Issued:

2013-02-20

Updated:

2013-02-20

RHBA-2013:0429 - 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 (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) devices, and provides VPN integration with a variety of different VPN services.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, NetworkManager did not allow selecting the WPA protocol version for a connection. Certain enterprise WLAN networks using Cisco equipment do not allow roaming between WPA and WPA2 Virtual Access Points (VAP) provided by the same physical access point, requiring the use of a specific WPA protocol version to prevent disconnections. This update adds a WPA protocol combo box to the NetworkManager user interface allowing a specific WPA protocol version to be used when necessary, thus preventing this problem. (BZ#813573)

• Previously, NetworkManager tried to enable an interface only once. Consequently, after a network failure, if a link was restored before the connection to a DHCP server was functioning, NetworkManager sometimes timed out and failed to bring up the interface. A patch has been applied so that NetworkManager now tries three times to connect after a failure and then again in five minute intervals. As a result, NetworkManager can now more reliably restore connections after a network failure. (BZ#829499)

• Due to a bug in reading and writing network configuration files, network connections using the LEAP authentication method could not be made available to all users. A patch has been applied to address this issue and the network configuration files now allow LEAP as expected. (BZ#833199)

• When a connection was locked to a specific WPA protocol version (either v1 or v2/RSN) via either the GConf system or settings in the "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/" configuration files, NetworkManager overwrote that preference when the connection was edited and saved. This bug has been fixed and such WPA preferences are now preserved in the described scenario. (BZ#834349)

• When attempting to configure a wireless LEAP authenticated connection, the credentials were asked for twice by the authentication dialog. A patch has been applied and the problem no longer occurs. (BZ#837056)

• The NetworkManager service logged a warning when the Bluetooth service was not running or not installed. A patch has been applied to prevent this and the problem no longer occurs. (BZ#840580)

This update also adds the following enhancements:

• This update adds bridging support for NetworkManager. Note that this is dependent on the NM_BOND_VLAN_ENABLED directive in /etc/sysconfig/network. If and only if that directive is present and is one of yes, y, or true, will NetworkManager detect and manage bridging, bonding and VLAN interfaces. (BZ#558983)

• The NetworkManager service now provides support for bonding network connections as well as creating VLAN and IPoIB network connections. (BZ#465345)

• NetworkManager now copies the DHCP lease files created by init scripts if they are newer then those NetworkManager currently has. This results in a more seamless takeover of DHCP assigned connections. (BZ#817660)

• This update enables Proactive Key Caching (PKC), also known as Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC), for all WPA-Enterprise configurations. (BZ#834444)

• A number of improvements have been made to NetworkManager to allow more bonding options and to handle incompatibilities between options. As a result, more complex bonding configurations can now be controlled by NetworkManager. (BZ#901662)

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 https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.s390.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-gnome-0.8.1-43.el6.s390x.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.x86_64.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-0.8.1-43.el6.src.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-glib-0.8.1-43.el6.i686.rpm
• NetworkManager-debuginfo-0.8.1-43.el6.ppc.rpm
• NetworkManager-devel-0.8.1-43.el6.s390.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 817660
• This content is not included.BZ - 829499
• This content is not included.BZ - 833199
• This content is not included.BZ - 834349
• This content is not included.BZ - 834444
• This content is not included.BZ - 837056

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.