Issued:

2014-09-16

Updated:

2014-09-16

RHBA-2014:1224 - mkinitrd bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

mkinitrd bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated mkinitrd packages that fix several bugs and add one enhancement are now available for 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:

• A previous fix to a related security issue introduced to the libnss library a new run-time dependency on the libsqlite library. However, libsqlite was not included in the initrd.img file. As a consequence, the kernel verification was not successful and caused the system boot to fail with a kernel panic. With this update, the mkinitrd utility verifies that libsqlite is included when building a new initrd image and the kernel panic no longer occurs. (BZ#1006058)

• Prior to this update, the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) driver was not included in the initrd.img file. As a consequence, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 guest in some cases failed to boot on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hypervisor. With this update, installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a guest now always includes the AHCI driver, and the guest is therefore able to boot as expected. (BZ#978245)

• Previously, mkinitrd searched an incorrect path for the cciss block driver device and the findstoragedriver() function could therefore not find cciss in the /sys/block directory. Consequently, the kernel failed to boot after it was updated. This update amends the cciss path and findstoragedriver() is thus able to detect cciss devices correctly. As a result, the kernel now boots as expected. (BZ#988020)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• In order to simplify the process of adding a new direct access storage device (DASD), running a mkinitrd command without parameters now prompts the user to re-create the initial RAM disk for the currently running kernel in the /boot/ directory. (BZ#472764)

Users of mkinitrd are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs and add this enhancement.

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

• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ia64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc64.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc64.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.i386.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-82.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.x86_64.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-82.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.i386.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ia64.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.x86_64.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390x.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.src.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-82.el5.i386.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390x.rpm
• nash-5.1.19.6-82.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.x86_64.rpm
• mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc.rpm
• mkinitrd-debuginfo-5.1.19.6-82.el5.s390.rpm
• mkinitrd-devel-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ppc.rpm
• libbdevid-python-5.1.19.6-82.el5.ia64.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 472764
• This content is not included.BZ - 978245

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.