All users of NetworkManager are advised to upgrade to these updated packages,
which fix these bugs and add these enhancements.

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
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 590096 - [enh] default to sending current hostname as DHCP DNS name
• BZ - 659685 - NetworkManager-openswan does not display login banner
• BZ - 660666 - Add support for IBM CTC (pointopoint) devices
• BZ - 696585 - Network manager "Connect" button not default
• BZ - 696916 - cannot save ::1 gate and ::1 ip adress on ppc
• BZ - 708501 - fails to build without downstream patches
• BZ - 743555 - wrong signal levels after suspend

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)