RHBA-2013:1648 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated util-linux-ng packages that fix several bugs and add various
enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The util-linux-ng packages contain a large variety of low-level system utilities
that are necessary for a Linux operating system to function.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, the hexdump utility terminated with a segmentation fault when

iterating over an empty format string. This bug has now been fixed and hexdump
no longer crashes in this scenario. (BZ#885313)

• Previously, the libblkid library incorrectly detected certain disks as a

Silicon Image Medley RAID device. Consequently, this caused problems in certain
systems after a weekly reboot. This update adds a checksum count from the
superblock record and a new superblock definition from the dmraid tool, which
makes the signature recognition of Silicon Image Medley RAID devices more
robust. (BZ#911756)

• Previously, the "mount -av" command, which triggers mounting filesystems with

helpers like the /sbin/mount.nfs file, printed the message "nothing was
mounted", even though the helper mounted a filesystem. This bug has been fixed
and the incorrect message is no longer printed in this scenario. (BZ#864585)

• Previously, the hwclock(8) manual page contained a reference to the

non-existing adjtimex utility. This update fixes the hwclock(8) manual page.
(BZ#872291)

• Previously, the mount(8) manual page incorrectly described the "relatime"

mount option. With this update, the description of the "relatime" mount option
has been improved to better describe when the kernel updates the atime.
(BZ#915844)

• Due to a regression in the code, if a symbolic link was used for a mount point

in the /etc/fstab configuration file, mount attempts to that mount point failed.
This update ensures that all paths in /etc/fstab are made canonical and such
mount points can now be mounted as expected. (BZ#917678)

• Prior to this update, the lscpu command accepted only sequentially assigned

logical CPU numbers. Consequently, lscpu did not properly list CPUs after a CPU
eject operation. After this update, the lascpu command does not expect
sequentially assigned CPU numbers and works properly on systems with a hot-plug
CPU. (BZ#966735)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, it was not possible to determine the right CLOCAL flag by the

kernel and, also, some machines required manual settings. With this update, the
new -L[={always,auto,never}] option has been added to the agetty utility to
allow complete control on the CLOCAL terminal flag. (BZ#816342)

• Previously, the kill(1) manual page did not include information about the

interaction between the kill utility and threads. With this update, the kill(1)
manual page has been improved to explicitly explain the interaction between the
kill system call and threads. (BZ#846790)

• The default kill character "@" was in collision with login user names on IPA

systems with the "user@domain" convention. With this update, the agetty utility
has been improved to accept the "--kill-chars" and "--erase-chars" options to
control special kill and erase terminal characters. (BZ#870854)

• With this update, the "blkdiscard" command has been introduced to Red Hat

Enterprise Linux 6 to discard device sectors. The "discard" support is important
for example on thinly-provisioned storage to improve disk efficiency by
reclaiming free space so that the storage can re-use the free space for other
area. (BZ#947062)

Users of util-linux-ng are advised to upgrade to these updated 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/site/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 - 846790 - missing information about threads in kill(2) man page
• BZ - 870128 - improve blkid documentation
• BZ - 870854 - Cannot use user@domain format for console logins
• BZ - 872291 - "man hwclock" says to run non-existent "adjtimex" utility
• BZ - 885313 - hexdump segfault
• BZ - 915844 - mount man page incorrectly describes behaviour of "relatime" mount option
• BZ - 917678 - mount in RHEL 6.4 ignores user option

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)