RHBA-2013:0455 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

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

Description

The e2fsprogs packages provide a number of utilities for creating, checking,
modifying, and correcting any inconsistencies in the ext2 file systems.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• On a corrupted file system, the "mke2fs -S" command could remove files instead

of attempting to recover them. This bug has been fixed; the "mke2fs -S" command
writes metadata properly and no longer removes files instead of recovering them.
(BZ#806137)

• The resize2fs(8) man page did not list an ext4 file system as capable of

on-line resizing. This omission has been fixed and the resize2fs(8) man page now
includes all file systems that can be resized on-line. (BZ#813820)

• A special flag was used to indicate blocks allocated beyond the end of file on

an ext4 file system. This flag was sometimes mishandled, resulting in file
system corruption. Both the kernel and user space have been reworked to
eliminate the use of this flag. (BZ#858338)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• Previously, users could use the e2fsck utility on a mounted file system,

although it was strongly recommended not to do so. Using the utility on a
mounted file system led to file system corruption. With this update, e2fsck
opens the file system exclusively and fails when the file system is busy. This
behavior avoids possible corruption of the mounted file system. (BZ#824126)

Users of e2fsprogs are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and 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/knowledge/articles/11258

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 - 813820 - resize2fs: update resize2fs manpage with on-line ext4 resizing

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)