RHBA-2011:1735 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated e2fsprogs packages that fix several bugs and add two enhancements are
now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The e2fsprogs packages contain a number of utilities that create, check, modify,
and correct inconsistencies in ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems. This includes
e2fsck (which repairs file system inconsistencies after an unclean shutdown),
mke2fs (which initializes a partition to contain an empty file system), tune2fs
(which modifies file system parameters), and most of the other core file system
utilities.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Running the "e2fsck" command on certain corrupted file systems failed to

correct all errors during the first run. This occurred when a file had its xattr
block cloned as a duplicate, but the block was later removed from the file
because the file system did not contain the xattr feature. However, the block
was not cleared from the block bitmaps. During the second run, e2fsck found the
cloned xattr block as in use, but not owned by any file, and had to repair the
block bitmaps. With this update, the processing of duplicate xattr blocks is
skipped on non-xattr file systems. All problems are now discovered during the
first run. (BZ#676465)

• On certain devices with very large physical sector size, the mke2fs utility

set the block size to be as large as the size of the physical sector. In some
cases, the size of the physical sector was larger than the page size. As a
consequence, the file system could not be mounted and, in rare cases, the
utility could even fail. With this update, the default block size is not set to
be larger than the system's page size, even for large physical sector devices.
(BZ#679931)

• Previously, multiple manual pages contained typos. These typos have been

corrected with this update. (BZ#683906)

• This update modifies parameters of the "mke2fs" command to be consistent with

the "discard" and "nodiscard" mount options for all system tools (like mount,
fsck, or mkfs). The user is now also informed about the ongoing discard process.
(BZ#713475)

• Previously, the libcomm_err libraries were built without the read-only

relocation (RELRO) flag. Programs built against these libraries could be
vulnerable to various attacks based on overwriting the ELF section of a program.
To enhance the security, the e2fsprogs package is now provided with partial
RELRO support. (BZ#730083)

This update also adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, the tune2fs tool could not set "barrier=0" as the default option

on the ext3 and ext4 file systems. With this update, users are now able to set
this option when creating the file system, and do not have to maintain the
option in the /etc/fstab file across all of the file systems and servers.
(BZ#679892)

• Previously, raw e2image output files could be extremely large sparse files,

which were difficult to copy, archive, and transport. This update adds support
for exporting images in the qcow format. Images in this format are small and
easy to manipulate. (BZ#713468)

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated e2fsprogs 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

Fixes

• BZ - 676465 - e2fsck does not correct all errors in filesystem
• BZ - 679931 - mkfs.extN problems on devices with physical sector size > 4k
• BZ - 683906 - Summary: typo errors in man pages
• BZ - 713468 - [RFE]: e2image: Add support for exporting image in qcow2 format
• BZ - 713475 - e2fsprogs: backport discard related changes
• BZ - 730083 - e2fsprogs needs to build with partial relro support
• BZ - 732940 - New coverity defects in RHEL6.2

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)