Issued:

2013-11-20

Updated:

2013-11-20

RHBA-2013:1648 - util-linux-ng bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

util-linux-ng bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory (none)

Topic

Updated util-linux-ng packages that fix several bugs and add various enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The util-linux-ng packages contain a large variety of low-level system utilities that are necessary for a Linux operating system to function.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, the hexdump utility terminated with a segmentation fault when iterating over an empty format string. This bug has now been fixed and hexdump no longer crashes in this scenario. (BZ#885313)

• Previously, the libblkid library incorrectly detected certain disks as a Silicon Image Medley RAID device. Consequently, this caused problems in certain systems after a weekly reboot. This update adds a checksum count from the superblock record and a new superblock definition from the dmraid tool, which makes the signature recognition of Silicon Image Medley RAID devices more robust. (BZ#911756)

• Previously, the "mount -av" command, which triggers mounting filesystems with helpers like the /sbin/mount.nfs file, printed the message "nothing was mounted", even though the helper mounted a filesystem. This bug has been fixed and the incorrect message is no longer printed in this scenario. (BZ#864585)

• Previously, the hwclock(8) manual page contained a reference to the non-existing adjtimex utility. This update fixes the hwclock(8) manual page. (BZ#872291)

• Previously, the mount(8) manual page incorrectly described the "relatime" mount option. With this update, the description of the "relatime" mount option has been improved to better describe when the kernel updates the atime. (BZ#915844)

• Due to a regression in the code, if a symbolic link was used for a mount point in the /etc/fstab configuration file, mount attempts to that mount point failed. This update ensures that all paths in /etc/fstab are made canonical and such mount points can now be mounted as expected. (BZ#917678)

• Prior to this update, the lscpu command accepted only sequentially assigned logical CPU numbers. Consequently, lscpu did not properly list CPUs after a CPU eject operation. After this update, the lascpu command does not expect sequentially assigned CPU numbers and works properly on systems with a hot-plug CPU. (BZ#966735)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, it was not possible to determine the right CLOCAL flag by the kernel and, also, some machines required manual settings. With this update, the new -L[={always,auto,never}] option has been added to the agetty utility to allow complete control on the CLOCAL terminal flag. (BZ#816342)

• Previously, the kill(1) manual page did not include information about the interaction between the kill utility and threads. With this update, the kill(1) manual page has been improved to explicitly explain the interaction between the kill system call and threads. (BZ#846790)

• The default kill character "@" was in collision with login user names on IPA systems with the "user@domain" convention. With this update, the agetty utility has been improved to accept the "--kill-chars" and "--erase-chars" options to control special kill and erase terminal characters. (BZ#870854)

• With this update, the "blkdiscard" command has been introduced to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to discard device sectors. The "discard" support is important for example on thinly-provisioned storage to improve disk efficiency by reclaiming free space so that the storage can re-use the free space for other area. (BZ#947062)

Users of util-linux-ng 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/site/articles/11258

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• uuidd-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• uuidd-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm
• util-linux-ng-debuginfo-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• uuidd-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc64.rpm
• libblkid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• libuuid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390x.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.s390.rpm
• uuidd-2.17.2-12.14.el6.x86_64.rpm
• libuuid-2.17.2-12.14.el6.i686.rpm
• libblkid-devel-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.src.rpm
• util-linux-ng-2.17.2-12.14.el6.ppc.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 846790
• This content is not included.BZ - 870128
• This content is not included.BZ - 870854
• This content is not included.BZ - 872291
• This content is not included.BZ - 885313
• This content is not included.BZ - 915844
• This content is not included.BZ - 917678

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.