Issued:

2013-01-07

Updated:

2013-01-07

RHBA-2013:0027 - mkinitrd bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

mkinitrd bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory (none)

Topic

Updated mkinitrd packages that fix two bugs and add two enhancements are now available Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

The mkinitrd packages provide a utility to create the initrd file system image. The initrd image is an initial RAM disk that is loaded by a boot loader before the Linux kernel is started.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, the "mkrootdev" command could incorrectly use the slave device instead of the intended multipath device to create the /dev/root node when a multipath root device was specified by the label "LABEL". As a consequence, the slave device could not be mounted as it was already used by the master and creating the "/dev/root" node failed. This update modifies the mkinitrd code so that "mkrootdev" now ignores devices which are in use. (BZ#556785)

• Prior to this update, the bindings file in the initial RAM disk (initrd) could, under certain circumstances, fail to match the bindings file on the root file system. As a consequence, the boot process was interrupted and the system rebooted. This update modifies the underlying code so match the bindings file as expected. (BZ#782615)

This update also adds the following enhancements:

• This update adds support for using FIPS mode with dmraid root devices. The dmraid device is now activated before checking the FIPS checksum. (BZ#737081)

• This update adds support for Hyper-V to the mkinitrd utility. (BZ#852686)

All users of mkinitrd 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 https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ia64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.src.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-79.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390x.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-79.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc64.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390x.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-79.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.i386.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-79.el5.x86_64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-79.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-79.el5.x86_64.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-79.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-79.el5.s390x.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 556785
• This content is not included.BZ - 737081

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.