(RHSA-2009:0981) Low: util-linux security and bug fix update

The util-linux package contains a collection of basic system utilities,
such as fdisk and mount.

A log injection attack was found in util-linux when logging log in attempts
via the audit subsystem of the Linux kernel. A remote attacker could use
this flaw to modify certain parts of logged events, possibly hiding their
activities on a system. (CVE-2008-1926)

This updated package also fixes the following bugs:

• partitions created by VMware ESX™ were not included in the list of
  recognized file systems used by fdisk. Consequently, if VMware ESX was
  installed, “fdisk -l” returned “Unknown” for these partitions. With this
  update, information regarding the VMKcore and VMFS partitions has been
  added to the file systems list. On systems running VMware ESX, “fdisk -l”
  now lists information about these partitions as expected. (BZ#447264)

• if a username was not set, the login command would fail with a
  Segmentation fault. With this update, login lets the audit system handle
  NULL usernames (it sends an AUDIT_USER_LOGIN message to the audit system in
  the event there is no username set). (BZ#456213)

• the nfs(5) man page listed version 2 as the default. This is incorrect:
  unless otherwise specified, the NFS client uses NFS version 3. The man page
  has been corrected. (BZ#458539)

• in certain situations, backgrounded NFS mounts died shortly after being
  backgrounded when the mount command was executed by the initlog command,
  which, for example, would occur when running an init script, such as
  running the “service netfs start” command. In these situations, running the
  “ps -ef” command showed backgrounded NFS mounts disappearing shortly after
  being backgrounded. In this updated package, backgrounded mount processes
  detach from the controlling terminal, which resolves this issue.
  (BZ#461488)

• if a new partition’s starting cylinder was beyond one terabyte, fdisk
  could not create the partition. This has been fixed. (BZ#471372)

• in rare cases “mount -a” ignored fstab order and tried to re-mount file
  systems on mpath devices. With this update, mount honors fstab order even
  in the rare cases reported. (BZ#472186)

• the “mount --move” command moved a file system’s mount point as expected
  (for example, /proc/mounts showed the changed mount point as expected) but
  did not update /etc/mtab properly. With this update, the “mount --move”
  command gathers all necessary information about the old mount point, copies
  it to the new mount point and then deletes the old point, ensuring
  /etc/mtab is updated properly. (BZ#485004)

Util-linux users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
addresses this vulnerability and resolves these issues.