Low: util-linux security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Synopsis

Low: util-linux security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Low

Topic

An updated util-linux package that fixes multiple security issues, various
bugs, and adds two enhancements is now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low
security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores,
which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability
from the CVE links in the References section.

Description

The util-linux package contains a large variety of low-level system
utilities that are necessary for a Linux system to function. Among others,
util-linux contains the fdisk configuration tool and the login program.

Multiple flaws were found in the way the mount and umount commands
performed mtab (mounted file systems table) file updates. A local,
unprivileged user allowed to mount or unmount file systems could use these
flaws to corrupt the mtab file and create a stale lock file, preventing
other users from mounting and unmounting file systems. (CVE-2011-1675,
CVE-2011-1677)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• When the user logged into a telnet server, the login utility did not
  update the utmp database properly if the utility was executed from the
  telnetd daemon. This was due to telnetd not creating an appropriate entry
  in a utmp file before executing login. With this update, correct entries
  are created and the database is updated properly. (BZ#646300)
  
• Various options were not described on the blockdev(8) manual page. With
  this update, the blockdev(8) manual page includes all the relevant options.
  (BZ#650937)
  
• Prior to this update, the build process of the util-linux package failed
  in the po directory with the following error message: "@MKINSTALLDIRS@:
  No such file or directory". An upstream patch has been applied to address
  this issue, and the util-linux package now builds successfully. (BZ#677452)
  
• Previously, the ipcs(1) and ipcrm(1) manual pages mentioned an invalid
  option, "-b". With this update, only valid options are listed on those
  manual pages. (BZ#678407)
  
• Previously, the mount(8) manual page contained incomplete information
  about the ext4 and XFS file systems. With this update, the mount(8) manual
  page contains the missing information. (BZ#699639)
  

In addition, this update adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, if DOS mode was enabled on a device, the fdisk utility could
  report error messages similar to the following:
  

Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 1, 1) logical=(0, 2, 7)

This update enables users to switch off DOS compatible mode (by specifying
the "-c" option), and such error messages are no longer displayed.
(BZ#678430)

• This update adds the "fsfreeze" command which halts access to a file
  system on a disk. (BZ#726572)
  

All users of util-linux are advised to upgrade to this updated package,
which contains backported patches to correct these issues 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/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 646300 - login doesn't update /var/run/utmp properly
• BZ - 650937 - blockdev man page missing information
• BZ - 677452 - util-linux fails to build with gettext-0.17
• BZ - 678407 - [RHEL 5] ipcs and ipcrm in wrong man section
• BZ - 695916 - CVE-2011-1675 util-linux: mount fails to anticipate RLIMIT_FSIZE
• BZ - 695924 - CVE-2011-1677 util-linux: umount may fail to remove /etc/mtab~ lock file
• BZ - 699639 - mount man page is missing support for ext4/xfs

CVEs

• CVE-2011-1677
• CVE-2011-1675

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#low