6.8 - RHSA-2009:1364

Problem Description:

Updated gdm packages that fix a security issue and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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 GNOME Display Manager (GDM) is a configurable re-implementation of XDM, the X Display Manager. GDM allows you to log in to your system with the X Window System running, and supports running several different X sessions on your local machine at the same time.

A flaw was found in the way the gdm package was built. The gdm package was missing TCP wrappers support, which could result in an administrator believing they had access restrictions enabled when they did not. (CVE-2009-2697)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

* the GDM Reference Manual is now included with the gdm packages. The gdm-docs package installs this document in HTML format in "/usr/share/doc/". (BZ#196054)

* GDM appeared in English on systems using Telugu (te_IN). With this update, GDM has been localized in te_IN. (BZ#226931)

* the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace sequence resets the X server when in runlevel 5. In previous releases, however, repeated use of this sequence prevented GDM from starting the X server as part of the reset process. This was because GDM sometimes did not notice the X server shutdown properly and would subsequently fail to complete the reset process. This update contains an added check to explicitly notify GDM whenever the X server is terminated, ensuring that resets are executed reliably. (BZ#441971)

* the "gdm" user is now part of the "audio" group by default. This enables audio support at the login screen. (BZ#458331)

* the gui/modules/dwellmouselistener.c source code contained incorrect XInput code that prevented tablet devices from working properly. This update removes the errant code, ensuring that tablet devices work as expected. (BZ#473262)

* a bug in the XOpenDevice() function prevented the X server from starting whenever a device defined in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" was not actually plugged in. This update wraps XOpenDevice() in the gdk_error_trap_pop() and gdk_error_trap_push() functions, which resolves this bug. This ensures that the X server can start properly even when devices defined in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" are not plugged in. (BZ#474588)

All users should upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these issues. GDM must be restarted for this update to take effect. Rebooting achieves this, but changing the runlevel from 5 to 3 and back to 5 also restarts GDM.

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/):

239818 - CVE-2009-2697 gdm not built with tcp_wrappers 441971 - [RHEL5] GDM sometimes doesn't come back after ctrl-alt-backspace 458331 - Add supplementary audio group to the gdm user 473262 - Mouse cursor not movable when using tablet instead of mouse 474588 - gdmgreeter crashes if input device (ex wacom) is defined but not plugged