Why the users can not log into the system ?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ( RHEL5 )
  • Selinux

Issue

  • System had a power outage and /var filesystem needed to be repaired
  • The system boots correctly but the users can not log into the system

Resolution

  • Relabel the filesystems 
  # touch /.autorelabel
  # reboot
  • After setting the contexts, all the users can start their session normally

Root Cause

  • Running fsck repaired the filesystem but did not restore the selinux contexts correctly

Diagnostic Steps

  • No messages are recorded in /var/log/messages

  • If booting into runlevel 1, users can log in

  • The following messages appear in /var/log/audit/audit.log

  type=AVC msg=audit(1345452695.644:89): avc:  denied  { getattr } for  pid=6252 comm="bash" path="/home/username/.bash_profile" dev=dm-4 ino=190471 scontext=user_u:system_r:hotplug_t:s0 tcontext=user_    u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=file
  type=AVC msg=audit(1345452697.366:93): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=6252 comm="bash" name="username" dev=dm-4 ino=190465 scontext=user_u:system_r:hotplug_t:s0 tcontext=user_u:object_r:user_home_d    ir_t:s0 tclass=dir
  type=AVC msg=audit(1345452697.388:96): avc:  denied  { getattr } for  pid=6252 comm="bash" path="/home/username/.bash_history" dev=dm-4 ino=190473 scontext=user_u:system_r:hotplug_t:s0 tcontext=user_    u:object_r:user_home_dir_t:s0 tclass=file

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