satellite-sync fails with 'AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'code'' on Red Hat Network Satellite 5.4

Issue

• satellite-sync fails with the following error message while importing a channel from a channel dump.

• satellite-sync fails with the following error message while importing a channel during Inter Satellite Sync

  [root@xxxx0002 exports]# satellite-sync -m . -c redhat-rhn-satellite-5.4-server-x86_64-5
  09:08:22 Importing package metadata
  09:08:22    Importing *relevant* package metadata: redhat-rhn-satellite-5.4-server-x86_64-5 (170)
  09:08:22    * WARNING: this may be a slow process.
              ________________________________________
  Importing:  +++ sending log as an email +++
  SYNC ERROR: unhandled exception occurred:
  (Check logs/email for potentially more detail)
  'str' object has no attribute 'code'
  

In  /var/log/rhn/rhn_server_satellite.log:

Exception reported from xxxxxx.xxxx.local
Time: Tue Dec 28 09:08:33 2010
Exception type exceptions.AttributeError

Exception Handler Information
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/satellite-sync", line 143, in main
    return satsync.Runner().main()

<snip>
  File "/usr/share/rhn/server/importlib/backend.py", line 431, in lookupChecksums    h.execute(ctype=ctype, csum=csum)
  File "/usr/share/rhn/server/rhnSQL/sql_base.py", line 168, in execute
    return apply(self._execute_wrapper, (self._execute, ) + p, kw)
  File "/usr/share/rhn/server/rhnSQL/driver_cx_Oracle.py", line 100, in _execute_wrapper
    ret = self._get_oracle_error_info(e)
  File "/usr/share/rhn/server/rhnSQL/driver_cx_Oracle.py", line 200, in _get_oracle_error_info
    return (e.code, e.message, self.sql)
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'code'