- Issued:
- 2011-03-25
- Updated:
- 2011-03-25
RHBA-2011:0381 - Bug Fix Advisory
Synopsis
kernel bug fix update
Type/Severity
Bug Fix Advisory
Topic
Updated kernel packages that resolve several issues are now available for Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4.
Description
The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating
system.
These updated kernel packages provide fixes for the following bugs:
- Prior to this update, the /proc/diskstats file showed erroneous values. This
occurred when the kernel merged two I/O operations for adjacent sectors which
were located on different disk partitions. Two merge requests were submitted for
the adjacent sectors, the first request for the second partition and the second
request for the first partition, which was then merged to the first request. The
first submission of the merge request incremented the "in_flight" value for the
second partition. However, at the completion of the merge request, the
"in_flight" value of a different partition (the first one) was decremented. This
resulted in the erroneous values displayed in the /proc/diskstats file. With
this update, the merging of two I/O operations which are located on different
disk partitions has been fixed and works as expected. (BZ#672252)
- When GRO (Generic Receive Offload) was configured with a VLAN (Virtual LAN),
the kernel would panic under certain circumstances if the system was idle. The
panic occurred when an adapter was in the promiscuous mode and received a frame
tagged for a VLAN for which it was not a member of. This was caused by the
"skb->dev" pointer not being reset properly. With this update, the
aforementioned pointer is properly handled and kernel panic no longer occurs.
(BZ#674585)
- When running under VMware, timeouts in user applications could occur much
later than they should have due to faulty kernel timekeeping. With this update,
kernel timekeeping has been improved and timeouts occur in a more timely manner.
(BZ#679412)
All users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these
issues.
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
https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259
To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do not use "rpm
- Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries from your system. You may
use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels after determining that the new kernel
functions properly on your system.
Affected Products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 x86_64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 ia64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 i386
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.4 s390x
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.4 ppc
Fixes
(none)CVEs
(none)
References
(none)
The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.