Issued:

2011-07-13

Updated:

2011-12-06

RHBA-2011:0934 - file bug fix update

Synopsis

file bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

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

Description

The file command is used to identify a particular file according to the type of data contained in the file.

[Updated 7 September 2011] This update fixes a bug in which the file utility did not parse ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) binary files correctly. If an entry in the program header table contained a file offset beyond the end of file, dynamically linked files were reported as being linked statically. The file utility now recognizes files in the described scenario correctly. (BZ#730336)

As well, this update fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, the file utility could have been unable to recognize RPM files for certain supported architectures. This update improves the file type recognition, and the RPM files for all supported architectures are now correctly identified as expected. (BZ#676045, BZ#712992, BZ#712988)

• Prior to this update, the file utility did not correctly recognized the IBM System z kernel images. This problem has been corrected so that the IBM System z kernel images are now correctly recognized as expected. (BZ#688700)

• Prior to this update, the file utility attempted to show information related to core dumps for binary files that were not core dumps. This undesired behavior has been fixed in this update so that information related to core dumps is showed only for core dumps and not for the binary files which are not core dumps. (BZ#692098)

• Prior to this update, file patterns for LaTeX checked only the first 400 bytes of a file to determine the pattern type. This caused an incorrect pattern type recognition as some files could have contained a larger number of comments at the beginning of the file. Furthermore, file patterns which matched a Python script were tried before the LaTeX patterns and this undesired behavior could have caused an incorrect pattern type recognition as LaTeX files could have included a source code written in Python. With this update, the aforementioned problems have been fixed by increasing the number of first bytes checked for a LaTeX file to 4096 bytes, and by trying the LaTeX patterns before the Python patterns. (BZ#675691)

• Prior to this update, there were several spelling mistakes contained in the magic(5) manual page. This update corrects the spelling mistakes in the respective manual page. (BZ#690801)

• Prior to this update, the file utility treated MP3 files as text files, and therefore was unable to recognize the MP3 files. This undesired behavior has been fixed in this update, and the file utility now treats the MP3 files as binary files and is able to properly recognize them. (BZ#716665)

All users of file 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.

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 This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• python-magic-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-static-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.s390.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• file-static-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.ppc.rpm
• file-static-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.s390.rpm
• file-static-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.ppc.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.ppc.rpm
• file-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-static-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.ppc.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.ppc.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.s390.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-static-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-5.04-9.el6.src.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-11.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.i686.rpm
• file-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-5.04-11.el6.src.rpm
• file-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-devel-5.04-9.el6.s390.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.s390.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-11.el6.ppc64.rpm
• file-static-5.04-11.el6.i686.rpm
• file-5.04-9.el6.x86_64.rpm
• file-debuginfo-5.04-9.el6.ppc.rpm
• python-magic-5.04-9.el6.s390x.rpm
• file-libs-5.04-9.el6.s390.rpm
• file-static-5.04-11.el6.x86_64.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 675691
• This content is not included.BZ - 676045
• This content is not included.BZ - 688700
• This content is not included.BZ - 690801
• This content is not included.BZ - 692098
• This content is not included.BZ - 716665
• This content is not included.BZ - 730336

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information

• The Red Hat security contact is This content is not included.secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.
• Offline Security Data data is available for integration with other systems. See Offline Security Data API to get started.