Topic

Updated dracut packages that fix one security issue, several bugs, and add
two enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate
security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,
which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in
the References section.

Description

The dracut packages include an event-driven initramfs generator
infrastructure based on the udev device manager. The virtual file system,
initramfs, is loaded together with the kernel at boot time and initializes
the system, so it can read and boot from the root partition.

It was discovered that dracut created initramfs images as world readable.
A local user could possibly use this flaw to obtain sensitive information
from these files, such as iSCSI authentication passwords, encrypted root
file system crypttab passwords, or other information. (CVE-2012-4453)

This issue was discovered by Peter Jones of the Red Hat Installer Team.

These updated dracut packages include numerous bug fixes and two
enhancements. Space precludes documenting all of these changes in this
advisory. Users are directed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 Technical
Notes, linked to in the References, for information on the most significant
of these changes.

All dracut users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
contain backported patches to correct these issues 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 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 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 610462 - mkinitrd has no man page
• BZ - 720684 - Booting with snapshot of / requires non user-friendly config
• BZ - 859448 - CVE-2012-4453 dracut: Creates initramfs images with world-readable permissions (information disclosure)
• BZ - 912299 - kernel installation fails if GREP_OPTIONS is set
• BZ - 1012626 - [FIPS140] dracut-fip updates needed for certification
• BZ - 1019104 - Interface renaming via ifname does not work for RHEL-6.5

CVEs

• CVE-2012-4453

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate
• https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/6.5_Technical_Notes/dracut.html#RHSA-2013-1674