Issued:
2012-02-22
Updated:
2012-02-22

RHEA-2012:0328 - passwd enhancement update

Synopsis

passwd enhancement update

Type/Severity

Product Enhancement Advisory

Topic

An updated passwd package that adds two enhancements is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The passwd packages contain a system utility, "passwd", which changes passwords and displays password status information using the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) and Libuser libraries.

This update adds the following enhancements:

  • The passwd command now supports a new option, "-e", that allows the system administrator to expire the password of the specified user so that the user is forced to change the password on the next login attempt. (BZ#791139)

  • The passwd executable file is a setuid program so it needs to be well protected against various types of attacks. With this update, passwd has been built with the Position Independent Executables (PIE) flag, "-fPIE -pie", and the full read-only relocations (RELRO) flags, "-Wl,-z,relro,-z,now". The passwd binary is now well protected against "return-to-text" and memory corruption attacks and also against attacks based on the program's ELF section overwriting. (BZ#791143)

All users of passwd are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which adds 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.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Storage2.0x86_64
Red Hat Storage for Public Cloud (via RHUI)2.0x86_64
Red Hat Gluster Storage Server for On-premise2.0x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.2x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.2i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian6ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support6.2ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support6.2s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.2x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.2i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS6.2x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6i386

Updated Packages

  • passwd-0.77-4.el6_2.2.ppc64.rpm
  • passwd-debuginfo-0.77-4.el6_2.2.x86_64.rpm
  • passwd-0.77-4.el6_2.2.i686.rpm
  • passwd-debuginfo-0.77-4.el6_2.2.i686.rpm
  • passwd-0.77-4.el6_2.2.x86_64.rpm
  • passwd-0.77-4.el6_2.2.s390x.rpm
  • passwd-debuginfo-0.77-4.el6_2.2.ppc64.rpm
  • passwd-0.77-4.el6_2.2.src.rpm
  • passwd-debuginfo-0.77-4.el6_2.2.s390x.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information