Synopsis

mod_nss bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated mod_nss packages that fix multiple bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

The mod_nss module provides strong cryptography for the Apache HTTP Server via
the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols,
using the Network Security Services (NSS) security library.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• The previous release had an incorrect post-install script. Consequently, when
  upgrading "mod_nss" from version 1.0.3 to 1.0.8, the group and file permissions
  were incorrectly set. The HTTP server (httpd) did not start and the following
  error message was displayed:
  

[error] NSS_Initialize failed. Certificate database: /etc/httpd/alias.
[error] SSL Library Error: -8038 SEC_ERROR_NOT_INITIALIZED

This update improves the post-install script to set file permissions and
ownership correctly. As a result, all child processes of the Apache HTTP Server
can enable SSL and now httpd starts as expected in the scenario described.
(BZ#669963)

• With the release of "mod_nss" version 1.0.8 there was no lock mechanism to
  control sequential httpd process access to the "nss_pcache" process. This
  sometimes resulted in multiple requests being interpreted as a single request by
  "nss_pcache" and a single result returned. The calling process sometimes
  experienced a timeout error or a failure with the error message:
  

[error] Unable to read from pin store

With this update the code has been improved and multiple requests to the
"nss_pcache" process are processed sequentially without the errors described.
(BZ#677698)

• Due to a regression, the "mod_proxy" module no longer worked when configured
  to support reverse proxy operation. The following error was logged:
  

[error] SSL Proxy: I don't have the name of the host we're supposed to
connect to so I can't verify that we are connecting to who we think we should
be. Giving up.

A new patch has been applied and the "mod_proxy" module now works correctly to
support SSL reverse proxy. (BZ#692868)

• Previously, a static array containing the arguments for launching the
  "nss_pcache" command overflowed the array size by one. This could lead to a
  variety of problems including unexpected termination. This bug has been fixed,
  and "mod_nss" now uses a properly sized static array when launching
  "nss_pcache". (BZ#714255)
  
• Due to an incorrect use of the memcpy() function in the "mod_nss" module,
  running the Apache HTTP Server with this module enabled could cause some
  requests to fail with the following message written to the error_log file:
  

request failed: error reading the headers

This update applies a patch to ensure that the memcpy() function is now used in
accordance with the current specification, and using the "mod_nss" module no
longer causes HTTP requests to fail. (BZ#749401)

• Prior to this update, client certificates were only retrieved during the
  initial SSL handshake if the NSSVerifyClient option was set to "require" or
  "optional". Also, the FakeBasicAuth option only retrieved Common Name rather
  than the entire certificate subject. Consequently, it was possible to spoof an
  identity using that option. This bug has been fixed, the FakeBasicAuth option is
  now prefixed with "/" and is thus compatible with OpenSSL. Certificates are now
  retrieved on all subsequent requests beyond the first one. (BZ#749402).
  
• When the NSS library was not initialized and "mod_nss" tried to clear its SSL
  cache on start-up, "mod_nss" terminated unexpectedly when the NSS library was
  built with debugging enabled. With this update, "mod_nss" does not try to clear
  the SSL cache in the described scenario, thus preventing this bug. (BZ#749405,
  BZ#784548)
  
• The "Requires: %{_libdir}/libnssckbi.so" directive has been added to the spec
  file to make "libnssckbi.so" a runtime dependency. This is to prevent symbolic
  links failing. (BZ#749406)
  

All users of mod_nss are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs.

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 Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 669963 - mod_nss's postinstall script doesn't work properly

CVEs

• CVE-2011-4973

References

(none)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
x86_64
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 751d19be3230af9a554ee9a80d4d0ddd8be7bf289feb53df21eac2e3dbb68004
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 8aaf59a751c751d717f307d118e01e5ac6dfe21c84b08edc7d7a487ba340866a
ia64
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.ia64.rpm	SHA-256: 3a86e04f3ea1b25df90edeffc58d301045364a2276fbd4ee12547ddf60ab532c
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.ia64.rpm	SHA-256: af90126c5622c88fb03bd3134a5d4f70c09b5c00d66b2ebf51f0b1d50caff154
i386
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: 253b179c546ad9f2485f4d95714c2ff034fc52ab68949bed0507c073f6fad165
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: cb40b6cc2ff83ba70f31b3502bb940906d7162c8df6d61cd186b0beba713194f

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
x86_64
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 751d19be3230af9a554ee9a80d4d0ddd8be7bf289feb53df21eac2e3dbb68004
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 8aaf59a751c751d717f307d118e01e5ac6dfe21c84b08edc7d7a487ba340866a
i386
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: 253b179c546ad9f2485f4d95714c2ff034fc52ab68949bed0507c073f6fad165
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: cb40b6cc2ff83ba70f31b3502bb940906d7162c8df6d61cd186b0beba713194f

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
x86_64
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 751d19be3230af9a554ee9a80d4d0ddd8be7bf289feb53df21eac2e3dbb68004
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 8aaf59a751c751d717f307d118e01e5ac6dfe21c84b08edc7d7a487ba340866a
i386
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: 253b179c546ad9f2485f4d95714c2ff034fc52ab68949bed0507c073f6fad165
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: cb40b6cc2ff83ba70f31b3502bb940906d7162c8df6d61cd186b0beba713194f

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
s390x
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.s390x.rpm	SHA-256: ff82990462fe6b1e8b21d3b70b97bed06b9e054e4dbd6fa87fee4f9708024e93
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.s390x.rpm	SHA-256: e70bf07efdc7ea71fc4da6caf7b3f6efcaca4d83744ba7a28c647798567909b7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
ppc
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.ppc.rpm	SHA-256: 1b85a6282607272b4e2102fd791b85beb28372c9ec2cdd109c3d5b74fe827531
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.ppc.rpm	SHA-256: 6f94f7d379291fddf48656ec16ad45c765ab575cfdace7f9e994fefbe6dd870d

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5

SRPM
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.src.rpm	SHA-256: 48500e9a6a1c2e24b4bffbe5610c40e7a23c57b334c195cde83afab84d733835
x86_64
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 751d19be3230af9a554ee9a80d4d0ddd8be7bf289feb53df21eac2e3dbb68004
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 8aaf59a751c751d717f307d118e01e5ac6dfe21c84b08edc7d7a487ba340866a
i386
mod_nss-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: 253b179c546ad9f2485f4d95714c2ff034fc52ab68949bed0507c073f6fad165
mod_nss-debuginfo-1.0.8-7.el5.i386.rpm	SHA-256: cb40b6cc2ff83ba70f31b3502bb940906d7162c8df6d61cd186b0beba713194f