RHBA-2011:1689 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Enhanced libsepol packages are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The libsepol library provides an API for the manipulation of SELinux binary
policies. It is used by checkpolicy (the policy compiler) and similar tools, as
well as by programs like load_policy that need to perform specific
transformations on binary policies (for example, customizing policy boolean
settings).

This update adds the following enhancement:

• Previously, the libsepol packages were compiled without the RELRO (read-only

relocations) flag. As a consequence, programs provided by this package and also
programs built against the libsepol libraries were vulnerable to various attacks
based on overwriting the ELF section of a program. To increase the security of
libsepol programs and libraries, the libsepol spec file has been modified to use
the "-Wl,-z,relro" flags when compiling the packages. As a result, the libsepol
packages are now provided with partial RELRO protection. (BZ#727285)

Users of libsepol are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which add
this enhancement.

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 - 727285 - Request to recompile libraries with -Wl,-z,relro flags

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)