Issued:

2011-12-06

Updated:

2011-12-06

RHBA-2011:1632 - NetworkManager bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

NetworkManager bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory (none)

Topic

Updated NetworkManager packages that fix multiple bugs and add various enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

NetworkManager is a system network service that manages network devices and connections, attempting to keep active network connectivity when available. It manages Ethernet, wireless, mobile broadband (WWAN), and PPPoE devices, and provides VPN integration with a variety of different VPN services.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• NetworkManager did not recognize IBM CTC (Channel-to-Channel) devices, which made it impossible to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM S/390 machines which used CTC devices. NetworkManager now detects these devices properly, with the result that Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be installed on such machines. (BZ#660666)

• When connecting to a WLAN, pressing the Enter key in NetworkManager's dialog box had no effect and the dialog box remained open. However, the WLAN connection could be established by clicking the Connect button with the mouse. This happened because the Connect button was not defined as default action on confirmation in the code. With this update, the Connect button was marked as default and NetworkManager now launches the WLAN connection under these circumstances. (BZ#696585)

• Due to a memory access error, the connection profile configured in NetworkManager was not stored if an IPv6 address and an IPv6 gateway were specified. The code has been modified to prevent this issue and connection profiles are now stored correctly. (BZ#696916)

• Due to a timing issue in the libnm-glib library, NetworkManager produced a D-Bus error when a network driver was unloaded from the kernel. This error message was only for informational purposes and therefore did not need to appear in syslog messages. The message has been suppressed in the libnm-glib code, and the error message no longer occurs in any of the system logs. (BZ#706338)

• NetworkManager did not specify the initial frequency of an ad hoc wireless network when the frequency was not set by the user. If the network frequency was not set when authenticating with wpa_supplicant using the nl80211 supplicant driver, the connection attempt failed. NetworkManager has been modified to set a frequency that is supported by used network device if it is not specified by the user. Users can now connect to ad hoc wireless networks without problems in the scenario described. (BZ#747066)

• The RHSA-2010-0616 security advisory for the dbus-glib library introduced changes restricting access to D-Bus properties. Therefore under certain circumstances, NetworkManager failed to display the login banner when a user connected to a VPN. NetworkManager has been modified to respect dbus-glib limitations, and the login banner is now displayed correctly. (BZ#659685)

• The implementation of the wpa_supplicant application has recently been changed to use the nl80211 supplicant driver instead the WEXT wireless extension. Both methods use a different approach to show the level of a wireless network signal. This difference was not reflected in NetworkManager's code, therefore the signal level was shown incorrectly. NetworkManager has been modified to handle this feature correctly when using nl80211, and the signal level is now displayed correctly. (BZ#743555)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancements:

• NetworkManager did not send the system hostname to a DHCP server unless it was explicitly configured with a configuration file. NetworkManager now sends the hostname to the DHCP server by default. (BZ#590096)

• Roaming in RSA token-enabled enterprise Wi-Fi networks did not work properly, which resulted in the wpa_supplicant component upgrade to version 0.7.3. This update required new features to be implemented in NetworkManager. NetworkManager now includes the background scanning feature for the wpa_supplicant component and uses the nl80211 supplicant driver when adding a supplicant interface. (BZ#713283)

All users of NetworkManager are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs 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 This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-15.el6.src.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-15.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-15.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-15.el6.i686.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 590096
• This content is not included.BZ - 659685
• This content is not included.BZ - 660666
• This content is not included.BZ - 696585
• This content is not included.BZ - 696916
• This content is not included.BZ - 708501
• This content is not included.BZ - 743555

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.