RHBA-2014:1224 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated mkinitrd packages that fix several bugs and add one enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

The mkinitrd packages provide a utility to create the initrd file system image.
The initrd image is an initial RAM disk that is loaded by a boot loader before
the Linux kernel is started.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• A previous fix to a related security issue introduced to the libnss library a

new run-time dependency on the libsqlite library. However, libsqlite was not
included in the initrd.img file. As a consequence, the kernel verification was
not successful and caused the system boot to fail with a kernel panic. With this
update, the mkinitrd utility verifies that libsqlite is included when building a
new initrd image and the kernel panic no longer occurs. (BZ#1006058)

• Prior to this update, the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) driver was

not included in the initrd.img file. As a consequence, a Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 guest in some cases failed to boot on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
hypervisor. With this update, installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a guest
now always includes the AHCI driver, and the guest is therefore able to boot as
expected. (BZ#978245)

• Previously, mkinitrd searched an incorrect path for the cciss block driver

device and the findstoragedriver() function could therefore not find cciss in
the /sys/block directory. Consequently, the kernel failed to boot after it was
updated. This update amends the cciss path and findstoragedriver() is thus able
to detect cciss devices correctly. As a result, the kernel now boots as
expected. (BZ#988020)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• In order to simplify the process of adding a new direct access storage device

(DASD), running a mkinitrd command without parameters now prompts the user to
re-create the initial RAM disk for the currently running kernel in the /boot/
directory. (BZ#472764)

Users of mkinitrd 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/site/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 - 472764 - let mkinitrd default to recreating the initrd for the currently running kernel
• BZ - 978245 - install a rhel5 as kvm guest better always build initrd.img with ahci driver(and virtio-blk)

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)