RHBA-2011:1673 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

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

Description

The rsyslog packages provide an enhanced, multi-threaded syslog daemon that
supports MySQL, syslog/TCP, RFC 3195, permitted sender list, filtering on any
message part, and fine grained output format control.

This updated fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, running rsyslog with Transport Layer Security (TLS) and TCP caused

extensive memory and CPU consumption. Consequent to this, the system could
become unresponsive. The source code has been modified and problems with the
memory and CPU consumption no longer occur. (BZ#661858)

• Prior to this update, the rsyslog initscript created an invalid lock file

named rsyslogd. As a consequence, rsyslog and rsyslogd did not match and the rc
daemon did not stop the process when shutting down the system. With this update,
the source code is modified so that the initscript creates a valid lock file.
(BZ#698705)

• On the IBM System z and PowerPC architectures, the rsyslog daemon did not

respect the configuration to send messages using TLS encryption. As a
consequence, messages were sent as plain text. With this update, rsyslog is
modified to send messages encrypted. (BZ#701782)

• Previously, the "ActionExecOnlyOnceEveryInterval" directive did not work as

expected. If another message came within the time limit, the timeout got reset
and would never expire. This problem has been fixed and the timeout now expires
as expected. (BZ#727208)

This update also adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, rsyslog did not build the omsnmp module by default. This update

provides the omsnmp module so that users are able to send syslog messages over
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). (BZ#618488)

• Previously, the rsyslog daemon included /var/log/boot.log in the

/etc/logrotate.d/syslog file. The rotation caused a new boot.log file to be
created with zero length, while a date was appended to the old one. Eventually,
after a certain number of rotations, the boot.log data got lost. With this
update, rotation is no longer used for /var/log/boot.log. (BZ#683537)

• This update includes the new ommail module in the rsyslog package, which can

be used for sending emails based on received syslog events. (BZ#702314)

• This update introduces the new "SpaceLFOnReceive" configuration option and the

"RSYSLOG_SysklogdFileFormat" format template. These new features allow users to
configure rsyslog to behave like the sysklogd daemon, which was available in
previous releases. (BZ#737096)

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated rsyslog 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 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 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 - 661858 - [RHEL 6] Rsyslog with TLS enabled TCP logging eats CPU and memory
• BZ - 683537 - [RFE] Do not use log rotation for /var/log/boot.log
• BZ - 698705 - rsyslog creates invalid subsys lock file
• BZ - 727208 - ActionExecOnlyOnceEveryInterval directive doesn't work as expected

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)