RHBA-2015:0676 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated mlocate packages that fix several bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The mlocate packages provide a locate/updatedb implementation, and keep a
database of all existing files. The database allows files to be looked up by
names.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, the cron script which is included in the mlocate

packages had permissions which were too loose. Consequently, mlocate did not
comply with the Operating System Security Requirements Guide. This update
changes the permissions of the cron script to 0700, as required by the guide.
(BZ#1012534)

• The updatedb utility automatically excludes file systems which are marked as

"nodev" in the /proc/filesystems file. The ZFS file system is also marked this
way despite the fact it actually stores data on a physical device. As a
consequence, ZFS volumes were not previously indexed. This update adds an
exception for ZFS, which allows updatedb to index files stored on this file
system and the locate utility to find such files. (BZ#1023779)

• Previously, the /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db database file was declared in the

mlocate package metadata as belonging to the "root" user and group, and having
the "644" permissions. However, in reality, the file belonged to the "slocate"
group and had the "640" permissions. This discrepancy caused problems reported
by OpenSCAP compliance checking tools. With this update, the database file is
declared correctly in the metadata, which allows the package in an unaltered
state to pass OpenSCAP compliance checks. (BZ#1182304)

• The updatedb utility did not exclude GPFS cluster file systems, which can hold

billions of files. As a consequence, updatedb caused very high I/O load on
systems using GPFS. With this update, GPFS volumes are skipped by updatedb. As a
result, files stored on this file system are no longer indexed, and running
updatedb on systems with GPFS volumes does not cause too high I/O load.
(BZ#1168301)

Users of mlocate 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.

For details on how to apply this update, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/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
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 1023779 - ZFS filesystems not being indexed
• BZ - 1182304 - incorrect specification of ghost file mlocate.db in mlocate package

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)