7.5 - RHSA-2009:1321

Problem Description:

An updated nfs-utils package that fixes a security issue and several bugs is now available.

This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, ppc, s390x, x86_64

3. Description:

The nfs-utils package provides a daemon for the kernel NFS server and related tools.

It was discovered that nfs-utils did not use tcp_wrappers correctly. Certain hosts access rules defined in "/etc/hosts.allow" and "/etc/hosts.deny" may not have been honored, possibly allowing remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions. (CVE-2008-4552)

This updated package also fixes the following bugs:

* the "LOCKD_TCPPORT" and "LOCKD_UDPPORT" options in "/etc/sysconfig/nfs" were not honored: the lockd daemon continued to use random ports. With this update, these options are honored. (BZ#434795)

* it was not possible to mount NFS file systems from a system that has the "/etc/" directory mounted on a read-only file system (this could occur on systems with an NFS-mounted root file system). With this update, it is possible to mount NFS file systems from a system that has "/etc/" mounted on a read-only file system. (BZ#450646)

* arguments specified by "STATDARG=" in "/etc/sysconfig/nfs" were removed by the nfslock init script, meaning the arguments specified were never passed to rpc.statd. With this update, the nfslock init script no longer removes these arguments. (BZ#459591)

* when mounting an NFS file system from a host not specified in the NFS server's "/etc/exports" file, a misleading "unknown host" error was logged on the server (the hostname lookup did not fail). With this update, a clearer error message is provided for these situations. (BZ#463578)

* the nhfsstone benchmark utility did not work with NFS version 3 and 4. This update adds support to nhfsstone for NFS version 3 and 4. The new nhfsstone "-2", "-3", and "-4" options are used to select an NFS version (similar to nfsstat(8)). (BZ#465933)

* the exportfs(8) manual page contained a spelling mistake, "djando", in the EXAMPLES section. (BZ#474848)

* in some situations the NFS server incorrectly refused mounts to hosts that had a host alias in a NIS netgroup. (BZ#478952)

* in some situations the NFS client used its cache, rather than using the latest version of a file or directory from a given export. This update adds a new mount option, "lookupcache=", which allows the NFS client to control how it caches files and directories. Note: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 kernel update (the fourth regular update) must be installed in order to use the "lookupcache=" option. Also, "lookupcache=" is currently only available for NFS version 3. Support for NFS version 4 may be introduced in future Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 updates. Refer to Red Hat Bugzilla #511312 for further information. (BZ#489335)

Users of nfs-utils should upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues. After installing this update, the nfs service will be restarted automatically.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

5. Bugs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/):

434795 - lockd not using settings in sysconfig/nfs 450646 - /sbin/mount.nfs fails with read-only /etc 458676 - CVE-2008-4552 nfs-utils: incorrect use of tcp_wrappers, causing hostname-based rules to be ignored 459591 - rpc.statd options not correctly parsed 463578 - confusing 'mount request from unknown host' messages 465933 - nhfsstone does not support NFSv3 and v4 474848 - typo in exportfs manpage 489335 - Add support for lookupcache= option in nfs-utils.