RHEL8: "yum update" reports "error: lsetfilecon: (-1 ...) Input/output error" and "error: Plugin selinux: hook fsm_file_prepare failed" messages

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Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
    • Varonis (3rd party software)

Issue

  • On updating the system having SELinux enabled, the following messages can be seen in yum/dnf output

    error: lsetfilecon: (-1 /some/filename, system_u:object_r:<context>:s0) Input/output error
error: Plugin selinux: hook fsm_file_prepare failed

Resolution

Follow the procedure described in the Diagnostic Steps section.
If this is a match, open a ticket with Varonis vendor to request a fix. For complete information, a customer could get a fix through installing Varonis-v6.6.698.ge20475b-1 RPM package.

Otherwise or if in doubt, open a case on the Customer Portal referencing this solution.

Root Cause

The issue is known to occur with Varonis-v6.6.682.ga496be0-1 and Varonis-v6.6.691.g29b42cf-1 RPM packages.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Confirm that Varonis kernel module is in use

    # lsmod | grep varonis
varonis_drv [...]

  • Confirm that Varonis package is at a release prior to 6.6.698

    # rpm -qa | grep ^Varonis
Varonis-v6.6.691.g29b42cf-1.x86_64

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