RHBA-2012:0549 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix three bugs and add two enhancements are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Update Support.

Description

[Updated 12 June 2012]
This advisory has been updated with the correct description for bug 811298. The
packages included in this revised update have not been changed in any way from
the packages included in the original advisory.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating
system.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• An unwanted interrupt was generated when a PCI driver switched the interrupt

mechanism from the Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI or MSI-X) to the INTx
emulation while shutting down a device. Due to this, an interrupt handler was
called repeatedly, and the system became unresponsive. On certain systems, the
interrupt handler of Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) was called
while shutting down a device on the way to reboot the system after running
kdump. In such a case, soft lockups were performed repeatedly and the shutdown
process never finished. With this update, the user can choose not to use MSI or
MSI-X for the PCI Express Native Hotplug driver. The switching between the
interrupt mechanisms is no longer performed so that the unwanted interrupt is
not generated. (BZ#807425)

• Previously, the eth_type_trans() function was called with the VLAN device type

set. If a VLAN device contained a MAC address different from the original
device, an incorrect packet type was assigned to the host. Consequently, if the
VLAN devices were set up on a bonding interface in Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB)
mode, the TCP connection could not be established. With this update, the
eth_type_trans() function is called with the original device, ensuring that the
connection is established as expected. (BZ#810453)

• Due to incorrect use of the list_for_each_entry_safe() macro, the enumeration

of remote procedure calls (RPCs) priority wait queue tasks stored in the
tk_wait.links list failed. As a consequence, the rpc_wake_up() and
rpc_wake_up_status() functions failed to wake up all tasks. This caused the
system to become unresponsive and could significantly decrease system
performance. Now, the list_for_each_entry_safe() macro is no longer used in
rpc_wake_up(), ensuring reasonable system performance. (BZ#811298)

This update also adds the following enhancements:

• The qlge 10 Gigabit Ethernet driver for QLogic 81XX converged network adapter

family has been updated to version 1.00.00.29, which provides a number of bug
fixes over the previous version. (BZ#801714)

• The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification requires a

minimum communication timeout of five seconds. Previously, the kernel
incorrectly used a timeout of 1 second. This could result in failures to
communicate with Baseboard Management Controllers (BMC) under certain
circumstances. With this update, the timeout has been increased to five seconds
to prevent such problems. (BZ#806905)

All users of kernel are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add these enhancements. The system must be rebooted for this
update to take effect.

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/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.1 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 6.1 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 6.1 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.1 i386
• Red Hat Virtual Storage Appliance (from RHUI) 6.1 x86_64

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)