Red Hat Enterprise Linux-7-7.5 Release Notes-En-US

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

7.5 Release Notes

Release Notes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5

Last Updated: 2019-02-05


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 7.5 Release Notes
Release Notes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5

Red Hat Customer Content Services


rhel-notes@redhat.com
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Abstract
The Release Notes provide high-level coverage of the improvements and additions that have been
implemented in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 and document known problems in this release, as well
as notable bug fixes, Technology Previews, deprecated functionality, and other details.
Table of Contents

Table of Contents
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
PREFACE ...........

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .1.. .OVERVIEW
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
...........
Security and Compliance 16
Performance and Efficiency 16
Platform Manageability 16
Identity Management and Access Control 16
Support for Architectures in the New Kernel Version 17
Virtualization 17
Red Hat Insights 17
Red Hat Customer Portal Labs 17

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .2.. .ARCHITECTURES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
...........
Support for Architectures in the kernel-alt Packages 19

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .3.. .IMPORTANT
. . . . . . . . . . .CHANGES
. . . . . . . . . .TO
. . .EXTERNAL
. . . . . . . . . .KERNEL
. . . . . . . .PARAMETERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
...........
KERNEL PARAMETERS 21
KERNEL PARAMETERS TO MITIGATE SPECTRE AND MELTDOWN ISSUES 22
UPDATED /PROC/SYS/NET/CORE ENTRIES 22

. . . . . .I.. NEW
PART . . . . . FEATURES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
...........

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .4.. .GENERAL
. . . . . . . . . UPDATES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
...........
In-place upgrade from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 25
The setup package now provides a way to override unpredictable environment settings 25

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .5.. .AUTHENTICATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .INTEROPERABILITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
...........
Windows Server 2016 forest and domain functional levels now supported for trust 26
Directory Server no longer displays replication conflict entries in search results 26
OpenLDAP is now compiled with OpenSSL instead of NSS 26
Samba rebased to version 4.7.1 26
The SSSD LDAP provider can now automatically create user private groups for users 27
SSSD enrolled to an AD domain remembers the discovered AD site after the first successful connection 27
SSSD logs changes in its status to syslog 27
SSSD performance has improved 27
The pwdhash utility can now retrieve the storage scheme from the configuration directory 27
New utility to compare two Directory Server instances 27
Directory Server now supports enabling the memberOf plug-in on read-only replicas 28
Directory Server rebased to version 1.3.7.5 28
Directory Server supports additional password storage schemes 28
Directory Server now uses separate normalized DN caches for each worker thread 28
pki-core rebased to version 10.5.1 28
Certificate System supports installing CA, KRA, and OCSP subsystems with CMC 28
Certificate System supports creating instances running as a different user 29
Certificate System can now create PKCS #12 files using PBES2 with PBKDF2 key derivation 29
Certificate System CAs can now process CMC renewal requests signed by a previously issued signing certificate
29
Certificate System now uses the Mozilla NSS secure random number generator 29
Audit event changes in Certificate System 29
krb5 now includes the kdcpolicy interface 29
Certificate System now supports configurable hashing algorithms for the SKI extension 30
The pki command-line interface automatically creates a default NSS database 30
Certificate System disables weak 3DES ciphers by default 30

1
7.5 Release Notes

The Certificate System CA subsystem's OCSP provider now includes the nextUpdate field in responses 30
ding-libs rebased to version 0.6.1 30

. . . . . . . . . .6.. .CLUSTERING
CHAPTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
...........
New SNMP agent to query a Pacemaker cluster 31
Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability clusters on Amazon Web Services 31
Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability clusters on Microsoft Azure 31
Unfencing is done in resource cleanup only if relevant parameters changed 31
The pcsd port is now configurable 31
Fencing and resource agents are now supported by AWS Python libraries and a CLI client 31
Fencing in HA setups is now supported by Azure Python libraries 31
New features added to the sbd binary. 31
sbd rebased to version 1.3.1 31
Cluster status now shows by default when a resource action is pending 32
clufter rebased to version 0.77.0 32
Support for Sybase ASE failover 32

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .7.. .COMPILER
. . . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . TOOLS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
...........
The linuxptp package now supports active-backup bonding for clock synchronization 33
parted can now resize partitions using the resizepart command 33
binutils rebased to version 2.27 33
pcp rebased to version 3.12.2 33
Improved DWARF 5 support in various tools 34
systemtap rebased to version 3.2 34
valgrind rebased to version 3.13.0 35
ncat rebased to version 7.50 35
rsync rebased to version 3.1.2 35
tcpdump can now analyze virtio traffic 36
Vim now supports C++11 syntax highlighting 36
Vim now supports the blowfish2 encryption method 36
The IO::Socket::SSL Perl module now uses the system-wide CA certificate store by default 36
perl-DateTime-TimeZone rebased to version 1.70 36
system-config-kdump now support selecting of either automated or manual kdump memory settings when fadump
is performed 37
conman rebased to version 0.2.8 37
Support for the TFTP windowsize option has been implemented 37
curl now supports disabling GSSAPI with SOCKS5 37
The rsync utility now copies files with their original nanosecond part of the time stamp 37
tcpdump rebased to version 4.9.2 37
OProfile support for Intel Xeon processor family extended 38
Support for Intel Xeon v4 uncore performance events in libpfm, pcp, and papi 38
Memory copying performance improved on IBM POWER architectures 38
TAI clock macro available 38
Support for selective use of 4 KiB page tables on IBM z Systems 38
More efficient glibc functions on IBM z Systems 38
The ld linker no longer incorrectly combines position-dependent and independent code 38
python-virtualenv rebased to 15.1.0 38
python-urllib3 supports IP addresses in subjectAltName 38
Support for retpolines added to GCC 38
Shenandoah garbage collector is now fully supported 39

. . . . . . . . . .8.. .DESKTOP
CHAPTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
...........
GNOME Shell rebased to version 3.26 40
gnome-settings-daemon rebased to version 3.26 40

2
Table of Contents

libreoffice rebased to version 5.3 40


GIMP rebased to version 2.8.22 40
Inkscape rebased to version 0.92.2 41
webkitgtk4 rebased to version 2.16 42
qt5 rebased to version 5.9.2 42
New package: qgnomeplatform 42
ModemManager rebased to version 1.6.8 43
New packages: libsmbios 43
mutter rebased to version 3.26 43
The SANE_USB_WORKAROUND environmental variable can make older scanners usable with USB3 43
The libyami package added for better video stream handling 43
netpbm rebased to version 10.79.00 44
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 supports libva 44
GStreamer now supports mp3 44
GNOME control-center rebased to version 3.26 44
New package: emacs-php-mode 44
Dutch keyboard layout provided 44

. . . . . . . . . .9.. .FILE
CHAPTER . . . . SYSTEMS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
...........
SMB 2 and SMB 3 now support DFS 46
File system DAX now performs better when mapping a large amount of memory 46
quotacheck is now faster on ext4 46
The CephFS kernel client is fully supported with Red Hat Ceph Storage 3 46

. . . . . . . . . .10.
CHAPTER . . .HARDWARE
. . . . . . . . . . .ENABLEMENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
...........
Broadcom 5880 smart card readers with the updated firmware are now supported 47
fwupd now supports Synaptics MST hubs 47
kernel-rt sources updated 47
Improved RT throttling mechanism 47
VMware Paravirtual RDMA Driver 47
opal-prd rebased to version 5.9 47
libreswan now supports NIC offloading 48
Trusted Computing Group TPM 2.0 System API library and management utilities available 48
new packages: tpm2-abrmd 48

. . . . . . . . . .11.
CHAPTER . . .INSTALLATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .BOOTING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
...........
Assigning mount points to existing block devices is now possible in Kickstart installations 49
The livemedia-creator utility now provides a sample Kickstart file for UEFI systems 49
New option for the network Kickstart command binding the device configuration file to the device MAC address
49
New options for Kickstart %packages allow configuring Yum timeout and number of retries 49
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 ISO image can be used to create guests virtual machines on IBM z Systems 49
ARPUPDATE option for ifcfg-* files has been introduced 50
The --noconfig option added for the rpm -V command 50
ifcfg-* files now allow you to specify a third DNS server 50
Multi-threaded xz compression in rpm-build 50

. . . . . . . . . .12.
CHAPTER . . .KERNEL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
...........
Memory Protection Keys are now supported in later Intel processors 51
EDAC support added for Pondicherry 2 memory controllers 51
MBA is now supported 51
Swap optimizations enable fast block devices to be used as secondary memory 51
HID Wacom rebased to version 4.12 51
New livepatch functionality improves the latency and success rate of the kpatch-patch packages 51

3
7.5 Release Notes

Persistent Kernel Module Upgrade (PKMU) supported 51


The Linux kernel now supports encrypted SMB 3 connections 52
SME enabled on AMD Naples platforms 52
Support for the ie31200_edac driver 52
EDAC now supports GHES 52
CUIR enhanced scope detection is now fully supported 52
kdump allows a vmcore collection without the root file system being mounted 52
KASLR fully supported and enabled by default 52
Intel® Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) Host Software 53
noreplace-paravirt has been removed from the kernel command line parameters 53
The new EFI memmap implementation is now available on SGI UV2+ systems 53
Mounting pNFS shares with flexible file layout is now fully supported 53

. . . . . . . . . .13.
CHAPTER . . .NETWORKING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
...........
Error handling in the output of the dhcp-script has been improved 54
Network namespace isolation has been added to ipset 54
NetworkManager now supports multiple routing tables to enable source routing 54
nftables rebased to version 0.8 54
Persistent DHCP client behavior added to NetworkManager 54
NetworkManager exposes new properties to expose team options 55
Packets mark is now reflected on replies 55
New Socket timestamping options for NTP 55
iproute2 rebased to version 4.11.0 55
The tc-pedit action now supports offset relative to Layer 2 and Layer 4 56
Features backported to iproute 56
The Geneve driver rebased to version 4.12 56
A control switch added for VXLAN and GENEVE offloading 56
unbound rebased to version 1.6.6 56
DHCP now supports standard dynamic DNS updates 57
DDNS now supports additional algorithms 57
IPTABLES_SYSCTL_LOAD_LIST now supports the sysctl.d files 58
SCTP now supports MSG_MORE 58
MACsec rebased to version 4.13 58
Enhanced performance when using the mlx5 driver in Open vSwitch 58
The Netronome NFP Ethernet driver now supports the representor netdev feature 58
Support for offloading TC-Flower actions 58
DNS stub resolver improvements 59

. . . . . . . . . .14.
CHAPTER . . .SECURITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
...........
LUKS-encrypted removable storage devices can be now automatically unlocked using NBDE 60
new package: clevis-systemd 60
OpenSCAP can be now integrated into Ansible workflows 60
SECCOMP_FILTER_FLAG_TSYNC enables synchronization of calling process threads 60
nss rebased to version 3.34 60
SSLv3 disabled in mod_ssl 60
Libreswan now supports split-DNS configuration for IKEv2 61
libreswan now supports AES-GMAC for ESP 61
openssl-ibmca rebased to 1.4.0 61
opencryptoki rebased to 3.7.0 61
atomic scan with configuration_compliance enables creating security-compliant container images at build time
61
tang-nagios enables Nagios to monitor Tang 61
clevis now logs privileged operations 62

4
Table of Contents

PK11_CreateManagedGenericObject() has been added to NSS to prevent memory leaks in applications 62


OpenSSH now supports openssl-ibmca and openssl-ibmpkcs11 HSMs 62
cgroup_seclabel enables fine-grained access control on cgroups 62
The boot process can now unlock encrypted devices connected by network 62
SELinux now supports InfiniBand object labeling 62
libica rebased to 3.2.0 63
SELinux now supports systemd No New Privileges 63
Libreswan rebased to version 3.23 63
libreswan now supports IKEv2 MOBIKE 64
scap-workbench rebased to version 1.1.6 64
OpenSCAP is now able to generate results for DISA STIG Viewer 64
selinux-policy no longer contains permissive domains 64
audit rebased to version 2.8.1 64
OpenSC now supports the SCE7.0 144KDI CAC Alt. tokens 65

. . . . . . . . . .15.
CHAPTER . . .SERVERS
. . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . SERVICES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
...........
Leftover dbus processes 66
dbus rebased to version 1.10 66
tuned rebased to version 2.9.0 66
chrony rebased to version 3.2 66
SNMP page counting can be now disabled in CUPS 66
CUPS can be set to use only ciphers from TLS version 1.2 or later 67
The squid packages now provide the kerberos_ldap_group helper 67
OpenIPMI rebased to version 2.0.23 67
Overview of changes from freeIPMI 1.2.9 to freeIPMI 1.5.7 67
A new clear_env option available in PHP FPM pool configuration 67

. . . . . . . . . .16.
CHAPTER . . .STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
...........
Data Deduplication and Compression with VDO 68
New boom utility for managing LVM snapshot and image boot entries 68
DM Multipath no longer requires reservation keys in advance 68
New property parameter supported in blacklist and blacklist_exception sections of multipath.conf 68
smartmontools now support NVMe devices 69
Support for DIF/DIX (T10 PI) on specified hardware 69
File system Direct Access (DAX) and device DAX now support huge pages 70
fsadm can now grow and shrink LUKS-encrypted LVM volumes 70

. . . . . . . . . .17.
CHAPTER . . .SYSTEM
. . . . . . . .AND
. . . . SUBSCRIPTION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . MANAGEMENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
...........
cockpit rebased to version 154 71
Users of yum-utils now can perform actions prior to transactions 71
yum can disable creation of per-user cache as a non-root user 71
yum-builddep now allows to define RPM macros 71
subscription-manager now displays the host name upon registration 71
A subscription-manager plugin now runs with yum-config-manager 72
subscription-manager now protects all product certificates in /etc/pki/product-default/ 72
rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm now automatically enables the subscription-manager and product-id yum plugins 72
subscription-manager now automatically enables the subscription-manager and product-id yum plugins 72
subscription-manager-cockpit replaces subscription functionality in cockpit-system 72
virt-who logs where the host-guest mapping is sent 72
virt-who now provides configuration error information 72
reposync now by default skips packages whose location falls outside the destination directory 73

. . . . . . . . . .18.
CHAPTER . . .VIRTUALIZATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
...........
KVM virtualization on IBM z Systems 74

5
7.5 Release Notes

KVM virtualization supported on IBM POWER9 74


KVM virtualization supported on IBM POWER8 74
NVIDIA GPU devices can now be used by multiple guests simultaneously 74
KASLR for KVM guests 74
Parallel decompression of OVA files supported 75
SMAP now supported on Cannonlake guests 75
libvirt rebased to 3.9.0 75
virt-manager rebased to 1.4.3 75
virt-what rebased to version 1.18 76
tboot rebased to version 1.96 76
virt-v2v can convert VMware guests with snapshots 76
virt-rescue enhanced 77
virt-v2v now converts Linux guests encrypted with LUKS 77
CAT support added to libvirt on specific CPU models 77
PTP device added to improve time synchronization of KVM guests 77

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .19.
. . .RED
. . . .HAT
. . . . ENTERPRISE
. . . . . . . . . . . . LINUX
. . . . . . 7.5
. . . FOR
. . . . .ARM
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
...........
19.1. NEW FEATURES AND UPDATES 78
19.2. KERNEL CONFIGURATION CHANGES 78
HARDWARE ENABLEMENT 78
CORE KERNEL SUPPORT 80
19.3. SUPPORT IN RED HAT SATELLITE 82
19.4. KNOWN ISSUES 82
19.5. BUG FIXES 83

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .20.
. . .RED
. . . .HAT
. . . . ENTERPRISE
. . . . . . . . . . . . LINUX
. . . . . . 7.5
. . . FOR
. . . . .IBM
. . . POWER
. . . . . . . .LE
. . (POWER9)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
...........
20.1. NEW FEATURES AND UPDATES 85
20.2. KERNEL CONFIGURATION CHANGES 86
HARDWARE ENABLEMENT 86
CORE KERNEL SUPPORT 87
20.3. SUPPORT IN RED HAT SATELLITE 89
20.4. KNOWN ISSUES 89
20.5. BUG FIXES 91

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .21.
. . .ATOMIC
. . . . . . . HOST
. . . . . .AND
. . . . CONTAINERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
...........
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host 92

. . . . . . . . . .22.
CHAPTER . . .RED
. . . .HAT
. . . . SOFTWARE
. . . . . . . . . . . COLLECTIONS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
...........

. . . . . .II.
PART . .NOTABLE
. . . . . . . . . BUG
. . . . .FIXES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
...........

. . . . . . . . . .23.
CHAPTER . . .GENERAL
. . . . . . . . . UPDATES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
...........
runc notifies systemd about user-specified CPU quota limits 95
Segmentation faults in applications because of only non-existent paths in LD_LIBRARY_PATH no longer happen
95
The setup package now creates the tape group with the correct group number 95

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .24.
. . .AUTHENTICATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .INTEROPERABILITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
...........
The IdM LDAP server no longer becomes unresponsive when resolving an AD user takes a long time 96
Application configuration snippets in /etc/krb5.conf.d/ are now automatically read in existing configurations 96
pam_mkhomedir can now create home directories under / 96
Kerberos operations depending on KVNO in the keytab file no longer fail when a RODC is used 96
krb5 properly displays errors about PKINIT misconfiguration in single-realm KDC environments 96
Certificate System no longer incorrectly logs ROLE_ASSUME audit events 97
Updated attributes in CERT_STATUS_CHANGE_REQUEST_PROCESSED audit log event 97

6
Table of Contents

Signed audit log verification now works correctly 97


Certificate System now validates the banner file 97
The TPS subsystem no longer fails when performing a symmetric key changeover on a HSM 97
Certificate System CAs no longer display an error when handing subject DNs without a CN component 97
The pki-server-upgrade utility no longer fails if target files are missing 98
The Certificate System CA key replication now works correctly 98
Certificate System no longer fails to import PKCS #12 files 98
The TPS user interface now displays the token type and origin fields 98
Certificate System issued certificates with an expiration date later than the expiration date of the CA certificate
98
CA certificates without SKI extension no longer causes issuance failures 98
Certificate System correctly logs the user name in CMC request audit events 98
The Directory Server trivial word check password policy now works as expected 98
The pkidestroy utility now fully removes instances that are started by the pki-tomcatd-nuxwdog service 99
The Certificate System deployment archive file no longer contains passwords in plain text 99
ACIs with the targetfilter keyword work correctly 99
Directory Server searches with a scope set to one have been fixed 99
Clear error message when sending TLS data to a non-LDAPS port 99
Directory Server no longer logs an error if not running the cleanallruv task 99
Using a large number of CoS templates no longer slow down the virtual attribute processing time 100
Directory Server now handles binds during an online initialization correctly 100
The dirsrv@.service meta target is now linked to multi-user.target 100
The memberOf plug-in now logs all update attempts of the memberOf attribute 100
The Directory Server password policies now work correctly 100
A buffer overflow has been fixed in Directory Server 100
Directory Server now sends the password expired control during grace logins 100
An unnecessary global lock has been removed from Directory Server 100
Replication now works correctly with TLS client authentication and FIPS mode enabled 101
Directory Server now correctly sets whether virtual attributes are operational 101
Backup now succeeds if replication was enabled and a changelog file existed 101
Certificate System updates the revocation reason correctly 101
A race condition has been fixed in the Certificate System clone installation process 101
Certificate System now uses strong ciphers by default 101
The pkispawn utility no longer displays incorrect errors 102
The Certificate System profile configuration update method now correctly handles backslashes 102

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .25.
. . .CLUSTERING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
............
Pacemaker correctly implements fencing and unfencing for Pacemaker remote nodes 103
Pacemaker now probes guest nodes 103
The pcs resource cleanup command no longer generates unnecessary cluster load 103
Warning generated when user specifies action attribute for stonith device 103
It is now possible to enable stonith agent debugging without specifying the --force flag 103
The fence_ilo3 resource agent no longer has a default value of cycle for the action parameter 103
Pacemaker no longer starts up when sbd is enabled but not started successfully by systemd 104
A fenced node in an ‘sbd’ setup now shuts down reliably 104
IPaddr2 resource agent now finds NIC for IPv6 addresses with 128 netmask 104
portblock agent no longer yields excessive unnecessary messages 104
/var/run/resource-agents directory now persists across reboots 104

. . . . . . . . . .26.
CHAPTER . . .COMPILER
. . . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . TOOLS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
............
Package selection now works in system-config-kickstart 105
NVMe devices no longer show up as Unknown in parted and Anaconda 105
DBD::MySQL now sends and receives smaller integers correctly on big-endian platforms 105

7
7.5 Release Notes

The version Perl module now supports tainted input and tainted version objects 105
The HTTP::Daemon Perl module now supports IPv6 105
GDB shows inline function names in breakpoint listing 105
Relocation failures at module load time due to wrong GCC alignment fixed 105
The istream::sentry object from the gcc C++ standard library no longer throws exceptions 105
Multiple fixes in gdb on IBM Power 106
GDB no longer crashes when dumping core from a process that terminates 106
GDB can again dump memory protected by the VM_DONTDUMP flag 106
Programs using the CLONE_PTRACE flag on threads now run under strace 106
exiv2 rebased to version 0.26 106
gssproxy fixed to properly update ccaches 107
gcc on the little-endian variant of IBM Power Systems architecture no longer creates unused stack frames 107
Several bugs fixed in gssproxy 107
The BFD library regains the ability to convert binary addresses to source code positions 107
Applications using vector registers for passing arguments work again 107
curl now properly resets the HTTP authentication state 107
The strip utility works again 107
Importing python modules generated by f2py now works properly 107
mailx is not encoding multi-byte subjects properly 108
The --all-logs option now works as expected in sosreport 108
Python scripts can now correctly connect to HTTPS servers through a proxy, while explicitly setting the port 108

. . . . . . . . . .27.
CHAPTER . . .DESKTOP
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
............
Stylus of Dell Canvas 27 fixed 109
llvmpipe crashes on IBM Power Systems 109

. . . . . . . . . .28.
CHAPTER . . .FILE
. . . . SYSTEMS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
............
NFS shares no longer become unresponsive after a TCP connection is closed 110

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .29.
. . .HARDWARE
. . . . . . . . . . .ENABLEMENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
............
genwqe-tools updated for IBM Power Systems ppc64 and ppc64le architectures 111
Hardware utility tools now correctly identify recently released hardware 111

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .30.
. . .INSTALLATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .BOOTING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
............
The installer no longer crashes when you select an incomplete IMSM RAID array during manual partitioning 112
Installer now accepts additional time zone definitions in Kickstart files 112
Proxy configuration set up using a boot option now works correctly in Anaconda 112
FIPS mode now supports loading files over HTTPS during installation 112
Network scripts now correctly update /etc/resolv.conf 112
Files with the .old extension are now ignored by network scripts 113
Bridge devices no longer fail to obtain an IP address 113
The rhel-dmesg service can now be disabled correctly 113

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .31.
. . .KERNEL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
............
kdump can now capture a vmcore with nokaslr set 114
MPOL_PREFERRED policy now works with Transparent Huge Pages (THP) with optimal performance 114
A cgroups deadlock has been fixed 114
System no longer becomes unresponsive when DM thin provisioning is used on top of a loop device 114
KASLR now no longer causes mirroring of kernel memory to non-mirrored regions 114
Users now receive message with prompt to remove white space characters in the /etc/kdump.conf 114
An application with large .bss segment on IBM POWER Systems will no longer cause random segmentation faults
114
Kernel no longer consumes excessive amounts of resources to calculate load 114
Cpuset is now able to restore the effective CPU mask after a pair of offline and online events 115

8
Table of Contents

Access to /proc/[pid]/maps is now significantly faster 115


fadump no longer fails to restart 115
makedumpfile can now map page table entries correctly 115
Asymmetric groups are used for overlapping scheduling domains 115
The KASLR no longer causes kernel to become unresponsive while booting the system 115
Unplugging a Wacom tablet with ExpressKeys no longer causes the operating system to reboot 116
Setting memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes no longer causes a problem when removing that memory cgroup later 116
The sha1-avx2 encryption algorithm is now re-enabled 116
VXLAN rebased to version 4.14 116

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .32.
. . .NETWORKING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
............
Network operation persists when ip6mr unregisters an already unregistered device 117
Sending big files through VTI no longer fails 117
L2TP with IPv6 encapsulation now works in name space 117
Flushing ARP entries no longer fails 117
Using cls_matchall with classful queue disciplines no longer causes the kernel to crash 117
ICMP error packets are no longer lost when a user connects to a closed SCTP port 117
SCTP now selects the right source address 117
Device reference held by iptables CLUSTERIP target is now properly released on namespace deletion 118
The nftables configuration files are no longer publicly readable 118
The Ready to read events are now correctly sent to an application when SENDER_DRY_EVENTS is enabled
118
SCTP statistics now available 118
The firewalld service daemon no longer hangs in the rmmod process 118

. . . . . . . . . .33.
CHAPTER . . .SECURITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
............
When firewalld starts, net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_max is no longer reset to default if its configuration exists 119
Tomcat can now be started using tomcat-jsvc with SELinux in enforcing mode 119
SELinux now allows vdsm to communicate with lldpad 119
OpenSSH servers without Privilege Separation no longer crash 119
The clevis luks bind command no longer fails with the DISA STIG-compliant password policy 119
WinSCP 5.10 now works properly with OpenSSH 119
SFTP no longer allows to create zero-length files in read-only mode 119

. . . . . . . . . .34.
CHAPTER . . .SERVERS
. . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . SERVICES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
............
Internal buffer locks no longer cause deadlocks in libdb 120
Weekly log rotations are now triggered more predictably 120
ghostscript no longer crashes while processing large PDF files 120
Converting large PDF files to PNG with ghostscript no longer fails 120
krfb no longer crashes when unable to bind to an IPv6 port 120
mod_nss properly detects the threading model in Apache to improve performance 120
atd no longer runs with 100% CPU utilization nor fills system log 120
ReaR now provides a more helpful error message when grub2-efi-x64-modules is missing 120
ReaR no longer fails to determine disk size during a mkrescue operation 121
ReaR no longer requires dosfsck and efibootmgr on non-UEFI systems 121
ReaR no longer fails with NetBackup and has more reliable network configuration 121
ReaR recovery no longer fails when backup integrity checking is enabled 121

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .35.
. . .STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
............
DM Multipath no longer crashes when adding a feature to an empty string 122
I/O operations no longer hang with RAID1 122

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .36.
. . .SYSTEM
. . . . . . . .AND
. . . . SUBSCRIPTION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . MANAGEMENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
............
Yum no longer crashes in certain nss and nspr update scenario 123

9
7.5 Release Notes

The fastestmirror plug-in now orders mirrors before the metadata download 123
The package-cleanup script no longer removes package dependencies of non-duplicates 123
rhnsd.pid is now writable only by the owner 123
rhn_check now correctly reports system reboots to Satellite 123
The rpm rhnlib -qi command now refers to the current upstream project website 123
Kernel installations using rhnsd complete successfully 123
rhn_check no longer modifies permissions on files in /var/cache/yum/ 123
subscription-manager reports an RPM package if its vendor contains non-UTF8 characters 124
subscription-manager now works with proxies that expect the Host header 124
subscription-manager assigns valid IPv4 addresses to network.ipv4_address even if initial DNS resolution fails
124
virt-who ensures that provided options fit the same virtualization type 124
virt-who configuration no longer resets on upgrade or reinstall 124
virt-who now reads the 'address' field provided by RHEVM to discover and report the correct host name 124

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .37.
. . .VIRTUALIZATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
............
Guests no longer shut down unexpectedly during reboot 125
Guests accessed using a serial console no longer become unresponsive 125
virt-v2v now warns about not converting PCI passthrough devices 125
When importing OVAs, virt-v2v now parses MAC addresses 125

. . . . . .III.
PART . . TECHNOLOGY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .PREVIEWS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
............

. . . . . . . . . .38.
CHAPTER . . .GENERAL
. . . . . . . . . UPDATES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
............
The systemd-importd VM and container image import and export service 127

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .39.
. . .AUTHENTICATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .INTEROPERABILITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
............
Use of AD and LDAP sudo providers 128
DNSSEC available as Technology Preview in IdM 128
Identity Management JSON-RPC API available as Technology Preview 128
The Custodia secrets service provider is now available 128
Containerized Identity Management server available as Technology Preview 129

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .40.
. . .CLUSTERING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
............
The pcs tool now manages bundle resources in Pacemaker 130
New fence-agents-heuristics-ping fence agent 130
Heuristics supported in corosync-qdevice as a Technology Preview 130

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .41.
. . .DESKTOP
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
............
Wayland available as a Technology Preview 131
Fractional Scaling available as a Technology Preview 131

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .42.
. . .FILE
. . . . SYSTEMS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
............
ext4 and XFS file systems now support DAX 132
pNFS block layout is now available 132
pNFS SCSI layout is now available for client and server 132
OverlayFS 132
Btrfs file system 133
New package: ima-evm-utils 133

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .43.
. . .HARDWARE
. . . . . . . . . . .ENABLEMENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
............
LSI Syncro CS HA-DAS adapters 134
tss2 enables TPM 2.0 for IBM Power LE 134
ibmvnic Device Driver 134

. . . . . . . . . .44.
CHAPTER . . .KERNEL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
............

10
Table of Contents

Heterogeneous memory management included as a Technology Preview 135


criu rebased to version 3.5 135
kexec as a Technology Preview 135
kexec fast reboot as a Technology Preview 135
Unprivileged access to name spaces can be enabled as a Technology Preview 135
SCSI-MQ as a Technology Preview in the qla2xxx driver 135
NVMe over Fibre Channel is now available as a Technology Preview 136
perf cqm has been replaced by resctrl 136

. . . . . . . . . .45.
CHAPTER . . .REAL-TIME
. . . . . . . . . . KERNEL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
............
The SCHED_DEADLINE scheduler class as Technology Preview 138

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .46.
. . .NETWORKING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
............
Cisco usNIC driver 139
Cisco VIC kernel driver 139
Trusted Network Connect 139
SR-IOV functionality in the qlcnic driver 139
The libnftnl and nftables packages 139
The flower classifier with off-loading support 139

. . . . . . . . . .47.
CHAPTER . . .RED
. . . .HAT
. . . . ENTERPRISE
. . . . . . . . . . . . LINUX
. . . . . . SYSTEM
. . . . . . . . ROLES
. . . . . . .POWERED
. . . . . . . . . .BY
. . .ANSIBLE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
............
Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles 140

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .48.
. . .SECURITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
............
USBGuard enables blocking USB devices while the screen is locked as a Technology Preview 141
pk12util can now import certificates signed with RSA-PSS 141
Support for certificates signed with RSA-PSS in certutil has been improved 141
NSS is now able to verify RSA-PSS signatures on certificates 141
SECCOMP can be now enabled in libreswan 141

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .49.
. . .STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
............
Multi-queue I/O scheduling for SCSI 143
Targetd plug-in from the libStorageMgmt API 143
Support for Data Integrity Field/Data Integrity Extension (DIF/DIX) 143

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .50.
. . .VIRTUALIZATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
............
USB 3.0 support for KVM guests 144
Select Intel network adapters now support SR-IOV as a guest on Hyper-V 144
No-IOMMU mode for VFIO drivers 144
virt-v2v can now use vmx configuration files to convert VMware guests 144
virt-v2v can convert Debian and Ubuntu guests 144
Virtio devices can now use vIOMMU 144
virt-v2v converts VMWare guests faster and more reliably 144
Open Virtual Machine Firmware 145

. . . . . .IV.
PART . . .DEVICE
. . . . . . .DRIVERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
............

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .51.
. . .NEW
. . . . DRIVERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
............
Storage Drivers 147
Network Drivers 147
Graphics Drivers and Miscellaneous Drivers 147

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .52.
. . .UPDATED
. . . . . . . . .DRIVERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
............
Storage Driver Updates 148
Network Driver Updates 148
Graphics Driver and Miscellaneous Driver Updates 149

11
7.5 Release Notes

. . . . . .V.
PART . . DEPRECATED
. . . . . . . . . . . . . FUNCTIONALITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
............

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .53.
. . .DEPRECATED
. . . . . . . . . . . . .FUNCTIONALITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IN
. .RED
. . . . HAT
. . . . .ENTERPRISE
. . . . . . . . . . . .LINUX
. . . . . .7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
............
Python 2 has been deprecated 151
LVM libraries and LVM Python bindings have been deprecated 151
Mirrored mirror log has been deprecated in LVM 151
Deprecated packages related to Identity Management and security 151
Support for earlier IdM servers and for IdM replicas at domain level 0 will be limited 152
Bug-fix only support for the nss-pam-ldapd and NIS packages in the next major release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 153
Use the Go Toolset instead of golang 153
mesa-private-llvm will be replaced with llvm-private 153
libdbi and libdbi-drivers have been deprecated 153
Ansible deprecated in the Extras channel 153
signtool has been deprecated 154
TLS compression support has been removed from nss 154
Public web CAs are no longer trusted for code signing by default 154
Sendmail has been deprecated 154
dmraid has been deprecated 154
Automatic loading of DCCP modules through socket layer is now disabled by default 154
rsyslog-libdbi has been deprecated 155
The inputname option of the rsyslog imudp module has been deprecated 155
SMBv1 is no longer installed with Microsoft Windows 10 and 2016 (updates 1709 and later) 155
FedFS has been deprecated 155
Btrfs has been deprecated 155
tcp_wrappers deprecated 155
nautilus-open-terminal replaced with gnome-terminal-nautilus 155
sslwrap() removed from Python 156
Symbols from libraries linked as dependencies no longer resolved by ld 156
Windows guest virtual machine support limited 156
libnetlink is deprecated 156
S3 and S4 power management states for KVM have been deprecated 156
The Certificate Server plug-in udnPwdDirAuth is discontinued 156
Red Hat Access plug-in for IdM is discontinued 156
The Ipsilon identity provider service for federated single sign-on 156
Several rsyslog options deprecated 157
Deprecated symbols from the memkind library 157
Options of Sockets API Extensions for SCTP (RFC 6458) deprecated 157
Managing NetApp ONTAP using SSLv2 and SSLv3 is no longer supported by libstorageMgmt 158
dconf-dbus-1 has been deprecated and dconf-editor is now delivered separately 158
FreeRADIUS no longer accepts Auth-Type := System 158
Deprecated Device Drivers 158
Deprecated Adapters 161
The libcxgb3 library and the cxgb3 firmware package have been deprecated 166
SFN4XXX adapters have been deprecated 166
Software-initiated-only FCoE storage technologies have been deprecated 166
Containers using the libvirt-lxc tooling have been deprecated 166

. . . . . .VI.
PART . . .KNOWN
. . . . . . . ISSUES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
............

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .54.
. . .AUTHENTICATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .INTEROPERABILITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
............
A crash is reported after an unsuccessful lightweight CA key retrieval 168
OpenLDAP causes programs to fail immediately in case of incorrect configuration 168
OpenLDAP reports failures when CACertFile or CACertDir point to an invalid location 168

12
Table of Contents

OpenLDAP does not update TLS configuration after inconsistent changes in cn=config 168
Identity Management terminates connections unexpectedly 168
Directory Server can terminate unexpectedly during shutdown 168

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .55.
. . .CLUSTERING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
............
Data corruption occurs on RAID 10 reshape on top of VDO with el7 kernel. 170

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .56.
. . .COMPILER
. . . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . TOOLS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
............
Memory consumption of applications using libcurl grows with each TLS connection 171
OProfile and perf can not sample events on 2nd generation Intel Xeon Phi processors when NMI watchdog is
disabled 171

. . . . . . . . . .57.
CHAPTER . . .DESKTOP
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172
............
Cannot install downloaded RPM files from Nautilus 172
Caps Lock LED status 172
Inconsistent GNOME Shell versions 172
Uninstall the 32-bit version of flatpak 172
GNOME downgrade does not work 172
Wayland ignores keyboard grabs issued by X11 applications, such as virtual machines viewers 172
Superuser should not run graphical sessions 173
Keyboard not working in VM browsed by remote-viewer and virt-viewer 173
gnome-system-log does not work on Wayland 173
GUI screen is shown incorrectly 173
xrandr fails to provide some video modes 173
radeon fails to reset hardware correctly 173
nouveau fails to load Nvidia secboot firmware 174
Xchat status icon disappears from Top Icons panel 174
GDM does not activate hotplugged monitors 174
Wacom Expresskeys Remote not detected as tablet 174
Synaptics dependency removes xorg-x11-drivers 174
T470s docking station jack does not work on resume 174
Screen occasionally turns off when xrandr is executed 175
HDMI and DP for 8th generation Intel Core processors not enumerating sound inputs 175
Tray icons are non-responsive for auto-started applications 175
Inconsistent panel color on login screen 175
Additional displays are mirrored after attaching a VM guest 175

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .58.
. . .INSTALLATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . AND
. . . . .BOOTING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
............
Selecting the Lithuanian language causes the installer to crash 176
oscap-anaconda-addon fails to remediate when installing in TUI using Kickstart 176
The grub2-mkimage command fails on UEFI systems by default 176
Kernel panic during RHEL 7.5 installation on HPE BL920s Gen9 systems 176
The READONLY=yes option is not sufficient to configure a read-only system 176

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .59.
. . .KERNEL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
............
Security patches addressing Spectre and Meltdown issues can cause performance loss 178
The KSC does not support the xz compression 178
The update of megaraid_sas can lead to a performance decrease 178
qedi fails to bind to the iSCSI PCIe function if qede is loaded 178
radeon causes a kernel panic 179
Kdump kernel fails to boot after a CPU hot add or hot remove operation 179

. . . . . . . . . .60.
CHAPTER . . .NETWORKING
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
............
Verification of signatures using the MD5 hash algorithm is disabled in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 180

13
7.5 Release Notes

. . . . . . . . . .61.
CHAPTER . . .SECURITY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
............
NSS accept malformed RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signatures made with an RSA-PSS key 181
Authentication using ssh-agent not from OpenSSH fails 181
Parsing of OpenSSH public keys is more strict 181
SCAP Workbench fails to generate results-based remediations from tailored profiles 181
Clevis can log spurious Device is not initialized error messages 181
Libreswan is not working properly with seccomp=enabled on all configurations 181
OpenSCAP RPM verification rules do not work correctly with VM and container file systems 181
Firefox and other applications using NSS become unresponsive when a smart card is inserted 182

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .62.
. . .SERVERS
. . . . . . . . .AND
. . . . SERVICES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
............
No clear indication of profile activation error in the Tuned service 183
db_hotbackup -c should be used with caution 183
Setting ListenStream= options in rpcbind.socket causes systemd-logind to fail and SSH connections to be delayed
183
ReaR recovery process fails on non-UEFI systems with the grub2-efi-x64 package installed 183
ISO images generated by ReaR with Linux TSM fail to work 183
Unexpected problems with the dbus rebase 183

. . . . . . . . . .63.
CHAPTER . . .STORAGE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
............
The kexec -e command might cause storage errors with advanced storage controllers 184
LVM does not support event-based autoactivation of incomplete volume groups 184

.CHAPTER
. . . . . . . . .64.
. . .VIRTUALIZATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
............
Guests reporting cmt, mbmt, or mbml perf events fail to boot 185

. . . . . . . . . . A.
APPENDIX . . .COMPONENT
. . . . . . . . . . . .VERSIONS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
............

. . . . . . . . . . B.
APPENDIX . . .LIST
. . . .OF
. . .BUGZILLAS
. . . . . . . . . . .BY
. . .COMPONENT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187
............

. . . . . . . . . . C.
APPENDIX . . .REVISION
. . . . . . . . .HISTORY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
............

14
PREFACE

PREFACE
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) minor releases are an aggregation of individual security,
enhancement, and bug fix errata. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Release Notes document describes
the major changes made to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 operating system and its accompanying
applications for this minor release, as well as known problems and a complete list of all currently
available Technology Previews.

Capabilities and limits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as compared to other versions of the system are
available in the Red Hat Knowledgebase article available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-limits.

Packages distributed with this release are listed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Package Manifest.
Migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is documented in the Migration Planning Guide.

For information regarding the Red Hat Enterprise Linux life cycle, refer to
https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.

15
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW
Security and Compliance

Security improvements and usability enhancements for cloud and remotely hosted systems that
can more securely unlock Network Bound Disk Encrypted devices at boot-time. This eliminates
the need for manual intervention during the often inconveniently-timed boot process.

The integration of Red Hat Ansible Automation with OpenSCAP, which enhances the ease of
automating the remediation of compliance issues and enables administrators to more efficiently
deploy policies across their environment.

Compliance improvements for accurate timestamping and synchronization needs with the
addition of failover with bonding interfaces for Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and Network Time
Protocol (NTP).

See Chapter 14, Security and Chapter 7, Compiler and Tools for more information.

Performance and Efficiency

The introduction of Virtual Data Optimizer (VDO), designed to reduce data redundancy through
inline deduplication and compression of primary storage. The incorporated data reduction
technology helps to increase storage efficiency and reduce the cost of storage.

Distributed File System (DFS) supported in Server Message Block (SMB) protocol versions 2
and 3. This enables a Windows system administrator to combine multiple SMB file systems into
a single virtual file system.

For details, see Chapter 16, Storage and Chapter 9, File Systems.

Platform Manageability

Enhanced usability of the Cockpit administrator console, which is designed to simplify the
interface for managing storage, networking, containers, services, and more for individual
systems.

A new utility, boom, which provides a command-line tool and an API for improved management
of boot loader entries for LVM snapshots and images.

For details, see Chapter 17, System and Subscription Management and Chapter 16, Storage.

Identity Management and Access Control

Windows Server 2016 forest and domain functional levels are now supported for a cross-forest
trust with Identity Management.

The handling of replication conflict entries in Directory Server has been enhanced.

The OpenLDAP suite is now compiled with the OpenSSL library instead of the Mozilla
implementation of Network Security Services (Mozilla NSS).

The samba packages have been upgraded to upstream version 4.7.1. Notably, the Samba suite
in Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now using the SMB protocol version 3 by default.

Multiple enhancements for the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) have been
introduced.

16
CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW

The performance and stability of the Active Directory integration solutions provided by
Identity Management have been enhanced.

For details, see Chapter 5, Authentication and Interoperability.

Support for Architectures in the New Kernel Version


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 is distributed with the kernel-alt packages, which include kernel version
4.14. This kernel version provides support for the following architectures:

64-bit ARM

IBM POWER9 (little endian)

IBM z Systems

For details, see Chapter 2, Architectures.

Virtualization

KVM virtualization is now supported on IBM POWER8 systems. In addition, this update
introduces support for KVM virtualization on the IBM POWER9 (little-endian) and IBM z
Systems architectures. However, these require the use of kernel version 4.14, provided by the
kernel-alt packages.

For details, see Chapter 18, Virtualization and Chapter 2, Architectures.

Red Hat Insights


Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, the Red Hat Insights service is available. Red Hat Insights is a
proactive service designed to enable you to identify, examine, and resolve known technical issues before
they affect your deployment. Insights leverages the combined knowledge of Red Hat Support Engineers,
documented solutions, and resolved issues to deliver relevant, actionable information to system
administrators.

The service is hosted and delivered through the Customer Portal or through Red Hat Satellite. To
register your systems, follow the Getting Started Guide for Insights.

Red Hat Customer Portal Labs


Red Hat Customer Portal Labs is a set of tools in a section of the Customer Portal available at
https://access.redhat.com/labs/. The applications in Red Hat Customer Portal Labs can help you
improve performance, quickly troubleshoot issues, identify security problems, and quickly deploy and
configure complex applications. Some of the most popular applications are:

Spectre And Meltdown Detector

Registration Assistant

Red Hat Code Browser

Kickstart Generator

Red Hat Product Certificates

Load Balancer Configuration Tool

Red Hat Network (RHN) System List Exporter

Log Reaper

17
7.5 Release Notes

Product Life Cycle Checker

JVM Options Configuration Tool

18
CHAPTER 2. ARCHITECTURES

CHAPTER 2. ARCHITECTURES
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 is available as a single kit on the following architectures: [1]

64-bit AMD

64-bit Intel

IBM POWER7+ and POWER8 (big endian) [2]

IBM POWER8 (little endian) [3]

IBM z Systems [4]

Support for Architectures in the kernel-alt Packages


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 is distributed with the kernel-alt packages, which include kernel version
4.14. This kernel version provides support for the following architectures:

64-bit ARM

IBM POWER9 (little endian) [5]

IBM z Systems

The following table provides an overview of architectures supported by the two kernel versions available
in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5:

Table 2.1. Architectures Supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5

Architecture Kernel version 3.10 Kernel version 4.14

64-bit AMD and Intel yes no

64-bit ARM no yes

IBM POWER7 (big endian) yes no

IBM POWER8 (big endian) yes no

IBM POWER8 (little endian) yes no

IBM POWER9 (little endian) no yes

IBM z System yes [a] yes (Structure A)

[a] The 3.10 kernel version does not support KVM virtualization and containers on IBM z Systems. Both of these features
are supported on the 4.14 kernel on IBM z Systems - this offerring is also referred to as Structure A.

For more information, see Chapter 19, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for ARM and Chapter 20, Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 for IBM Power LE (POWER9).

19
7.5 Release Notes

[1] Note that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 installation is supported only on 64-bit hardware. Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 is able to run 32-bit operating systems, including previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise
Linux, as virtual machines.

[2] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER8 (big endian) are currently supported as KVM guests on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER8 systems that run the KVM hypervisor.

[3] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER8 (little endian) is currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER8 systems that run the KVM hypervisor. In addition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
POWER8 (little endian) guests are supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER9 systems that run the KVM
hypervisor in POWER8-compatibility mode on version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt package.

[4] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for z Systems (both the 3.10 kernel version and the 4.14 kernel version) is
currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for z Systems hosts that run the KVM on
version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt package.

[5] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER9 (little endian) is currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 POWER9 systems that run the KVM hypervisor on version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt
package.

20
CHAPTER 3. IMPORTANT CHANGES TO EXTERNAL KERNEL PARAMETERS

CHAPTER 3. IMPORTANT CHANGES TO EXTERNAL KERNEL


PARAMETERS
This chapter provides system administrators with a summary of significant changes in the kernel
shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5. These changes include added or updated proc entries,
sysctl, and sysfs default values, boot parameters, kernel configuration options, or any noticeable
behavior changes.

KERNEL PARAMETERS
amd_iommu_intr = [HW,X86-64]
Specifies one of the following AMD IOMMU interrupt remapping modes.

legacy - Use legacy interrupt remapping mode.

vapic - Use virtual APIC mode, which allows IOMMU to inject interrupts directly into guest. This mode
requires kvm-amd.avic=1, which is default when IOMMU HW support is present.

debug_pagealloc = [KNL]
When CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC is set, this parameter enables the feature at boot time. It is
disabled by default. To avoid allocating huge chunk of memory for debug pagealloc do not enable
it at boot time, and the operating system will work similarly as with the kernel built without
CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC.

Use debug_pagealloc = on to enable the feature.

ftrace_graph_max_depth = uint[FTRACE]
This parameter is used with the function graph tracer. It defines the maximum depth it will trace into a
function. Its value can be changed at run time by the max_graph_depth file file in the tracefs
tracing directory.

The default values is 0, which means that no limit is set.

init_pkru = [x86]
Specifies the default memory protection keys rights register contents for all processes.

The default value is 0x55555554, which disallows access to all but pkey 0. You can override the
value in the debugfs file system after boot.

nopku = [x86]
Disables the Memory Protection Keys CPU feature found in some Intel CPUs.

mem_encrypt = [X86-64]
Provides AMD Secure Memory Encryption (SME) control. The valid arguments are: on, off.

The default setting depends on kernel configuration option:

on : CONFIG_AMD_MEM_ENCRYPT_ACTIVE_BY_DEFAULT=y

off : CONFIG_AMD_MEM_ENCRYPT_ACTIVE_BY_DEFAULT=n

mem_encrypt=on: Activate SME

21
7.5 Release Notes

mem_encrypt=off: Do not activate SME

KERNEL PARAMETERS TO MITIGATE SPECTRE AND MELTDOWN


ISSUES
kpti = [X86-64]
Enables kernel page table isolation.

nopti = [X86-64]
Disables kernel page table isolation.

nospectre_v2 = [X86]
Disables all mitigations for the Spectre variant 2 (indirect branch speculation) vulnerability. The
operating system may allow data leaks with this option, which is equivalent to spectre_v2=off.

spectre_v2 = [X86]
Controls mitigation of Spectre variant 2 (indirect branch speculation) vulnerability.

The valid arguments are: on, off, auto.

on: unconditionally enable

off: unconditionally disable

auto: kernel detects whether your CPU model is vulnerable

Selecting on will, and auto may, choose a mitigation method at run time according to the CPU, the
available microcode, the setting of the CONFIG_RETPOLINE configuration option, and the compiler
with which the kernel was built.

You can also select specific mitigations manually:

retpoline: replaces indirect branches

ibrs: Intel: Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (kernel)

ibrs_always: Intel: Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (kernel and user space)

Not specifying this option is equivalent to spectre_v2=auto.

UPDATED /PROC/SYS/NET/CORE ENTRIES


dev_weight_rx_bias
The RPS processing, for example RFS and aRFS, is competing with the registered NAPI poll function
of the driver for the per softirq cycle netdev_budget.

This parameter influences the proportion of the configured netdev_budget that is spent on RPS
based packet processing during RX softirq cycles. It also makes current dev_weight adaptable for
asymmetric CPU needs on receiving on transmitting side of the network stack.

This parameter is effective on a per CPU basis. Determination is based on dev_weight, and it is
calculated in multiplicative way (dev_weight * dev_weight_rx_bias). The default value is 1.

22
CHAPTER 3. IMPORTANT CHANGES TO EXTERNAL KERNEL PARAMETERS

dev_weight_tx_bias
This parameter scales the maximum number of packets that can be processed during a TX softirq
cycle.

It is effective on a per CPU basis, and allows scaling of current dev_weight for asymmetric net
stack processing needs. Make sure to avoid making TX softirq processing a CPU hog.

Determination is based on dev_weight, and it is calculated in multiplicative way (dev_weight *


dev_weight_rx_bias). The default value is 1.

23
7.5 Release Notes

PART I. NEW FEATURES


This part documents new features and major enhancements introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

24
CHAPTER 4. GENERAL UPDATES

CHAPTER 4. GENERAL UPDATES


In-place upgrade from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
An in-place upgrade offers a way of upgrading a system to a new major release of Red Hat Enterprise
Linux by replacing the existing operating system. To perform an in-place upgrade, use the Preupgrade
Assistant, a utility that checks the system for upgrade issues before running the actual upgrade, and
that also provides additional scripts for the Red Hat Upgrade Tool. When you have solved all the
problems reported by the Preupgrade Assistant, use the Red Hat Upgrade Tool to upgrade the
system.

For details regarding procedures and supported scenarios, see


https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Migration_Planning_Guide/chap-Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-
Migration_Planning_Guide-Upgrading.html and https://access.redhat.com/solutions/637583.

Note that the Preupgrade Assistant and the Red Hat Upgrade Tool are available in the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6 Extras channel, see https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/extras.
(BZ#1432080)

The setup package now provides a way to override unpredictable environment


settings
The setup package now provides and sources the sh.local and csh.local files for overrides of
environment variables from the /etc/profile.d directory, which is sourced last. Previously, an
undefined order could result in unpredictable environment settings, especially when multiple scripts
changed the same environment variable. (BZ#1344007)

25
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 5. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY


Windows Server 2016 forest and domain functional levels now supported for trust
When using Identity Management, you can now establish a supported forest trust to Active Directory
forests that run at the Windows Server 2016 forest and domain functional levels. (BZ#1484683)

Directory Server no longer displays replication conflict entries in search results


Previously, if replication conflict entries existed in a replication topology, Directory Server returned them
by default as part of the search result. As a consequence, certain LDAP clients behaved incorrectly if the
server returned such entries. With this update, the server no longer returns conflict entries in a search
and you have to explicitly request them. As a result, clients work as expected.

In addition, the update improves the resolution of more complex conflict scenarios.

For further details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-


us/red_hat_directory_server/10/html/administration_guide/managing_replication-
solving_common_replication_conflicts. (BZ#1274430)

OpenLDAP is now compiled with OpenSSL instead of NSS


Previously, the OpenLDAP suite used the Mozilla implementation of Network Security Services (Mozilla
NSS). With this update, OpenLDAP uses the OpenSSL library. Existing certificates in the NSS database
(DB) are automatically extracted to the PEM format and passed to OpenSSL.

Note that NSS DBs continue to be supported. However, OpenSSL-like configuration, such as PEM files,
is preferred over NSS-like configuration, such as NSS DB. (BZ#1400578)

Samba rebased to version 4.7.1


The samba packages have been upgraded to upstream version 4.7.1, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

Previously, the default value of the rpc server dynamic port range parameter was
1024-1300. With this update, the default has been changed to 49152-65535 and now
matches the range used in Windows Server 2008 and later. Update your firewall rules if
necessary.

Samba now uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) instruction set of Intel CPUs to
accelerate Server Message Block (SMB) 3 signing and encryption operations.

The options of the ntlm auth parameter have been extended. The parameter now accepts the
ntlmv2-only (alias no), ntlmv1-permitted (alias yes), mschapv2-and-ntlmv2-only,
and disabled options. Additionally, the default value was renamed from no to ntlmv2-only.

The smbclient utility no longer displays a banner with the domain, operating system, and
server version when connecting to a server.

The default value of the client max protocol parameter has been changed to SMB3_11.
This enables utilities, such as smbclient, to connect to servers using the SMB 3.11 protocol
without setting the protocol version.

For a better interoperability, Samba no longer supports using mixed minor versions in a CTDB
cluster.

Samba automatically updates its tdb database files when the smbd, nmbd, or winbind daemon starts.
Back up the database files before starting Samba. Note that Red Hat does not support downgrading tdb
database files.

26
CHAPTER 5. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY

For further information about notable changes, read the upstream release notes before updating:

https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.7.0.html (BZ#1470048)

The SSSD LDAP provider can now automatically create user private groups for
users
When using the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) LDAP provider, a user group must be
assigned to each user. Previously, the administrator had to create a group for each user manually. With
this update, SSSD automatically generates a user private group from the user entry and ensures that the
UID and GID match. To activate this feature, enable the auto_private_groups option in the LDAP
provider section in the /etc/sssd/sssd.conf file. (BZ#1327705)

SSSD enrolled to an AD domain remembers the discovered AD site after the first
successful connection
Previously, the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) sent an LDAP ping to any Active Directory
(AD) domain controller (DC) in order to determine a client's AD site. If the contacted DC was
unreachable, a timeout occurred, which delayed the connection for several seconds. With this update,
SSSD remembers the client's site after the first successful discovery. All subsequent LDAP pings are
performed on the DC from the client's site, which helps speed up the request. (BZ#1400614)

SSSD logs changes in its status to syslog


Previously, the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) logged information about changing its online
or offline status to the SSSD logs only. With this update, the changes in SSSD status are logged also to
the syslog service, which improves the availability of the information to system administrators.
(BZ#1416150)

SSSD performance has improved


This update provides several performance-related enhancements for the System Security Services
Daemon (SSSD). Most notably:

Several missing indexes have been added in the SSSD cache, which makes lookups of cached
objects faster.

Changes to how users and groups are saved prevent the SSSD cache performance degradation
that occurred after the cache was populated with a large number of cached objects.

As a result, SSSD reads user and group objects, especially large groups, faster. Also, the SSSD cache
performance can now remain stable even when the cache size and the number of cache objects
increase. (BZ#1472255, BZ#1482555)

The pwdhash utility can now retrieve the storage scheme from the configuration
directory
Previously, if you passed the path to the configuration directory to the pwdhash, the utility used the
default storage scheme of Directory Server to encrypt the password. With this update, the pwdhash
utility uses the storage scheme set in the nsslapd-rootpwstoragescheme attribute in the
cn=config entry, if you run pwdhash as a user with read permissions on the /etc/dirsrv/slapd-
instance_name/dse.ldif file. As a result, you no longer have to specify the storage scheme in the
mentioned scenario if it differs from the Directory Server's default. (BZ#1467777)

New utility to compare two Directory Server instances


This update adds the ds-replcheck utility to Directory Server. This utility compares the data of two
servers in online mode, or two LDIF-formatted files in offline mode. As a result, you can now verify the
replication consistency of two Directory Servers.

27
7.5 Release Notes

For further details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-


us/red_hat_directory_server/10/html/administration_guide/comparing_two_directory_server_databases.
(BZ#1406351)

Directory Server now supports enabling the memberOf plug-in on read-only replicas
If you previously enabled the memberOf plug-in on a read-only Directory Server replica server, the plug-
in failed to update member entries. To use the plug-in in a replication topology, you could only enable it
on write-enabled servers, and replicate the memberOf attribute to read-only replicas. With this update,
you can now alternatively enable the plug-in on all servers. As a result, you can use the plug-in on read-
only servers the same as on write-enabled server.

For further details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-


us/red_hat_directory_server/10/html/administration_guide/advanced_entry_management#considerations_when_usin
in. (BZ#1352121)

Directory Server rebased to version 1.3.7.5


The 389-ds-base packages have been upgraded to upstream version 1.3.7.5, which provides a number
of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. For a complete list of notable changes, read
the upstream release notes before updating:

http://directory.fedoraproject.org/docs/389ds/releases/release-1-3-7-2.html

http://directory.fedoraproject.org/docs/389ds/releases/release-1-3-7-3.html

http://directory.fedoraproject.org/docs/389ds/releases/release-1-3-7-4.html

http://directory.fedoraproject.org/docs/389ds/releases/release-1-3-7-5.html (BZ#1470169)

Directory Server supports additional password storage schemes


For compatibility reasons, this update adds support for the following weak password storage schemes to
Directory Server:

CRYPT-MD5

CRYPT-SHA256

CRYPT-SHA512

For security reasons, use these weak storage schemes only temporary for existing installations and
consider migrating to a strong password storage schema. (BZ#1479012)

Directory Server now uses separate normalized DN caches for each worker thread
Previously, multiple worker threads used a single normalized Distinguished Name (DN) cache.
Consequently, if multiple clients performed operations on Directory Server, performance decreased. With
this update, Directory Server now creates separate normalized DN caches for each worker thread. As a
result, performance no longer decreases in the mentioned scenario. (BZ#1458536)

pki-core rebased to version 10.5.1


The pki-core packages have been upgraded to upstream version 10.5.1, which provides a number of
bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, this update addresses the requirements
for the Common Criteria Protection Profile for Certification Authorities Version 2.1. (BZ#1473452)

Certificate System supports installing CA, KRA, and OCSP subsystems with CMC
This enhancement provides a mechanism to install CA, KRA, or OCSP subsystems with Certificate
Management over CMS (CMC). The installation will be done in two steps. The first step of the installation
will generate the Certificate Signing Requests (CSR) for the system certificates. The CSRs can be used

28
CHAPTER 5. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY

to issue the system certificates using CMC. The second step of the installation will use these system
certificates and complete the subsystem installation. (BZ#1464549)

Certificate System supports creating instances running as a different user


Previously, Certificate System only used the systemd unit file from the /usr/lib/systemd/system/ directory
to start the service. Consequently, it was not possible to create a server running as a different user or
group as pkiuser. The pkispawn utility has been updated. If the configuration file passed to pkispawn
contains a different user or group, the utility now creates an override file with the customized values in
the /etc/systemd/system/pki-tomcatd@<instance_name>.service.d/user.conf file. As a result, running
Certificate System user a different user or group as the default is possible. (BZ#1523410)

Certificate System can now create PKCS #12 files using PBES2 with PBKDF2 key
derivation
This update enhances Certificate System and adds support for AES encryption of private keys
recovered from the Key Recovery Authority (KRA), when token-based key recovery is disabled.
Specifically, when AES encryption is enabled, exported PKCS #12 files containing the recovered key
uses the PKCS #5 version 2.0 Password-Based Cryptography Specification version 2 (PBES2) with
Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2) key derivation and AES 128 encryption. Using
PBES2 with PBKDF2 makes the files created by Certificate System more secure. (BZ#1446786)

Certificate System CAs can now process CMC renewal requests signed by a
previously issued signing certificate
This update enables the Certificate Authority (CA) to process Certificate Management over CMS (CMC)
renewal requests signed by a previously issued signing certificate. The implementation uses the
caFullCMCUserSignedCert with the UniqueKeyConstraint enhanced profile constraint, which
has also been updated to disallow renewal of a key shared by a revoked certificate. Additionally, it
preserves the origNotAfter attribute of the most recent certificate that shares the same key in the
request, which allows the attribute to be used by the RenewGracePeriodConstraint. If there is an
existing origNotAfter attribute, it is not overwritten in this process in order to not interfere with the
existing renewal by serial flow. Additionally, the caFullCMCUserSignedCert.cfg profile has
been updated to contain both the UniqueKeyConstraint and the RenewGracePeriodConstraint,
which must be placed in the correct order. Note that by default, the allowSameKeyRenewal parameter
is set to true in the UniqueKeyConstraint. (BZ#1419761)

Certificate System now uses the Mozilla NSS secure random number generator
With this update, Certificate System uses a secure random number generator provided by the Mozilla
Network Security Services (NSS). This enables Red Hat Certificate System to synchronize its
Deterministic Random Bit Generator (DRBG) with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as required by the Federal
Information Processing Standard (FIPS) standard. (BZ#1452347)

Audit event changes in Certificate System


To provide more concise audit logs in Certificate System, the list of audit events enabled by default has
been updated. Additionally, certain events have been merged or renamed.

For a full list of audit events in Red Hat Certificate System, including information in which subsystems
they are enabled by default, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
us/red_hat_certificate_system/9/html/administration_guide/audit_events. (BZ#1445532)

krb5 now includes the kdcpolicy interface


This update introduces the Kerberos key distribution center (KDC) policy interface, known as
kdcpolicy, to the krb5 package. Using kdcpolicy, administrators can provide a plug-in to krb5, which
enables them to control ticket lifetimes and gives them more fine-grained control on service ticket
issuance.

29
7.5 Release Notes

For details, see the MIT Kerberos Documentation: https://web.mit.edu/kerberos/krb5-


1.16/doc/plugindev/kdcpolicy.html. (BZ#1462982)

Certificate System now supports configurable hashing algorithms for the SKI
extension
Previously, Certificate System only supported the SHA1 hashing algorithm when generating the Subject
Key Identifier (SKI) certificate extension. With this update, administrators can now configure the hashing
algorithm for the SKI extension in certificate profiles.

The following algorithms are now available:

SHA1

SHA256

SHA384

SHA512

Note that the default algorithm is still SHA1. Therefore, existing profiles will not automatically be updated.
(BZ#1024558)

The pki command-line interface automatically creates a default NSS database


The pki command-line interface requires a Network Security Services (NSS) database and its password
to run operations over SSL connections, including basic authentication using a user name and password.
Previously, pki displayed an error if the database did not exist or the database password was not
specified. The command-line interface has been updated to automatically create a default NSS database
without a password in the ~/.dogtag/nssdb/ directory. As a result, operations over SSL can be
executed without specifying an NSS database or password. (BZ#1400645)

Certificate System disables weak 3DES ciphers by default


By default, Certificate System now disables ciphers based on the weak Triple Data Encryption Standard
(3DES). This increases the security of the system. However, administrators are able to enable these
ciphers again, if needed. For details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
us/red_hat_certificate_system/9/html/administration_guide/configuring-ciphers.

As a result, new Certificate System installations have only strong ciphers enabled by default.
(BZ#1469169)

The Certificate System CA subsystem's OCSP provider now includes the


nextUpdate field in responses
If the Certificate Authority (CA) is configured to use the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) cache, the CA
subsystem's Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder now includes the nextUpdate field in
OCSP responses. As a result, in such scenarios, clients which conform to the Lightweight OCSP Profile
(RFC 5019) are now able to process OCSP responses. (BZ#1523443)

ding-libs rebased to version 0.6.1


The ding-libs packages have been upgraded to version 0.6.1. The most notable change is that ding-libs
can now work with much bigger values, because the hard-coded limit to number of characters in values
has been removed and the only limitation now is the amount of memory available. (BZ#1480270)

30
CHAPTER 6. CLUSTERING

CHAPTER 6. CLUSTERING
New SNMP agent to query a Pacemaker cluster
The new pcs_snmp_agent agent allows you to query a Pacemaker cluster for data by means of
SNMP. This agent provides basic information about a cluster, its nodes, and its resources. For
information on configuring this agent, see the pcs_snmp_agent(8) man page and the High Availability
Add-On Reference. (BZ#1367808)

Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability clusters on Amazon Web
Services
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 supports High Availability clusters of virtual machines (VMs) on Amazon
Web Services (AWS). For information on configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability Cluster
on AWS, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/3354781. (BZ#1451776)

Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability clusters on Microsoft Azure
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 supports High Availability clusters of virtual machines (VMs) in Microsoft
Azure. For information on configuring a Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability cluster on Microsoft
Azure, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/3252491. (BZ#1476009)

Unfencing is done in resource cleanup only if relevant parameters changed


Previously, in a cluster that included a fence device that supports unfencing, such as fence_scsi or
fence_mpath, a general resource cleanup or a cleanup of any stonith resource would always result in
unfencing, including a restart of all resources. Now, unfencing is only done if the parameters to the
device that supports unfencing changed. (BZ#1427648)

The pcsd port is now configurable


The port on which pcsd is listening can now be changed in the pcsd configuration file, and pcs can now
communicate with pcsd using a custom port. This feature is primarily for the use of pcsd inside
containers. (BZ#1415197)

Fencing and resource agents are now supported by AWS Python libraries and a
CLI client
With this enhancement, Amazon Web Services Python libraries (python-boto3, python-botocore, and
python-s3transfer) and a CLI client (awscli) have been added to support fencing and resource agents in
high availability setups. (BZ#1512020)

Fencing in HA setups is now supported by Azure Python libraries


With this enhancement, Azure Python libraries (python-isodate, python-jwt, python-adal, python-msrest,
python-msrestazure, and python-azure-sdk) have been added to support fencing in high availability
setups. (BZ#1512021)

New features added to the sbd binary.


The sbd binary used as a command line tool now provides the following additional features:

Easy verification of the functionality of a watchdog device

Ability to query a list of available watchdog devices

For information on the sbd command line tool, see the sbd(8) man page. (BZ#1462002)

sbd rebased to version 1.3.1


The sbd package has been rebased to upstream version 1.3.1. This version brings the following
changes:

31
7.5 Release Notes

Adds commands to test and query watchdog devices

Overhauls the command-line options and configuration file

Properly handles off actions instead of reboot (BZ#1499864)

Cluster status now shows by default when a resource action is pending


Pacemaker supports a record-pending option that previously defaulted to false, meaning that
cluster status would only show the current status of a resource (started or stopped). Now, record-
pending defaults to true, meaning that cluster status may also show when a resource is in the process
of starting or stopping. (BZ#1461976)

clufter rebased to version 0.77.0


The clufter packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.77.0, which provides a number of bug
fixes, new features, and user experience enhancements over the previous version. Among the notable
updates are the following:

When using clufter to translate an existing configuration with the pcs2pcscmd-needle


command in the case where the corosync.conf equivalent omits the cluster_name option
(which is not the case with standard `pcs`-initiated configurations), the contained pcs cluster
setup invocation no longer causes cluster misconfiguration with the name of the first given node
interpreted as the required cluster name specification. The same invocation will now include the
--encryption 0|1 switch when available, in order to reflect the original configuration
accurately.

In any script-like output sequence such as that produced with the ccs2pcscmd and
pcs2pcscmd families of clufter commands, the intended shell interpreter is now emitted in a
valid form, so that the respective commented line can be honored by the operating system.
(BZ#1381531)

The clufter tool now also covers some additional recently added means of configuration as
facilitated with pcs (heuristics for a quorum device, meta attributes for top-level bundle
resource units) when producing the sequence of configuring pcs commands to reflect existing
configurations when applicable.

For information on the capabilities of clufter, see the clufter(1) man page or the output of the
clufter -h command. For examples of clufter usage, see the following Red Hat Knowledgebase
article: https://access.redhat.com/articles/2810031. (BZ#1509381)

Support for Sybase ASE failover


The Red Hat High Availability Add-On now provides support for Sybase ASE failover through the
ocf:heartbeat:sybaseASE resource. To display the parameters you can configure for this resource,
run the pcs resource describe ocf:heartbeat:sybaseASE command. For more information on
this agent, see the ocf_heartbeat_sybaseASE(7) man page. (BZ#1436189)

32
CHAPTER 7. COMPILER AND TOOLS

CHAPTER 7. COMPILER AND TOOLS


The linuxptp package now supports active-backup bonding for clock
synchronization
With this update, you can now specify a bond interface in the active-backup mode to be used by the
ptp4l application. As a result, ptp4l uses the clock of the active interface from the bond as the
Precision Time Protocol (PTP) clock and can switch to another interface of the bond in case of a
failover. Additionally, the phc2sys utility in the automatic mode (the -a option) can synchronize the
system clock to the PTP clock of the active interface when operating as a PTP slave and the PTP clock to
the system clock when operating as a PTP master. (BZ#1002657)

parted can now resize partitions using the resizepart command


The ability to resize disk partitions using the resizepart NUMBER END command is now backported to
the parted disk partitioning utility distributed with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. See the parted(8) man
page for information.

Note that this command only resizes partitions, not file systems residing on them. Use file system utilities
such as resize2fs to grow or shrink file systems. (BZ#1423357)

binutils rebased to version 2.27


The binutils package has been rebased to upstream version 2.27. This version brings the following
changes:

Support for compressed debug sections

Improved handling of orphan sections during linking

Support for the LLVM plugin

Ability to insert new symbols into an object file with the objcopy utility

Support for the IBM POWER9 architecture

Support for the ARMv8.1 and ARMv8.2 instruction set extensions

Additionally, this update fixes the following bugs:

Previously, the binutils package did not contain the standards.info documentation file that
describes the GNU Coding Standard. This file has been added and is available through the info
command again.

Previously, the ld linker on the IBM Power Systems architecture stored intermediate data in the
first object file specified by the linker command line. As a consequence, the linker terminated
unexpectedly with a segmentation fault if that file was not used in the output and was discarded.
The linker has been modified to directly store the data in the output file and skip the intermediate
storage in the input file. As a result, linking no longer fails with a segmentation fault in the
described situation. (BZ#1385959, BZ#1356856, BZ#1467390, BZ#1513014)

pcp rebased to version 3.12.2


The Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) application has been rebased to version 3.12.2, which includes many
enhancements and bug fixes.

Collector systems updates:

33
7.5 Release Notes

The following Performance Metric Domain Agents (PMDAs) have been updated: perfevent,
containers and CGroups, MySQL slave metrics, Linux per-process metrics, and Linux kernel
metrics for entropy, slabinfo, IPv6 sockets, and NFSD worker threads.

New PMDAs are now available: Prometheus endpoint and HAProxy.

Device Mapper statistics now expose an API.

Monitor systems updates:

The derived metrics language has been extended for all monitors.

The pmchart charting utility includes fixes for timezone and display bugs.

The pmlogconf configuration utility automatically enables the hotproc metric logging and
adds atop metrics. Performance is now more optimized.

The pcp-atop monitoring utility recognizes the new --hotproc option. Several bugs have
been fixed.

The pcp-pidstat and pcp-mpstat monitoring utilities recognize several new output options.

The pmrep reporting utility now supports Comma-separated Values (CSV) output compatible
with the sadf tool. New utilities for exporting PCP metrics to various formats have also been
added: pcp2zabbix, pcp2xml, pcp2json, and pcp2elasticsearch. (BZ#1472153)

Improved DWARF 5 support in various tools


Support for the DWARF debugging format version 5 has been extended in the following tools:

The eu-readelf tool from the elfutils package now recognizes all DWARF 5 tags and
attributes.

The readelf and objdump tools from the binutils package now recognize the DWARF 5 tag
DW_AT_exported_symbols and correctly report its presence in debug information sections.
(BZ#1472955, BZ#1472969)

systemtap rebased to version 3.2


The SystemTap utility has been updated to upstream version 3.2. Notable enhancements include:

Support for extraction of matched regular expression has been added.

Probe aliases for accepting input from the standard input have been added.

Translator diagnostics have been improved.

Support for the new statx system call has been added.

A new string function strpos() for detecting substring position has been added to the stap
language.

Additionally, this update fixes the following bugs:

Previously, the statistics extractor functions @min() and @max() returned incorrect values. As a
consequence, scripts relying on these functions did not work properly. The @min() and @max()
functions have been fixed to return the correct maximum and minimum values. As a result, the
affected scripts now work as expected.

34
CHAPTER 7. COMPILER AND TOOLS

Previously, some kernel tracepoints were inconsistently listed with the stap -L command,
even when they could not be probed. SystemTap has been fixed so that the listed and probe-
able tracepoint sets match again.

The netdev.receive probe has been fixed and can collect data again.

The example script nettop.stp affected by the broken netdev.receive probe again works
as expected.

Note that the kernel version in Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not support extended Berkeley Packet
Filter (eBPF), and consequently the related upstream SystemTap features are not available.
(BZ#1473722, BZ#1490862, BZ#1506230, BZ#1485228, BZ#1518462)

valgrind rebased to version 3.13.0


The valgrind package has been upgraded to version 3.13.0, which provides a number of bug fixes and
enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes are:

Valgrind has been extended in several ways to run large programs. The amount of memory
usable by Valgrind has been increased to 128 GB. As a consequence, the Memcheck tool
supports running applications that allocate up to approximately 60 GB. Additionally, Valgrind
can now load executable files up to 1200 MB in size.

The tools Memcheck, Helgrind, and Massif can now use a new execution tree (xtree)
representation to report heap consumption of the analyzed applications.

The symbol demangler has been updated to support the C++11 standard and the Rust
programming language.

Failures with long blocks of code using AVX2 instructions on the Intel and AMD 64-bit
architecture have been fixed.

The 64-bit timebase register of the PowerPC architecture is no longer modeled by Valgrind
as only 32-bit.

Support for the IBM Power Systems architecture has been extended to include the ISA 3.0B
specification.

An alternative implementation of Load-Linked and Store-Conditional instructions for the 64-bit


ARM architecture has been added. The alternative implementation is enabled automatically
when required. To enable it manually, use the --sim-hints=fallback-llsc option.
(BZ#1473725, BZ#1508148)

ncat rebased to version 7.50


The ncat utility, which is provided by the nmap-ncat package, has been rebased to upstream version
7.50. This provides a number of bug fixes and new features over the previous version. Notable changes
include:

Support for SOCKS5 authentication has been added.

The -z option for quickly checking the status of a port has been added.

The --no-shutdown option now also works in connect mode, not only in listen mode.
(BZ#1460249)

rsync rebased to version 3.1.2

35
7.5 Release Notes

The rsync packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.1.2, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version.

This update introduces the following output changes:

The default output format of numbers has been changed to 3-digit groups, for example,
1,234,567.

The output of the --progress option has been changed; the following strings have been
shortened: xfer to xfr, and to-check to to-chk.

Notable enhancements in this version include:

I/O handling has been improved, which results in faster data transfers.

New --info and --debug options have been added for more fine-grained output.

The ability to synchronize nano-second modified times has been added.

New options, --usermap, --groupmap, and --chown, have been added for manipulating file
ownership during the copy operation.

A new --preallocate option has been added. (BZ#1432899)

tcpdump can now analyze virtio traffic


The tcpdump utility now supports the virtio-vsock communication device. This makes it possible for
tcpdump to filter and analyze virtio communication between a hypervisor and a guest virtual machine.
(BZ#1464390)

Vim now supports C++11 syntax highlighting


Syntax highlighting for C++ in the Vim text editor has been enhanced to support the C++11 standard.
(BZ#1267826)

Vim now supports the blowfish2 encryption method


Support for the blowfish2 encryption method has been added to the Vim text editor. This method
provides stronger encryption than blowfish. To set the blowfish2 encryption method, use the
:setlocal cm=blowfish2 command. Note that files encrypted with blowfish2 are compatible
between Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. (BZ#1319760)

The IO::Socket::SSL Perl module now uses the system-wide CA certificate store
by default
Previously, if a TLS application based on the IO::Socket::SSL Perl module did not provide an explicit
path to a certificate authority (CA) certificate, no authority was known, and the peer's identity could not be
verified. With this update, the module uses the system-wide CA certificate store by default. However, it is
possible to disable any certificate store by passing the undef value to the SSL_ca_file option of the
IO::Socket::SSL->new() constructor. (BZ#1402588)

perl-DateTime-TimeZone rebased to version 1.70


The perl-DateTime-TimeZone package has been upgraded to upstream version 1.70, which provides a
number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably:

With this update, it is possible to install Bugzilla version 5, which requires a more recent version
of perl-DateTime-TimeZone than the system provided previously.

36
CHAPTER 7. COMPILER AND TOOLS

The Olson time zone database has been updated to version 2017b. Previously, applications
written in the Perl language that use the DateTime::TimeZone module mishandled time
zones that changed their specifications since version 2013h due to the outdated database.

Using a local time zone from a tainted time zone identifier has been fixed. (BZ#1241818,
BZ#1101251)

system-config-kdump now support selecting of either automated or manual


kdump memory settings when fadump is performed
This update adds fadump memory reservation support into the system-config-kdump packages. As a
result, users can now select either Automated kdump memory settings or Manual settings
when Firmware assisted dump is selected. (BZ#1384943)

conman rebased to version 0.2.8


The conman packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.2.8, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

Scalability has been improved.

Coverity Scan and Clang warnings have been fixed to improve stability.

Arbitrary limit on the number of Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Serial Over
LAN (SOL) consoles has been fixed.

The default value of the loopback setting has been changed to ON in the conman.conf file.
(BZ#1435840)

Support for the TFTP windowsize option has been implemented


With this update, support for the windowsize option according to RFC 7440 has been implemented in
the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server and client. When the windowsize option is used, data
blocks are sent in batches, which significantly improves throughput. (BZ#1328827)

curl now supports disabling GSSAPI with SOCKS5


New --socks5-basic and --socks5-gssapi options for the curl utility and a corresponding option
CURLOPT_SOCKS5_AUTH for the libcurl library have been introduced to control the authentication
methods for SOCKS5 proxies. (BZ#1409208)

The rsync utility now copies files with their original nanosecond part of the time
stamp
Previously, the rsync utility ignored the nanosecond part of the time stamp of files. As a consequence,
the nanosecond time stamp of newly created files was always zero. With this update, the rsync utility
recognizes the nanosecond part. As a result, the newly copied files keep their original nanosecond time
stamp on systems that support it. (BZ#1393543)

tcpdump rebased to version 4.9.2


The tcpdump package has been upgraded to upstream version 4.9.2, which provides a number of bug
fixes (for almost 100 CVEs) and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

A segmentation fault with OpenSSL 1.1 has been fixed and OpenSSL usage has been
improved.

The buffer overflow vulnerabilities have been fixed.

The infinite loop vulnerabilities have been fixed.

37
7.5 Release Notes

Many buffer over-read vulnerabilities have been fixed. (BZ#1490842)

OProfile support for Intel Xeon processor family extended


OProfile has been extended to support the Intel Xeon Phi™ Processor x200 and x205 Product
Families. (BZ#1465354)

Support for Intel Xeon v4 uncore performance events in libpfm , pcp, and papi
This update adds support for Intel Xeon v4 uncore performance events to the libpfm performance
monitoring library, the pcp tool, and the papi interface. (BZ#1474999)

Memory copying performance improved on IBM POWER architectures


Previously, the memcpy() function from the GNU C Library ( glibc ) used unaligned vector load and
store instructions on 64-bit IBM POWER systems. Consequently, when memcpy() was used to access
device memory on POWER9 systems, performance would suffer. The memcpy() function has been
enhanced to use aligned memory access instructions, to provide better performance for applications
regardless of the memory involved on POWER9, without affecting the performance on previous
generations of the POWER architecture. (BZ#1498925)

TAI clock macro available


Previously, the kernel provided the CLOCK_TAI clock, but the CLOCK_TAI macro to access it was
missing in the glibc header file time.h. The macro definition has been added to the header file. As a
result, applications can now access the CLOCK_TAI kernel clock. (BZ#1448822)

Support for selective use of 4 KiB page tables on IBM z Systems


This update adds the option --s390-pgste to the ld linker from the binutils package to mark
applications for the IBM z Systems architecture that require 4 KiB memory page tables on the lowest
level. As a result, use of this feature can be restricted only to applications that need it, allowing optimal
use of space by all applications on the system. Note that the qemu backend no longer forces 4 KiB
lowest level page tables on all running applications. Make sure to specify the new option if your
applications require them. (BZ#1485398)

More efficient glibc functions on IBM z Systems


Support for additional instructions of the IBM z Systems architecture has been added to the glibc
library. As a result, programs compiled for this architecture can benefit from the increased performance
of the glibc functions. (BZ#1375235)

The ld linker no longer incorrectly combines position-dependent and independent


code
Previously, the ld linker combined object files on the IBM z Systems platform without considering
whether they have been built for Position Independent Executable (PIE). Because PIE and non-PIE code
cannot be combined, it was possible to create executable files that could not run. The linker has been
extended to detect mixing of PIE and non-PIE code and produce an error message in this case. As a
result, broken executable files can no longer be created this way. (BZ#1406430)

python-virtualenv rebased to 15.1.0


The python-virtualenv package has been upgraded to version 15.1.0, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. With this update, the following bundled packages
have been upgraded: setuptools to version 28.0.0 and pip to version 9.0.1. (BZ#1461154)

python-urllib3 supports IP addresses in subjectAltName


The python-urllib3 package, a Python HTTP module with connection pooling and file POST abilities, now
supports IP addresses in the subjectAltName (SAN) fields. (BZ#1434114)

Support for retpolines added to GCC

38
CHAPTER 7. COMPILER AND TOOLS

This update adds support for retpolines to GCC. Retpolines are a technique used by the kernel to
reduce overhead of mitigating Spectre Variant 2 attacks described in CVE-2017-5715. (BZ#1535655)

Shenandoah garbage collector is now fully supported


The low pause time Shenandoah garbage collector for OpenJDK, previously available as a Technology
Preview, is now fully supported on the Intel 64, AMD64, and 64-bit ARM architectures. Shenandoah
performs concurrent evacuation which allows users to run with large heaps without long pause times.
For more information, see https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/shenandoah/Main. (BZ#1578075)

39
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 8. DESKTOP
GNOME Shell rebased to version 3.26
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, GNOME Shell has been rebased to upstream version 3.26. Notable
enhancements include:

System search now provides results with an updated layout which makes them easier to read
and shows more items at once. Additionally, it is now possible to search for system actions.

The Settings application has a new layout.

Various ways to insert emoji have been introduced for GNOME 3.26. This includes the
Characters application and Polari, the GNOME IRC client.

Display settings of GNOME have been redesigned.

GNOME 3.26 no longer shows status icons in the bottom left part of the screen. GNOME
Classic, which is the default session, now contains the TopIcons extension by default to
provide the status tray functionality. Users of other session types than GNOME Clasic can install
the TopIcons extension manually.

For the full list of changes, see https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.26/ (BZ#1481381)

gnome-settings-daemon rebased to version 3.26


gnome-settings-daemon has been rebased to enable the Wayland display server protocol, more
specifically, fractional monitor scaling. Instead of a single gnome-settings-daemon process, the user can
now notice a collection of processes named gsd-* running in their sessions. (BZ#1481410)

libreoffice rebased to version 5.3


The LibreOffice office suite, has been upgraded to version 5.3, which includes a number of
enhancements over the previous version:

LibreOffice introduces a new LibreOffice UI, called MUFFIN (My User Friendly & Flexible
INterface).

The ​LibreOffice Writer contains a new Go to Page dialog to navigate in the text area.

The ​LibreOffice Writer also introduces new table styles feature.

A new Arrows toolbox has been added to LibreOffice.

In Calc, number formatting and default cell styles have been improved.

A new Template Selector was added to LibreOffice Impress

LibreOffice Base can no longer read Firebird 2.5 data. Embedded .odb files created in previous
versions of LibreOffice are not compatible with this version.

For the full list of changes, see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.3 (BZ#1474303)

GIMP rebased to version 2.8.22


GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) version 2.8.22 includes the following significant bug fixes and
enhancements:

Core:

40
CHAPTER 8. DESKTOP

Saving to existing .xcf.bz and .xcf.gz files now truncates the files and no longer creates large
files

Text layer created by gimp-text-fontname respects border when resized

GUI:

Drawing performance in single window mode, especially with pixmap themes, has been
improved

On Paint Dynamics editor dialog, the y axis is now indicates Rate instead Flow

Pulsing progress bar in splash screen indicates unknown durations

Gamut warning color for LC-MS display filter has been fixed

Unbolding of bold font on edit has been fixed

Accidental renaming of wrong adjacent item is now eliminated

Plug-ins:

When importing PSD files, creating a wrong layer group structure is now eliminated

Large images or large resolution no longer cause a crash in the PDF plug-in

Parsing invalid PCX files is now stopped early and a subsequent segmentation fault is thus
eliminated

The Escape key can no longer close the Python console

Filter Edge Detect/Difference of Gaussians returns empty image

When printing, the images are composed onto a white background to prevent printing a black
box instead of a transparent image

Color vision deficiency display filters have been fixed to apply gamma correction directly

Script-Fu regex match now returns proper character indexes for Unicode characters

Script-Fu modulo for large numbers has been fixed

Updated Translations include: Basque, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese (PRC), Czech, Danish,
Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Kazakh, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Slovak,
Slovenian, Scottish Gaelic and Spanish. (BZ#1210840)

Inkscape rebased to version 0.92.2


The rebased Inkscape, vector graphics software, provides a number of enhancements over the
previous version, including the following:

Mesh Gradients are now supported.

Many SVG2 and CSS3 properties are now supported, for example, paint-order, mix-blend-
mode. However, not all are available from the GUI.

All objects are listed in the new Object dialog box from where you can select, label, hide, and
lock any object.

41
7.5 Release Notes

Selection sets make it possible to group objects together regardless of the document structure.

Guides can now be locked to avoid accidental movement.

Several new path effects have been added, among them Envelope/Perspective, Lattice
Deformation, Mirror, and Rotate Copies.

Several extensions have been added including a seamless pattern extension. In addition, many
extensions have been updated or been given new features.

A colorblindness simulation filter was added.

The spray tool and measure tool have received several new features.

The Pencil tool can create interactive smoothing for lines.

BSplines are available for the Pen tool.

Checkerboard background can be used to more easily see object transparencies. (BZ#1480184)

webkitgtk4 rebased to version 2.16


The webkitgtk4 package has been upgraded to version 2.16, which provides a number of enhancements
over the previous version. Notable enhancements include:

To reduce memory consumption, hardware acceleration is now enabled on demand.

webkitgtk4 contains a new WebKitSetting plug-in to set the hardware acceleration policy.

CSS Grid Layout is enabled by default.

Private browsing has been improved by adding a new API to create ephemeral web views.

A new API has been provided to handle website data.

Two new debugging tools are now available: memory sampler and resource usage overlay.

GTK+ font settings are now honored.

Theme rendering performance is improved when using GTK+ version 3.20 and higher.
(BZ#1476707)

qt5 rebased to version 5.9.2


The qt5 packages have been upgraded to upstream version 5.9.2, which provides a number of bug fixes
and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, qt5 now contains:

improved performance and stability

long term support

improved C++11 support - note that Qt 5.9 now requires C++11 compliant compiler

Qt Quick Controls 2 - a new module with support for embedded devices (BZ#1479097)

New package: qgnomeplatform


The QGnomePlatform Theme module is now included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In GNOME Desktop
Environment, it makes applications created with Qt 5 honor the current visual settings. (BZ#1479351)

42
CHAPTER 8. DESKTOP

ModemManager rebased to version 1.6.8


The ModemManager package has been upgraded to upstream version 1.6.8 to support newer modem
hardware. This provides a number enhancements over the previous version. Notably, the version of the
libqmi library has been upgraded to 1.18.0 and the libmbim library to 1.14.2. In addition, the
usb_modeswitch tool has been upgraded to 2.5.1 and the usb-modeswitch-data package to 20170806.
(BZ#1483051)

New packages: libsmbios


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 now includes the libsmbios packages to support flash Trusted Platform
Module (TPM) and Synaptics Micro Systems Technology (MST) hubs. Libsmbios is a library and utilities
that can be used by client programs to get information from standard BIOS tables, such as the SMBIOS
table. (BZ#1463329)

mutter rebased to version 3.26


The mutter package has been upgraded to version 3.26, which provides a number of bug fixes and
enhancements over the previous version.

The most significant bug fixes include:

Unexpected termination when respawning shortcut inhibitor dialog

Unexpected termination during monitor configuration migration

Multihead regressions in X11 session

Screen rotation regressions

Unexpected termination when reconnecting tablet device

The list of notable enhancements includes:

Support for running headless

Support for snap packages for sandboxed app IDs

Support for _NET_RESTACK_WINDOW and ConfigureRequest siblings

mutter now exports _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS

mutter now allows resizing of tiled windows

Key bindings have been resolved with non-latin layouts

Support for export tiling information to clients

Monitor layout is now remembered across sessions (BZ#1481386)

The SANE_USB_WORKAROUND environmental variable can make older scanners usable


with USB3
Previously, Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE) was unable to communicate with certain older types of
scanners when they were plugged into a USB3 port. This update introduces the
SANE_USB_WORKAROUND environmental variable, which can be set to 1 to eliminate this problem.
(BZ#1458903)

The libyami package added for better video stream handling

43
7.5 Release Notes

With this update, the libyami package has been added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 to improve video
stream handling. In particular, the video stream is parsed and decoded with the help of hardware
acceleration. (BZ#1456906)

netpbm rebased to version 10.79.00


The netpbm packages have been upgraded to version 10.79.00, which provides a large number of bug
fixes and enhancements to multiple programs included in these packages. For detailed change log, see
the /usr/share/doc/netpbm/HISTORY file. (BZ#1381122)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 supports libva


Libva is an implementation for the Video Acceleration API (VA-API).

VA-API is an open-source library and API specification that provides access to graphics hardware
acceleration capabilities for video processing. It consists of a main library and driver-specific acceleration
back ends for each supported hardware vendor. (BZ#1456903)

GStreamer now supports mp3


An MPEG-2 Audio layer III decoder, more commonly known as mp3, has been added to GStreamer.
The mp3 support is available through the mpeg123 library and the corresponding GStreamer plug-in.

The user can download the mp3 plug-in using GNOME Software or using the codec installer in various
GStreamer applications. (BZ#1481753)

GNOME control-center rebased to version 3.26


In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, control-center has been rebased to upstream version 3.26. Notable
enhancements include:

Night Light is a new feature that changes the color of your displays according to the time of
day. The screen color follows the sunrise and sunset times for a given location, or can be set to
a custom schedule. Night Light works with both X11 and Wayland display server protocols.

This update introduces a new layout to the Settings application. The grid of icons has been
replaced by a sidebar, which allows switching between different areas. In addition, the
Settings window is bigger and can be resized.

GNOME’s Network settings have been improved. Wi-Fi now has its own dedicated settings
area and Network settings dialogs have been updated.

GNOME’s Display settings have been redesigned. The new design brings relevant settings to
the forefront. With multiple displays connected, there is a row of buttons, which allows choosing
the preferred use. The new Display settings include a preview version of a new scaling setting.
This allows the size of what is shown on the screen to be adjusted to match the density (often
expressed as PPI or DPI) of your display. Note that Wayland is recommended over X11, as per-
display configuration is not supported on the latter.

The user interface of three other areas of the Settings application has been redesigned:
Online Accounts, Printers, and Users. (BZ#1481407)

New package: emacs-php-mode


This update adds the new emacs-php-mode package to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. emacs-php-mode
provides PHP mode for the Emacs text editor thus enabling better PHP editing. (BZ#1266953)

Dutch keyboard layout provided


The installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux in Dutch now provides an additional keyboard map that
mimics the US International map used in the Windows OS. The new latn1-pre.mim keymap file

44
CHAPTER 8. DESKTOP

enables the user to utilize single keymap, diacritics, and thus type both in the English and Dutch
language with ease. (BZ#1058510)

45
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 9. FILE SYSTEMS


SMB 2 and SMB 3 now support DFS
Distributed File System (DFS), which was previously supported only with the Server Message Block
(SMB) protocol version 1, is now also supported in SMB 2 and SMB 3.

With this update, you can now mount DFS shares using the SMB 2 and SMB 3 protocols. (BZ#1481303)

File system DAX now performs better when mapping a large amount of memory
Prior to this enhancement, the Direct Access (DAX) feature mapped only 4KiB entries into application
address space. This had a negative performance impact on workloads that mapped large amounts of
memory, because it increased Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) pressure. With this update, the kernel
supports 2MiB Page Middle Directory (PMD) faults in persistent memory mappings. This significantly
reduces TLB pressure, and file system DAX now performs better when mapping a large amount of
memory. (BZ#1457572)

quotacheck is now faster on ext4


The quotacheck utility now directly scans ext4 file system metadata instead of analyzing each
individual file for occupied disk size. If the file system contains many files, quota initialization and quota
check are now significantly faster. (BZ#1393849)

The CephFS kernel client is fully supported with Red Hat Ceph Storage 3
The Ceph File System (CephFS) kernel module enables Red Hat Enterprise Linux nodes to mount Ceph
File Systems from Red Hat Ceph Storage clusters. The kernel client in Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a
more efficient alternative to the Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) client included with Red Hat Ceph
Storage. Note that the kernel client currently lacks support for CephFS quotas.

The CephFS kernel client was introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 as a Technology Preview, and
since the release of Red Hat Ceph Storage 3, CephFS is fully supported.

For more information, see the Ceph File System Guide for Red Hat Ceph Storage 3:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_ceph_storage/3/html/ceph_file_system_guide/.
(BZ#1626526)

46
CHAPTER 10. HARDWARE ENABLEMENT

CHAPTER 10. HARDWARE ENABLEMENT


Broadcom 5880 smart card readers with the updated firmware are now supported
This update includes the USB ID entries for the updated firmware version of the Broadcom 5880 smart
card readers and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now able to properly recognize and use these readers.

Note that users with the Broadcom 5880 smart card readers using older firmware versions should update
the firmware. See the Support section at www.dell.com for more information about the updating process.
(BZ#1435668)

fwupd now supports Synaptics MST hubs


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 adds a plug-in for Synaptics MST hubs to the fwupd utility. This plug-in
enables you to flash firmware and query firmware information for this device. (BZ#1420913)

kernel-rt sources updated


The kernel-rt sources have been upgraded to be based on the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel
source tree, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version.
(BZ#1462329)

Improved RT throttling mechanism


The current real-time throttling mechanism prevents the starvation of non-real-time tasks by CPU
intensive real-time tasks. When a real-time run queue is throttled, it allows non-real-time tasks to run or
if there are none, the CPU goes idle. To safely maximize CPU usage by decreasing the CPU idle time,
the RT_RUNTIME_GREED scheduler feature has been implemented. When enabled, this feature checks if
non-real-time tasks are starving before throttling the real-time task. As a result, the RT_RUNTIME_GREED
scheduler option guarantees some run time on all CPUs for the non-real-time tasks, while keeping the
real-time tasks running as much as possible. (BZ#1401061)

VMware Paravirtual RDMA Driver


This enhancement update adds VMware Paravirtual RDMA Driver to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This
feature allows VMware users to deploy and use Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based VMs with PVRDMA
devices. (BZ#1454965)

opal-prd rebased to version 5.9


The opal-prd daemon, which handles hardware-specific recovery processes, has been rebased to
version 5.9. This enhancement update includes the following important fixes and notable enhancements:

flush after logging to stdio in debug mode

fixes for memory leaks

fix for opal-prd command line options

fix for occ_reset call

API comment regarding nanosleep ranges

the pnor file is no longer passed while starting opal-prd

on FSP system host, pnor access interface is disabled

add support for runtime OCC load/start in ZZ

Users of opal-prd are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs and add
these enhancements. (BZ#1456536)

47
7.5 Release Notes

libreswan now supports NIC offloading


This update of the libreswan packages introduces support for the network interface controller (NIC)
offloading. Libreswan now automatically detects the NIC hardware offload support, and the nic-
offload=auto|yes|no option has been added for manual setup of this feature. (BZ#1463062)

Trusted Computing Group TPM 2.0 System API library and management utilities
available
The following packages, which handle the Trusted Computing Group's Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
2.0 hardware and which were previously available as a Technology Preview, are now fully supported:

The tpm2-tss package adds the Intel implementation of the TPM 2.0 System API library. This
library enables programs to interact with TPM 2.0 devices.

The tpm2-tools package adds a set of utilities for management and utilization of TPM 2.0
devices from user space. (BZ#1463097, BZ#1463100)

new packages: tpm2-abrmd


This update adds the tpm2-abrmd packages to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. The tpm2-abrmd packages
provide a system service that implemens the Trusted Plaform Module (TPM) 2.0 Access Broker (TAB)
and Resource Manager (RM) specification from the Trusted Computing Group. (BZ#1492466)

48
CHAPTER 11. INSTALLATION AND BOOTING

CHAPTER 11. INSTALLATION AND BOOTING


Assigning mount points to existing block devices is now possible in Kickstart
installations
A new mount command is now available in Kickstart. This command assigns a mount point to a
particular block device with a file system, and it can also reformat it if you specify the --reformat
option.

The difference between mount and other storage-related commands like autopart, part, or logvol
is that with mount you do not need to describe the entire storage configuration in the Kickstart file, you
only need to make sure that the specified block devices exist on the system. However, if you want to
create the storage configuration instead of using an existing one, and mount the various devices, then
you must use the other storage configuration commands.

You can not use mount with the other storage configuration commands in the same Kickstart file.
(BZ#1450922)

The livemedia-creator utility now provides a sample Kickstart file for UEFI
systems
The example Kickstart files provided with the livemedia-creator packages have been updated to support
32 and 64-bit UEFI systems. The files are located in the /usr/share/lorax-version/ directory.

Note that livemedia-creator must be run on a UEFI system or virtual machine to build bootable
UEFI disk images. (BZ#1458937)

New option for the network Kickstart command binding the device configuration
file to the device MAC address
You can now use the new --bindto=mac option with the network Kickstart command to use the
HWADDR parameter (the MAC address) instead of the default DEVICE in the device's ifcfg file on the
installed system. This will bind the device configuration to the MAC instead of the device name.

Note that the new --bindto option is independent of the network --device Kickstart option. It will
be applied to the ifcfg file even if the device was specified in the Kickstart file using its name, link, or
bootif. (BZ#1328576)

New options for Kickstart %packages allow configuring Yum timeout and number of
retries
This update adds two new options for the %packages section in Kickstart files:

--timeout=X - sets the Yum timeout to X seconds. Defaults to 30.

--retries=Y - sets the number of Yum retries to Y. Defaults to 10.

Note that if you use multiple %packages sections during the installation, options set on the section which
appears last will be used for every section. If the last section has neither of these options set, every
%packages section in the Kickstart file will use the default values.

These new options may help when performing a large number parallel installations from a single
package source at once, when package download speed is limited by disk read or network speeds. The
new options only affect the system during installation and have no effect on Yum configuration on the
installed system. (BZ#1448459)

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 ISO image can be used to create guests virtual
machines on IBM z Systems

49
7.5 Release Notes

With this release, you can create a bootable Red Hat Enterprise Linux ISO file for KVM virtual machines
on the IBM z Systems architecture. As a result, Red Hat Enterprise Linux guest virtual machines on IBM
z Systems can boot from a boot.iso file. (BZ#1478448)

ARPUPDATE option for ifcfg-* files has been introduced


This update introduces the ARPUPDATE option for the ifcfg-* files with default value yes. Setting the
value to no allows administrators to disable updating neighboring computers with address resolution
protocol (ARP) information about current network interface controller (NIC). This is especially needed
when using Linux Virtual Server (LVS) Load Balancing with Direct routing enabled. (BZ#1478419)

The --noconfig option added for the rpm -V command


With this update, the --noconfig option has been added to the rpm -V command. This option
enables the command to list only the altered non-configuration files, which helps diagnose system
problems. (BZ#1406611)

ifcfg-* files now allow you to specify a third DNS server


ifcfg-* configuration files now support the DNS3 option. You can use this option to specify a third
Domain Name Server (DNS) address to be used in /etc/resolv.conf, instead of the previous
maximum of two DNS servers. (BZ#1357658)

Multi-threaded xz compression in rpm-build


This update adds multi-threaded xz compression for source and binary packages when setting the
%_source_payload or %_binary_payload macros to the wLTX.xzdio pattern. In it, L represents
the compression level, which is 6 by default, and X is the number of threads to be used (may be multiple
digits), for example w6T12.xzdio. To enable this feature, edit the /usr/lib/rpm/macros file or
declare the macro within the spec file or at the command line.

As a result, compressions take less time for highly parallel builds, which is beneficial especially for
continuous integration of large projects that are built on hardware with many cores. (BZ#1278924)

50
CHAPTER 12. KERNEL

CHAPTER 12. KERNEL


Memory Protection Keys are now supported in later Intel processors
Memory Protection Keys provide a mechanism for enforcing page-based protections, but without
requiring modifications of the page tables when an application changes protection domains. To
determine if your processor supports Memory Protection Keys, check for the pku flag in the
/proc/cpuinfo file. Further documentation including programming examples can be found in the
/usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-*/Documentation/x86/protection-keys.txt file, which is
provided by the kernel-doc package. (BZ#1272615)

EDAC support added for Pondicherry 2 memory controllers


Error Detection and Correction support has been added for Pondicherry 2 memory controllers used on
machines based on the Intel Atom C3000-series processors. (BZ#1273769)

MBA is now supported


Memory Bandwidth Allocation (MBA) is an extension of the existing Cache QoS Enforcement (CQE)
feature found in Broadwell servers. MBA is a feature of the Intel Resource Director Technology (RDT) that
provides control over memory bandwidth for applications. With this update, the MBA support is added.
(BZ#1379551)

Swap optimizations enable fast block devices to be used as secondary memory


Previously, the swap subsystem was not performance-critical because the performance of rotating disks,
especially in terms of latency, was orders of magnitude worse than the rest of the memory management
subsystem. With the advent of fast SSD devices, the overhead of the swap subsystem has become
significant. This update brings a series of performance optimizations that reduce this overhead.
(BZ#1400689)

HID Wacom rebased to version 4.12


The HID Wacom kernel module packages have been upgraded to upstream version 4.12, which provides
a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version:

The hid_wacom power supply code has been updated, fixing previously existing problems.

Support has been added for the Bluetooth-based Intuos 2 Pro pen tablet.

Bugs affecting the Intuos 2 Pro pen tablet and the Bamboo slate have been fixed. (BZ#1475409)

New livepatch functionality improves the latency and success rate of the kpatch-
patch packages
With this update, the kpatch kernel live patching infrastructure has been upgraded to use the new
upstream livepatch functionality for patching the kernel. This functionality improves the scheduling
latency and success rate of the kpatch-patch hotfix packages. (BZ#1430637)

Persistent Kernel Module Upgrade (PKMU) supported


The kmod packages provide various programs for automatic loading, unloading, and management of
kernel modules. Previously, kmod searched for the modules only in the /lib/modules/<kernel version>
directory. Consequently, users needed to perform additional actions, for example, run the
/usr/sbin/weak-modules script to install symlinks, to make the modules loadable. With this update, kmod
have been modified to search for the modules anywhere in the file system. As a result, users can now
install new modules to a separate directory, configure the kmod tools to look for modules there, and the
modules will be available automatically for the new kernel. Users can also specify several directories for
a kernel, or different directories for different kernels. The kernel version is specified with a regular
expression. (BZ#1361857)

51
7.5 Release Notes

The Linux kernel now supports encrypted SMB 3 connections


Prior to introducing this feature, the kernel only supported unencrypted connections when using the
Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. This update adds encryption support for SMB 3.0 and later
protocol versions. As a result, users can mount SMB shares using encryption, if the server provides or
requires this feature.

To mount a share using the encrypted SMB protocol, pass the seal mount option together with the
vers mount option set to 3.0 or later to the mount command. For further details and an example, see
the seal parameter description in https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/storage_administration_guide/mounting_an_smb_share#tab.frequently_used_mo
(BZ#1429710)

SME enabled on AMD Naples platforms


With this update, AMD Secure Memory Encryption (SME) is provided by systems based on AMD Naples
platforms. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) engine has the ability to encrypt and decrypt
dynamic random access memory (DRAM). SME, provided by the AES engine, is intended to protect
machines against hardware-probing attacks. To activate SME, boot the system with the kernel parameter
mem_encrypt=on. (BZ#1361287)

Support for the ie31200_edac driver


This enhancement adds support for the ie31200_edac driver to the consumer version of Skylake and
Kabi Lake CPU families. (BZ#1482253)

EDAC now supports GHES


This enhancement adds Error Detection and Correction (EDAC) support for using the Generic Hardware
Error Source (GHES) provided by BIOS. GHES is now used as a source for memory corrected and
uncorrected errors instead of a hardware specific driver. (BZ#1451916)

CUIR enhanced scope detection is now fully supported


Support for Control Unit Initiated Reconfiguration (CUIR) enables the Direct Access Storage Device
(DASD) device driver to automatically take paths to DASDs offline for concurrent services. If other paths
to the DASD are available, the DASD stays operational.

CUIR informs the DASD device driver when the paths are available again, and the device driver attempts
to vary them back online.

In addition to the support for Linux instances running in Logical Partitioning (LPAR) mode, support for
Linux instances on IBM z/VM systems has been added. (BZ#1494476)

kdump allows a vmcore collection without the root file system being mounted
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, kdump required the root file system to be mounted although this is not
always necessary for the collection of a vmcore image file. Consequently, kdump failed to collect a
vmcore file if the root device could not be mounted when the dump target was not on the root file
system, but, for example, on a usb or on the network. With this enhancement, if the root device is not
required for dump, it is not mounted, and a vmcore file can be collected. (BZ#1431974, BZ#1460652)

KASLR fully supported and enabled by default


Kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR), which was previously available as a Technology
Preview, is fully supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 on the AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.
KASLR is a kernel feature that contains two parts, kernel text KASLR and mm KASLR. These two parts
work together to enhance the security of the Linux kernel.

The physical address and virtual address of kernel text itself are randomized to a different position
separately. The physical address of the kernel can be anywhere under 64TB, while the virtual address of
the kernel is restricted between [0xffffffff80000000, 0xffffffffc0000000], the 1GB space.

52
CHAPTER 12. KERNEL

The starting address of three mm sections (the direct mapping, vmalloc, and vmemmap section) is
randomized in a specific area. Previously, starting addresses of these sections were fixed values.

KASLR can thus prevent inserting and redirecting the execution of the kernel to a malicious code if this
code relies on knowing where symbols of interest are located in the kernel address space.

KASLR code is now compiled in the Linux kernel, and it is enabled by default. If you want to disable it
explicitly, add the nokaslr kernel option to the kernel command line. (BZ#1491226)

Intel® Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) Host Software


Intel® Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) host software is fully supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.
Intel OPA provides Host Fabric Interface (HFI) hardware with initialization and setup for high
performance data transfers (high bandwidth, high message rate, low latency) between compute and I/O
nodes in a clustered environment.

For instructions on installing Intel® Omni-Path Architecture documentation, see


https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/network-and-i-o/fabric-
products/Intel_OP_Software_RHEL_7_5_RN_J98644.pdf. (BZ#1543995)

noreplace-paravirt has been removed from the kernel command line parameters
The noreplace-paravirt kernel command line parameter has been removed, because the
parameter is no longer compatible with the patches to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.
Booting AMD64 and Intel 64 systems with noreplace-paravirt in kernel command line will cause
repeated reboots of the operating system. (BZ#1538911)

The new EFI memmap implementation is now available on SGI UV2+ systems
Prior to this update, the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) stable runtime services mapping across
kexec reboot (memmap) implementation was not available on Silicon Graphics International (SGI) UV2
and later systems. This update adds support for EFI memmap. Additionally, this update also enables use
of Secure Boot with the kdump kernel. (BZ#1102454)

Mounting pNFS shares with flexible file layout is now fully supported
Flexible file layout on pNFS clients was first introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 as a Technology
Preview. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, it is now fully supported.

pNFS flexible file layout enables advanced features such as non-disruptive file mobility and client-side
mirroring, which provides enhanced usability in areas such as databases, big data, and virtualization.
See https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-nfsv4-flex-files/ for detailed information about pNFS flexible
file layout. (BZ#1349668)

53
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 13. NETWORKING


Error handling in the output of the dhcp-script has been improved
Previously, any error in the output of the dhcp-script was ignored. With this update the output of the
script is logged on the add, old, del, arp-add, arp-del, tftp actions. As a result, errors are
displayed while dnsmasq is running.

Note that the lease-init action happens only at a start of Dnsmasq. With this update, only a summary of
the output is logged and not the standard error output, which passes to the systemd service for logging.
(BZ#1188259)

Network namespace isolation has been added to ipset


Previously, ipset entries were visible and could be modified by any network namespace. This update
provides ipset with isolation per network namespace. As a result, ipset configuration is separated for
each namespace. (BZ#1226051)

NetworkManager now supports multiple routing tables to enable source routing


This update adds a new table attribute for IPv4 and IPv6 routes which can be configured manually by
the user. For each manual static route, a routing table can be selected. As a result, configuring the table
of a route has the effect of configuring the route in that table. Additionally, the default routing table of a
connection profile can be configured via the new ipv4.route-table and ipv6.route-table
settings for IPv4 and IPv6 respectively. These settings determine in which table the routes are placed,
except manual routes that explicitly overwrite this setting. (BZ#1436531)

nftables rebased to version 0.8


The nftables packages have been upgraded to version 0.8, which provides a number of bug fixes and
enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

New expressions: fib, numgen, quota, rt, notrack have been added.

Support hashing of any arbitrary key combination has been added.

Support to set non-byte bound packet header fields, including checksum adjustment has been
added.

Variable reference for set element definitions and variable definitions from element commands
can now be used.

Support to flush set has been added.

Support for logging flags has been added.

Support for tc classid parser has been added.

Endianness problems with link layer address have been solved.

Parser to keep map flag around on definition has been fixed.

The time datatype now uses milliseconds, as the kernel expects. (BZ#1472261)

Persistent DHCP client behavior added to NetworkManager


With this update, the ipv4.dhcp-timeout property can be set to either the maximum for a 32-bit
integer (MAXINT32) value or to the infinity value. As a result, NetworkManager never stops
trying to get or renew a lease from a DHCP server until it is successful. (BZ#1350830)

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CHAPTER 13. NETWORKING

NetworkManager exposes new properties to expose team options


Previously, NetworkManager applied team configuration to connections providing a JSON string to the
config property, which was the only property available in the team setting. This update adds new
properties in NetworkManager matching one to one the team configuration options. As a result, the
configuration may be provided either through a unique JSON string in the NetworkManager config
property or assigning values to the new team properties. Any configuration change applied in config is
reflected to the new team properties and vice versa. The correct configuration of team link-watchers and
team.runner is now enforced in NetworkManager. Wrong or unknown link-watcher and team.runner
configurations result in the full team connection being rejected.

Note that when changing the brand new runner property, all the properties related to specific runners
are reset to default. (BZ#1398925)

Packets mark is now reflected on replies


Previously, when receiving a connection request on a closed port, an error packet was sent back to the
client. When the incoming connection was marked with some firewall rules, the generated error
message did not have this mark because this functionality was not implemented in the kernel. With this
update, the generated error message has the same marking as the incoming packet that tried to initiate
the connection. (BZ#1469857)

New Socket timestamping options for NTP


This update adds the SOF_TIMESTAMPING_OPT_PKTINFO and SOF_TIMESTAMPING_OPT_TX_SWHW
socket timestamping options for hardware timestamping with bonding and other virtual interfaces in
Network Time Protocol (NTP) implementations, such as chrony. (BZ#1421164)

iproute2 rebased to version 4.11.0


The iproute2 package has been upgraded to upstream version 4.11.0, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements. Notably, the ip tool includes:

Support for JSON output to various commands has been added.

Support for more interface type attributes has been added.

Support for colored output has been added.

Support for the label, dev options and the rule objects in ip-monitor state.

Support for selectors in the ip-rule command has been added.

Additionally, notable improvements for the tc utility include:

Support for the bash-completion function for tc.

The vlan action in tc has been introduced.

The extended mode in the pedit action has been introduced.

Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) support in the csum action has been added.

For other tools:

Support for extended statistics in the lnstat tool has been added.

Support for SCTP in the nstat utility has been added. (BZ#1435647)

55
7.5 Release Notes

The tc-pedit action now supports offset relative to Layer 2 and Layer 4
The tc-pedit action allows modification of packet data. This update adds support for specifying the
offset options relative to the Layer 2, 3 and 4 headers to tc-pedit. This makes pedit header
handling more robust and flexible. As a result, editing Ethernet header is more convenient and accessing
the Layer 4 header works independently to the Layer 3 header size. (BZ#1468280)

Features backported to iproute


A number of enhancements have been backported to the iproute package. Notable changes include:

Pipeline debug support has been added to the devlink tool via the dpipe subcommand.

Hardware offload status is now available in the tc filter, indicated by the in_hw or not_in_hw
flags.

Support for IPv6 in the tc pedit action has been added.

Setting and retrieving eswitch encapsulation support has been added to the devlink tool.

Matching capabilities of the tc flower filter have been enhanced:

Support for matching on TCP flags.

Support for matching on the type-of-service (ToS) and the time-to-live (TTL) fields in the IP
header.

(BZ#1456539)

The Geneve driver rebased to version 4.12


The Geneve driver has been updated to version 4.12, which provides several bug fixes and
enhancements for Open vSwitch (OVS) or Open Virtual Network (OVN) deployments using Geneve
tunneling. (BZ#1467288)

A control switch added for VXLAN and GENEVE offloading


This update adds a new control switch to the ethtool utility to enable or disable offloading of the
VXLAN and GENEVE tunnels to network cards. This enhancement enables easier debugging of issues
with the VXLAN or GENEVE tunnels. In addition, you can resolve issues caused by offloading these types
of tunnels to network cards by using ethtool to disable the feature. (BZ#1308630)

unbound rebased to version 1.6.6


The unbound packages have been rebased to upstream version 1.6.6, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes are as follows:

DNS Query Name (QNAME) minimisation according to RFC 7816 has been implemented.

A new max-udp-size configuration option has been added; its default value is 4096.

A new DNS64 module and a new dns64-prefix option have been added.

New insecure_add and insecure_remove commands have been added to the unbound-
control utility for administration of negative trust anchors.

The unbound-control utility is now capable of bulk addition and removal of local zones and
local data. To perform these actions, use the local_zones, local_zones_remove,
local_datas, and local_datas_remove commands.

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CHAPTER 13. NETWORKING

The libldns is no longer a dependency of libunbound and will not be installed with it.

A new so-reuseport: option is now available for distributing queries evenly over threads on
Linux.

New Resource Record types have been added: CDS, CDNSKEY, URI (according to RFC 7553),
CSYNC, and OPENPGPKEY.

New local-zone types have been added: inform to log a message with a client IP and
inform_deny to log a query and drop the answer to it.

Remote control over local sockets is now available; use the control-interface:
/path/sock and control-use-cert: no commands.

A new ip-transparent: configuration option has been added for binding to non-local IP
addresses.

A new ip-freebind: configuration option has been added for binding to an IP address while
the interface or address is down.

A new harden-algo-downgrade: configuration option has been added.

The following domains are now blocked by default: onion (according to RFC 7686), test, and
invalid (according to RFC 6761).

A user-defined pluggable event API for the libunbound library has been added.

To set the working directory for Unbound, either use the directory: dir with the include:
file statement in the unbound.conf file, which ensures that the includes are relative to the
directory, or use the chroot command with an absolute path.

Fine-grained localzone control has been implemented with the following options: define-tag,
access-control-tag, access-control-tag-action, access-control-tag-data,
local-zone-tag, and local-zone-override.

A new outgoing-interface: netblock/64 IPv6 option has been added to use Linux
freebind feature for every query with a random 64-bit local part.

Logging of DNS replies has been added, which is similar to query logs.

Trust anchor signaling has been implemented that uses key tag query and
trustanchor.unbound CH TXT queries.

Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS) Client subnet has been iplemented.

ipsecmod, an opportunistic IPsec support module, has been implemented. (BZ#1251440)

DHCP now supports standard dynamic DNS updates


With this update, the DHCP server allows updating DNS records by using a standard protocol. As a
result, DHCP supports standard dynamic DNS updates as described in RFC 2136:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2136. (BZ#1394727)

DDNS now supports additional algorithms


Previously, the dhcpd daemon supported only the HMAC-MD5 hashing algorithm which is considered
insecure for critical applications. As a consequence, the Dynamic DNS (DDNS) updates were

57
7.5 Release Notes

potentially insecure. This update adds support for additional algorithms: HMAC-SHA1, HMAC-SHA224,
HMAC-SHA256, HMAC-SHA384, or HMAC-SHA512. (BZ#1396985)

IPTABLES_SYSCTL_LOAD_LIST now supports the sysctl.d files


The sysctl settings in IPTABLES_SYSCTL_LOAD_LIST are reloaded by the iptables init script
when the iptables service is restarted. The modified settings were previously searched only in the
/etc/sysctl.conf file. This update adds support for searching these modifications in the
/etc/sysctl.d/ directory as well. As a result, the user-provided files in /etc/sysctl.d/ are now
correctly taken into account when the iptables service is restarted. (BZ#1402021)

SCTP now supports MSG_MORE


The MSG_MORE flag is set to buffer small pieces of data until a full packet is ready for transmission or
until a call is performed that does not specify this flag. This update adds support for MSG_MORE on the
Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). As a result, small data chunks can be buffered and sent
as a full packet. (BZ#1409365)

MACsec rebased to version 4.13


The Media Access Control Security (MACsec) driver has been upgraded to upstream version
4.13, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable
enhancements include:

Generic Receive Offload (GRO) and Receive Packet Steering (RPS) are enabled
on MACsec devices.

The MODULE_ALIAS_GENL_FAMILY module has been added. This helps tools such as
wpa_supplicant to start even if the module is not loaded yet. (BZ#1467335)

Enhanced performance when using the mlx5 driver in Open vSwitch


The Open vSwitch (OVS) application enables Virtual Machines to communicate with each other and the
physical network. OVS resides in the hypervisor and switching is based on twelve tuple matching on
flows. However, the OVS software-based solution is very CPU-intensive. This affects the system
performance and prevents using the fully available bandwidth.

With this update, the mlx5 driver for Mellanox ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 Lx, and ConnectX-5 adapters
can offload OVS. The Mellanox Accelerated Switching And Packet Processing (ASAP2) Direct
technology enables offloading OVS by handling the OVS data-plane in Mellanox ConnectX-4 and later
network interface cards with Mellanox Embedded Switch or eSwitch, while maintaining an unmodified
OVS control-plane. As a result, the OVS performance is significantly higher and less CPU-intensive.

The current actions supported by ASAP2 Direct include packet parsing and matching, forward, drop
along with VLAN push/pop, or VXLAN encapsulation and decapsulation. (BZ#1456687)

The Netronome NFP Ethernet driver now supports the representor netdev feature
This update backports the representor netdev feature for the Netronome NFP Ethernet driver to
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5. This enhancement enables the driver:

To receive and transmit fallback traffic

To be used in Open vSwitch

To support programming flows to the NFP hardware by using the TC-Flower utility
(BZ#1454745)

Support for offloading TC-Flower actions

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CHAPTER 13. NETWORKING

This update adds support for offloading the TC-Flower classifier and actions related to offloading of
Open vSwitch. This allows acceleration of Open vSwitch using Netronome SmartNICs. (BZ#1468286)

DNS stub resolver improvements


The DNS stub resolver in the glibc package has been updated to the upstream glibc version 2.26.
Notable improvements and bug fixes include:

Changes to the /etc/resolv.conf file are now automatically recognized and applied to
running programs. To restore the previous behavior, add the no-reload option to the options
line in /etc/resolv.conf. Note that depending on system configuration, the
/etc/resolv.conf file might be automatically overwritten as part of the configuration of the
networking subsystem, removing the no-reload option.

The previous limit of six search domain entries is removed. You can now specify any number of
domains with the search directive in /etc/resolv.conf. Note that additional entries may
add significant overhead to DNS processing; consider running a local caching resolver if the
number of entries exceeds three.

The handling of various boundary conditions in the getaddrinfo() function is fixed. Very long
lines in the /etc/hosts file (including comments) no longer affect lookup results from other
lines. Unexpected terminations related to stack exhaustion on systems with certain
/etc/hosts configuration no longer occur.

Previously, when the rotate option was enabled in /etc/resolv.conf, the first DNS query
of a new process was always sent to the second name server configured in the name server list
in /etc/resolv.conf. This behavior has been changed, and the first DNS query now
randomly selects a name server from the list. Subsequent queries rotate through the available
name servers, as before. (BZ#677316, BZ#1432085, BZ#1257639, BZ#1452034, BZ#1329674)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 14. SECURITY


LUKS-encrypted removable storage devices can be now automatically unlocked
using NBDE
With this update, the clevis package and the clevis_udisks2 subpackage enable users to bind removable
volumes to a Network-Bound Disk Encryption (NBDE) policy. To automatically unlock a LUKS-encrypted
removable storage device, such as a USB drive, use the clevis luks bind and clevis luks
unlock commands. (BZ#1475408)

new package: clevis-systemd


This update of the Clevis pluggable framework introduces the clevis-systemd subpackage, which
enables administrators to set automated unlocking of LUKS-encrypted non-root volumes at boot time.
(BZ#1475406)

OpenSCAP can be now integrated into Ansible workflows


With this update, the OpenSCAP scanner can generate remediation scripts in the form of Ansible
Playbooks, either based on profiles or based on scan results. Playbooks based on SCAP Security Guide
Profiles contain fixes for all rules, and playbooks based on scan results contain only fixes for rules that
fail during an evaluation. The user can also generate a playbook from a tailored Profile, or customize it
directly by editing the values in the playbook. Tags, such as Rule ID, strategy, complexity, disruption, or
references, used as metadata for tasks in playbooks serve to filter, which tasks to apply. (BZ#1404429)

SECCOMP_FILTER_FLAG_TSYNC enables synchronization of calling process threads


This update introduces the SECCOMP_FILTER_FLAG_TSYNC flag. When adding a new filter, this flag
synchronizes all other threads of the calling process to the same seccomp filter tree. See the
seccomp(2) man page for more information.

Note that if an application installs multiple libseccomp or seccomp-bpf filters, the seccomp() syscall
should be added to the list of allowed system calls. (BZ#1458278)

nss rebased to version 3.34


The nss packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.34, which provides a number of bug fixes
and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

TLS compression is no longer supported.

The TLS server code now supports session ticket without an RSA key.

Certificates can be specified using a PKCS#11 URI.

The RSA-PSS cryptographic signature scheme is now allowed for signing and verification of
certificate signatures. (BZ#1457789)

SSLv3 disabled in mod_ssl


To improve the security of SSL/TLS connections, the default configuration of the httpd mod_ssl
module has been changed to disable support for the SSLv3 protocol, and to restrict the use of certain
cryptographic cipher suites. This change will affect only fresh installations of the mod_ssl package, so
existing users should manually change the SSL configuration as required.

Any SSL clients attempting to establish connections using SSLv3, or using a cipher suite based on DES
or RC4, will be denied in the new default configuration. To allow such insecure connections, modify the
SSLProtocol and SSLCipherSuite directives in the /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf file.
(BZ#1274890)

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CHAPTER 14. SECURITY

Libreswan now supports split-DNS configuration for IKEv2


This update of the libreswan packages introduces support for split-DNS configuration for the Internet Key
Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) protocol through the leftmodecfgdns= and leftcfgdomains= options.
This enables the user to reconfigure a locally running DNS server with DNS forwarding for specific
private domains. (BZ#1300763)

libreswan now supports AES-GMAC for ESP


With this update, support for Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Galois Message Authentication Code
(GMAC) within IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) through the
phase2alg=null_auth_aes_gmac option has been added to the libreswan packages. (BZ#1475434)

openssl-ibmca rebased to 1.4.0


The openssl-ibmca packages have been upgraded to upstream version 1.4.0, which provides a number
of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version:

Added Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode (AES-GCM) support.

Fixes for OpenSSL operating in FIPS mode incorporated. (BZ#1456516)

opencryptoki rebased to 3.7.0


The opencryptoki packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.7.0, which provides a number of
bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version:

Upgraded the license to Common Public License Version 1.0 (CPL).

Added ECDSA with SHA-2 support for Enterprise PKCS #11 (EP11) and Common
Cryptographic Architecture (CCA).

Improved performance by moving from mutex locks to Transactional Memory (TM).


(BZ#1456520)

atomic scan with configuration_compliance enables creating security-compliant


container images at build time
The rhel7/openscap container image now provides the configuration_compliance scan type.
When used as an argument for the atomic scan command, this new scan type enables users to:

scan Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based container images and containers against any profile
provided by the SCAP Security Guide (SSG)

remediate Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based container images to be compliant with any profile
provided by the SSG

generate an HTML report from a scan or a remediation.

The remediation results in a container image with an altered configuration that is added as a new layer
on top of the original container image.

Note that the original container image remains unchanged and only a new layer is created on top of it.
The remediation process builds a new container image that contains all the configuration improvements.
The content of this layer is defined by the security policy of scanning. This also means that the
remediated container image is no longer signed by Red Hat, which is expected, since it differs from the
original container image by containing the remediated layer. (BZ#1472499)

tang-nagios enables Nagios to monitor Tang

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7.5 Release Notes

The tang-nagios subpackage provides the Nagios plugin for Tang. The plugin enables the Nagios
program to monitor a Tang server. The subpackage is available in the Optional channel. See the tang-
nagios(1) man page for more information. (BZ#1478895)

clevis now logs privileged operations


With this update, the clevis-udisks2 subpackage logs all attempted key recoveries to the Audit log, and
the privileged operations can be now tracked using the Linux Audit system. (BZ#1478888)

PK11_CreateManagedGenericObject() has been added to NSS to prevent memory


leaks in applications
The PK11_DestroyGenericObject() function does not destroy objects allocated by
PK11_CreateGenericObject() properly, but some applications depend on a function for creating
objects that persist after the use of the object. For this reason, the Network Security Services
(NSS) libraries now include the PK11_CreateManagedGenericObject() function. If you create
objects with PK11_CreateManagedGenericObject(), the PK11_DestroyGenericObject()
function also properly destroys underlying associated objects. Applications, such as the curl utility, can
now use PK11_CreateManagedGenericObject() to prevent memory leaks. (BZ#1395803)

OpenSSH now supports openssl-ibmca and openssl-ibmpkcs11 HSMs


With this update, the OpenSSH suite enables hardware security modules (HSM) handled by the openssl-
ibmca and openssl-ibmpkcs11 packages. Prior to this, the OpenSSH seccomp filter prevented these
cards working with the OpenSSH privilege separation. The seccomp filter has been updated to allow
system calls needed by the cryptographic cards on IBM z Systems. (BZ#1478035)

cgroup_seclabel enables fine-grained access control on cgroups


This update introduces the cgroup_seclabel policy capability that enables users to set labels on
control group (cgroup) files. Prior to this addition, labeling of the cgroup file system was not possible, and
to run the systemd service manager in a container, read and write permissions for any content on the
cgroup file system had to be allowed. The cgroup_seclabel policy capability enables fine-grained
access control on the cgroup file system. (BZ#1494179)

The boot process can now unlock encrypted devices connected by network
Previously, the boot process attempted to unlock block devices connected by network before starting
network services. Because the network was not activated, it was not possible to connect and decrypt
these devices.

With this update, the remote-cryptsetup.target unit and other patches have been added to
systemd packages. As a result, it is now possible to unlock encrypted block devices that are connected
by network during system boot and to mount file systems on such block devices.

To ensure correct ordering between services during system boot, you must mark the network device
with the _netdev option in the /etc/crypttab configuration file.

A common use case for this feature is together with network-bound disk encryption. For more
information on network-bound disk encryption, see the following chapter in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Security Guide:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/security_guide/sec-
using_network-bound_disk_encryption (BZ#1384014)

SELinux now supports InfiniBand object labeling


This release introduces SELinux support for InfiniBand end port and P_Key labeling, including
enhancements to the kernel, policy, and the semanage tool. To manage InfiniBand-related labels,
use the following commands:

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CHAPTER 14. SECURITY

semanage ibendport

semanage ibpkey (BZ#1471809, BZ#1464484, BZ#1464478)

libica rebased to 3.2.0


The libica packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.2.0, which most notably adds support for
the Enhanced SIMD instructions set. (BZ#1376836)

SELinux now supports systemd No New Privileges


This update introduces the nnp_nosuid_transition policy capability that enables SELinux domain
transitions under No New Privileges (NNP) or nosuid if nnp_nosuid_transition is allowed
between the old and new contexts. The selinux-policy packages now contain a policy for systemd
services that use the NNP security feature.

The following rule describes allowing this capability for a service:

allow source_domain target_type:process2 { nnp_transition


nosuid_transition };

For example:

allow init_t fprintd_t:process2 { nnp_transition nosuid_transition };

The distribution policy now also contains the m4 macro interface, which can be used in SELinux security
policies for services that use the init_nnp_daemon_domain() function. (BZ#1480518)

Libreswan rebased to version 3.23


The libreswan packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.23, which provides a number of bug
fixes, speed improvements, and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

Support for the extended DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) suite through the dnssec-
enable=yes|no, dnssec-rootkey-file=, and dnssec-anchors= options.

Experimental support for Postquantum Preshared Keys (PPK) through the


ppk=yes|no|insist option.

Support for Signature Authentication (RFC 7427) for RSA-SHA.

The new logip= option with the default value yes can be used to disable logging of incoming
IP addresses. This is useful for large-scale service providers concerned for privacy.

Unbound DNS server ipsecmod module support for Opportunistic IPsec using IPSECKEY
records in DNS.

Support for the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) architecture through the decap-
dscp=yes option. DSCP was formerly known as Terms Of Service (TOS).

Support for disabling Path MTU Discovery (PMTUD) through the nopmtudisc=yes option.

Support for the IDr (Identification - Responder) payload for improved multi-domain deployments.

Resending IKE packets on extremely busy servers that return the EAGAIN error message.

Various improvements to the updown scripts for customizations.

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7.5 Release Notes

Updated preferences of crypto algorithms as per RFC 8221 and RFC 8247.

Added the %none and /dev/null values to the leftupdown= option for disabling the updown
script.

Improved support for rekeying using the CREATE_CHILD_SA exchange.

IKEv1 XAUTH thread race conditions resolved.

Significant performance increase due to optimized pthread locking.

See the ipsec.conf man page for more information. (BZ#1457904)

libreswan now supports IKEv2 MOBIKE


This update introduces support for the IKEv2 Mobility and Multihoming (MOBIKE) protocol (RFC 4555)
using the XFRM_MIGRATE mechanism through the mobike=yes|no option. MOBIKE enables
seamless switching of networks, for example, Wi-Fi, LTE, and so on, without disturbing the IPsec tunnel.
(BZ#1471763)

scap-workbench rebased to version 1.1.6


The scap-workbench packages have been upgraded to version 1.1.6, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes are:

Added support for generating Bash and Ansible remediation roles from profiles and for scanning
results. The generated remediations can be saved to a file for later use.

Added support for opening tailoring files directly from the command line.

Fixed a short integer overflow when using SSH port numbers higher than 32,768. (BZ#1479036)

OpenSCAP is now able to generate results for DISA STIG Viewer


The OpenSCAP suite is now able to generate results in the format compatible with the DISA STIG
Viewer tool. This enables the user to scan a local system for Defense Information Systems Agency
Security Technical Implementation Guide (DISA STIG) compliance and open results in DISA STIG
Viewer. (BZ#1505517)

selinux-policy no longer contains permissive domains


As a security hardening measure, the SELinux policy now does not set the following domains to
permissive mode by default:

blkmapd_t

hsqldb_t

ipmievd_t

sanlk_resetd_t

systemd_hwdb_t

targetd_t

The default mode for these domains is now set to enforcing. (BZ#1494172)

audit rebased to version 2.8.1

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CHAPTER 14. SECURITY

The audit packages have been upgraded to upstream version 2.8.1, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes are:

Added support for ambient capability fields.

The Audit daemon now works also on IPv6.

Added the default port to the auditd.conf file.

Fixed the auvirt tool to report Access Vector Cache (AVC) messages. (BZ#1476406)

OpenSC now supports the SCE7.0 144KDI CAC Alt. tokens


This update adds support for the SCE7.0 144KDI Common Access Card (CAC) Alternate tokens. These
new cards were not compliant with the previous U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Implementation
Guide for CAC PIV End-Point specification, and the OpenSC driver has been updated to reflect the
updated specification. (BZ#1473418)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 15. SERVERS AND SERVICES


Leftover dbus processes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 adds a feature that enables users to launch dbus-using applications
remotely, for example over SSH or over IBM Platform LSF.

However, when processes using dbus are launched remotely, dbus processes keep running even after
the main process is closed, blocking the remote session and preventing it from terminating properly.

To work around this problem, follow the instructions at https://access.redhat.com/solutions/3257651.


(BZ#1460262)

dbus rebased to version 1.10


The dbus packages have been upgraded to upstream version 1.10, which provides a number of bug fixes
and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

dbus-run-session is a new utility to run a dbus session bus for the runtime of a login
session, making ssh sessions which start dbus-using applications more predictable and reliable.
See man 1 dbus-run-session for more details.

Several memory and file descriptor leaks have been fixed. This improves the dbus-daemon
memory usage and reliability.

The well-known system and session bus configuration files have been moved from
/etc/dbus-1/ to the /usr/share/dbus-1/ directory. While the old location can still be
used, it is deprecated (specifically, session.conf and system.conf are deprecated, but
system administrator configuration snippets under session.d and system.d are permitted).
(BZ#1480264)

tuned rebased to version 2.9.0


The tuned packages have been upgraded to upstream version 2.9.0, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include the following:

The net plug-in has been extended with the ring and pause parameters.

The concept of manually or automatically set profile has been introduced.

A directory for profile recommendation files is now supported. (BZ#1467576)

chrony rebased to version 3.2


The chrony packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.2, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notable enhancements include:

Support for hardware timestamping with bonding, bridging, and other logical interfaces that
aggregate ethernet interfaces

Support for transmit-only hardware timestamping with network cards that can timestamp only
received Precision Time Protocol (PTP) packets but not Network Time Protocol (NTP) packets

Improved stability of synchronization with hardware timestamping and interleaved modes

An improved leapsectz option to automatically set the offset of the system clock between
International Atomic Time (TAI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (BZ#1482565)

SNMP page counting can be now disabled in CUPS

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CHAPTER 15. SERVERS AND SERVICES

The simple network management protocol (SNMP) page counting currently shows incorrect information
for certain printers. With this update, the CUPS printing system supports turning off the SNMP page
counting, which prevents the problem. To do so, add *cupsSNMPPages: False into the printer's
postscript printer description (PPD) file.

The procedure for adding options into printer's PPD file is described in solution article at
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1427573 . (BZ#1434153)

CUPS can be set to use only ciphers from TLS version 1.2 or later
The CUPS printing system can now be set to use only ciphers from TLS version 1.2 or later. You can
use the functionality by adding the option SSLOptions MinTLS1.2 into the
/etc/cups/client.conf file for the CUPS client or into the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file for the
CUPS daemon. (BZ#1466497)

The squid packages now provide the kerberos_ldap_group helper


This update adds the kerberos_ldap_group external Access Control Lists (ACL) helper to the squid
packages. The kerberos_ldap_group helper is a reference implementation that supports Simple
Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) and Generic Security Services API (GSSAPI) authentication to
an LDAP server, intended primarily to connect to Active Directory or OpenLDAP-based LDAP servers.
(BZ#1452200)

OpenIPMI rebased to version 2.0.23


The OpenIPMI packages have been upgraded to version 2.0.23, which provides a number of bug fixes
and enhancements. Among others:

It adds a command to set a duty cycle of the fans directly.

It adds a way to specify the state directory from the command line after the compilation time.

It changes the message map size to 32 bits so that it can handle a full 16-message window.

It adds support for the IPMI LAN Simulator commands. See the ipmi_sim_cmd(5) man page.

It adds support for the IPMI LAN Interface configuration file. See the ipmi_lan(5) man page.
(BZ#1457805)

Overview of changes from freeIPMI 1.2.9 to freeIPMI 1.5.7


These are the most important changes:

- The ipmi-fru tool now supports the output of the DDR3 and DDR4 SDRAM modules and new FRU
multirecords. - The new ipmi-config tool is a consolidated configuration tool implementing all the
functionalities that were previously in the bmc-config, ipmi-pef-config, ipmi-sensors-config,
and ipmi-chassis-config tools. - The ipmi-sel tool reads and manages the IPMI System Event
Log records, which makes the tool useful for debugging the system.

A complete list of changes is available after the installation in the /usr/share/doc/freeipmi/NEWS


file. (BZ#1435848)

A new clear_env option available in PHP FPM pool configuration


This update introduces a new clear_env option in PHP's FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) pool
configuration. If the clear_env option is disabled, environment variables set when running the FPM
daemon are preserved and available to scripts. By default, clear_env is enabled, preserving current
behavior. (BZ#1410010)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 16. STORAGE


Data Deduplication and Compression with VDO
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 introduces Virtual Data Optimizer (VDO). This feature enables you to
create block devices that transparently provide data deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning.
Standard file systems and applications can run on these virtual block devices without modification.

VDO is currently available only on the AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.

For more information on VDO, see the chapter Data Deduplication and Compression with VDO in the
Storage Administration Guide: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/storage_administration_guide/vdo. (BZ#1480047)

New boom utility for managing LVM snapshot and image boot entries
This release adds the boom command, which you can use to manage additional boot loader entries on
the system. You can use it to create, delete, list, and modify auxiliary boot entries for system snapshots
and images. The utility provides a single tool for managing boot menu entries for LVM snapshots;
therefore you no longer need to manually edit boot loader configuration files and work with detailed
kernel parameters. The tool is provided by the lvm2-python-boom package. (BZ#1278192)

DM Multipath no longer requires reservation keys in advance


DM Multipath now supports two new configuration options in the multipath.conf file:

unpriv_sgio

prkeys_file

The reservation_key option of the defaults and multipaths sections accepts a new keyword:
file. When set, the multipathd service will now use the file configured in the prkeys_file option of
the defaults section to get the reservation key to use for the paths of a multipath device. The prkeys
file is automatically updated by the mpathpersist utility. The default for the reservation_key option
remains undefined, and default for the prkeys_file is /etc/multipath/prkeys.

If the new unpriv_sgio option is set to yes, DM Multipath will now create all new devices and their
paths with the unpriv_sgio attribute. This option is used internally by other software, and is
unnecessary for most DM Multipath users. It defaults to no.

These changes make it possible to use the mpathpersist utility without knowing ahead of time what
reservation keys will be used and without adding them to the multipath.conf configuration file. As a
result, it is now easier to use the mpathpersist utility to manage multipath persistent reservations in
multiple setups. (BZ#1452210)

New property parameter supported in blacklist and blacklist_exception sections


of multipath.conf
The multipath.conf configuration file now supports the property parameter in the blacklist and
blacklist_exception sections of the file. This parameter allows users to blacklist certain types of
devices. The property parameter takes a regular expression string that is matched against the udev
environment variable names for the device.

The property parameter in blacklist_exception works differently than the other


blacklist_exception parameters. If the parameter is set, the device must have a udev variable that
matches. Otherwise, the device is blacklisted.

Most usefully, this parameter allows users to blacklist SCSI devices that multipath should ignore, such as

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CHAPTER 16. STORAGE

USB sticks and local hard drives. To allow only SCSI devices that could reasonably be multipathed, set
this parameter to (SCSI_IDENT_|ID_WWN) in the blacklist_exceptions section of the
multipath.conf file. (BZ#1456955)

smartmontools now support NVMe devices


This update adds support for Nonvolatile Memory Express (NVMe) devices, especially Solid-state Drive
(SSD) disks, into the smartmontools package. As a result, the smartmontools utilities can now be used
for monitoring NVMe disks with the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System
(S.M.A.R.T.). (BZ#1369731)

Support for DIF/DIX (T10 PI) on specified hardware


SCSI T10 DIF/DIX is fully supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, provided that the hardware vendor
has qualified it and provides full support for the particular HBA and storage array configuration. DIF/DIX
is not supported on other configurations, it is not supported for use on the boot device, and it is not
supported on virtualized guests.

At the current time, the following vendors are known to provide this support.

FUJITSU supports DIF and DIX on:

EMULEX 16G FC HBA:

EMULEX LPe16000/LPe16002, 10.2.254.0 BIOS, 10.4.255.23 FW, with:

FUJITSU ETERNUS DX100 S3, DX200 S3, DX500 S3, DX600 S3, DX8100 S3, DX8700 S3,
DX8900 S3, DX200F, DX60 S3, AF250, AF650, DX60 S4, DX100 S4, DX200 S4, DX500 S4,
DX600 S4, AF250 S2, AF650 S2

QLOGIC 16G FC HBA:

QLOGIC QLE2670/QLE2672, 3.28 BIOS, 8.00.00 FW, with:

FUJITSU ETERNUS DX100 S3, DX200 S3, DX500 S3, DX600 S3, DX8100 S3, DX8700 S3,
DX8900 S3, DX200F, DX60 S3, AF250, AF650, DX60 S4, DX100 S4, DX200 S4, DX500 S4,
DX600 S4, AF250 S2, AF650 S2

Note that T10 DIX requires database or some other software that provides generation and verification of
checksums on disk blocks. No currently supported Linux file systems have this capability.

EMC supports DIF on:

EMULEX 8G FC HBA:

LPe12000-E and LPe12002-E with firmware 2.01a10 or later, with:

EMC VMAX3 Series with Enginuity 5977; EMC Symmetrix VMAX Series with Enginuity
5876.82.57 and later

EMULEX 16G FC HBA:

LPe16000B-E and LPe16002B-E with firmware 10.0.803.25 or later, with:

EMC VMAX3 Series with Enginuity 5977; EMC Symmetrix VMAX Series with Enginuity
5876.82.57 and later

QLOGIC 16G FC HBA:

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7.5 Release Notes

QLE2670-E-SP and QLE2672-E-SP, with:

EMC VMAX3 Series with Enginuity 5977; EMC Symmetrix VMAX Series with Enginuity
5876.82.57 and later

Please refer to the hardware vendor's support information for the latest status.

Support for DIF/DIX remains in Technology Preview for other HBAs and storage arrays. (BZ#1499059)

File system Direct Access (DAX) and device DAX now support huge pages
Previously, each file system DAX and device DAX page fault mapped to a single page in the user space.
With this update, file system DAX and device DAX can now map persistent memory in larger chunks,
called huge pages.

File system DAX supports huge pages that are, for example, 2 MiB in size on the AMD64 and Intel 64
architectures, and device DAX supports using either 2 MiB or 1 GiB huge pages on AMD64 and Intel 64.
In comparison, a standard page is 4 KiB in size on the these architectures.

When creating a DAX namespace, you can configure the page size that the namespace should use for
all page faults.

Huge pages lead to fewer page faults, smaller page tables, and less Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB)
contention. As a result, file system DAX and device DAX now use less memory and perform better.
(BZ#1457561, BZ#1383493)

fsadm can now grow and shrink LUKS-encrypted LVM volumes


The fsadm utility is now able to grow and shrink Logical Volume Manager (LVM) volumes that are
encrypted with Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS). This applies both to using fsadm directly with the
fsadm --lvresize command and to using it indirectly through the lvresize --resizefs
command.

Note that due to technical limitations, resizing of encrypted devices with a detached header is not
supported. (BZ#1113681)

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CHAPTER 17. SYSTEM AND SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 17. SYSTEM AND SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT


cockpit rebased to version 154
The cockpit packages, which provide the Cockpit browser-based administration console, have been
upgraded to version 154. This version provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements. Notable
changes include:

The Accounts page now enables the configuration of account locking and password expiry.

Load graphs consistently ignore loopback traffic on all networks.

Cockpit provides information about unmet conditions for systemd services.

Newly created timers on the Services page are now started and enabled automatically.

It is possible to dynamically resize the terminal window to use all available space.

Various navigation and JavaScript errors with Internet Explorer have been fixed.

Cockpit uses Self-Signed Certificate Generator (SSCG) to generate SSL certificates, if


available.

Loading SSH keys from arbitrary paths is now supported.

Absent or invalid /etc/os-release files are now handled gracefully.

Unprivileged users now cannot use the shutdown/reboot button on the System page.

Note that certain cockpit packages are available in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras channel; see
https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/extras. (BZ#1470780, BZ#1425887, BZ#1493756)

Users of yum-utils now can perform actions prior to transactions


A new yum-plugin-pre-transaction-actions plug-in has been added to the yum-utils
collection. It allows users to perform actions before a transaction starts. The usage and configuration of
the plug-in are almost identical to the existing yum-plugin-post-transaction-actions plug-in.
(BZ#1470647)

yum can disable creation of per-user cache as a non-root user


New usercache option has been added to the yum.conf(5) configuration file of the yum utility. It
allows the users to disable the creation of per-user cache when yum runs as a non-root user. The reason
for this change is that in some cases users do not want to create and populate per-user cache, for
example in cases where the space in the $TMPDIR directory is consumed by the user cache data.
(BZ#1432319)

yum-builddep now allows to define RPM macros


The yum-builddep utility has been enhanced to allow you to define RPM macros for a .spec file
parsing. This change has been made because, in some cases, RPM macros need to be defined in order
for yum-builddep to successfully parse a .spec file. Similarly to the rpm utility, the yum-builddep tool
now allows you to specify RPM macros with the --define option. (BZ#1437636)

subscription-manager now displays the host name upon registration


Until now, the user needed to search for the effective host name for a given system, which is determined
by different Satellite settings. With this update, the subscription-manager utility displays the host
name upon the registration of the system. (BZ#1463325)

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7.5 Release Notes

A subscription-manager plugin now runs with yum-config-manager


With this update, the subscription-manager plugin runs with the yum-config-manager utility. The
yum-config-manager operations now trigger redhat.repo generation, allowing Red Hat Enterprise
Linux containers to enable or disable repositories without first running yum commands. (BZ#1329349)

subscription-manager now protects all product certificates in /etc/pki/product-


default/
Previously, the subscription-manager utility only protected those product certificates provided by
the redhat-release package whose tag matched rhel-#. Consequently, product certificates such as
RHEL-ALT or High Touch Beta were sometimes removed from the /etc/pki/product-default/
directory by the product-id yum plugin. With this update, subscription-manager has been
modified to protect all certificates in /etc/pki/product-default/ against automatic removal.
(BZ#1526622)

rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm now automatically enables the subscription-manager


and product-id yum plugins
With this update, the rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm utility automatically enables the yum plugins:
subscription-manager and product-id. With this update, the subscription-manager utility
automatically enables the yum plugins: subscription-manager and product-id. This update
benefits users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux who previously used the rhn-client-tools utility to
register their systems to Red Hat Network Classic or who still use it with Satellite 5 entitlement servers,
and who have temporarily disabled the yum plugins. As a result, rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm
allows an easy transition to using the newer subscription-manager tools for entitlements. Note that
running rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm displays a warning message indicating how to change this
default behavior if it is not desirable. (BZ#1466453)

subscription-manager now automatically enables the subscription-manager and


product-id yum plugins
With this update, the subscription-manager utility automatically enables the yum plugins:
subscription-manager and product-id. This update benefits users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
who previously used the rhn-client-tools utility to register their systems to Red Hat Network Classic
or who still use it with Satellite 5 entitlement servers, and who have temporarily disabled the yum plugins.
As a result, it is easier for users to start using the newer subscription-manager tools for
entitlements. Note that running subscription-manager displays a warning message indicating how
to change this default behavior if it is not desirable. (BZ#1319927)

subscription-manager-cockpit replaces subscription functionality in cockpit-


system
This update introduces a new subscription-manager-cockpit RPM. The new subscription-
manager-cockpit RPM provides a new dbus-based implementation and a few fixes to the same
subscriptions functionality provided by cockpit-system. If both RPMs are installed, the
implementation from subscription-manager-cockpit is used. (BZ#1499977)

virt-who logs where the host-guest mapping is sent


The virt-who utility now uses the rhsm.log file to log the owner or account to which the host-guest
mapping is sent. This helps proper configuration of virt-who. (BZ#1408556)

virt-who now provides configuration error information


The virt-who utility now checks for common virt-who configuration errors and outputs log messages
that specify the configuration items that caused these errors. As a result, it is easier for a user to correct
virt-who configuration errors. (BZ#1436617)

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CHAPTER 17. SYSTEM AND SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT

reposync now by default skips packages whose location falls outside the
destination directory
Previously, the reposync command did not sanitize paths to packages specified in a remote repository,
which was insecure. A security fix for CVE-2018-10897 has changed the default behavior of reposync
to not store any packages outside the specified destination directory. To restore the original insecure
behavior, use the new --allow-path-traversal option. (BZ#1609302)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 18. VIRTUALIZATION


KVM virtualization on IBM z Systems
KVM virtualization is now supported on IBM z Systems. However, this feature is only available in the
newly introduced user space based on kernel version 4.14, provided by the kernel-alt packages.

Also note that due to hardware differences, certain features and functionalities of KVM virtualization differ
from what is supported on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems.

For details on installing and using KVM virtualization on IBM z Systems, see the Virtualization
Deployment and Administration Guide. (BZ#1400070, BZ#1379517, BZ#1479525, BZ#1479526,
BZ#1471761)

KVM virtualization supported on IBM POWER9


With this update, KVM virtualization is supported on IBM POWER9 systems, which makes it possible to
use KVM virtualization on IBM POWER9 machines. However, this feature is only available in the newly
introduced user space based on kernel version 4.14, provided by the kernel-alt packages.

Also note that due to hardware differences, certain features and functionalities of KVM virtualization on
IBM POWER9 differ from what is supported on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems.

For details on installing and using KVM virtualization on POWER9 systems, see the Virtualization
Deployment and Administration Guide. (BZ#1465503, BZ#1478482, BZ#1478478)

KVM virtualization supported on IBM POWER8


With this update, KVM virtualization is supported on IBM POWER8 systems, which makes it possible to
use KVM virtualization on IBM POWER8 machines.

Note that due to hardware differences, certain features and functionalities of KVM virtualization on IBM
POWER8 differ from what is supported on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems.

For details on installing and using KVM virtualization on POWER8 systems, see the Virtualization
Deployment and Administration Guide. (BZ#1531672)

NVIDIA GPU devices can now be used by multiple guests simultaneously


The NVIDIA vGPU feature is now supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. This enables dividing a
vGPU-compatible NVIDIA GPU into multiple virtual devices referred to as mediated devices. By
assigning mediated devices to guest virtual machines, these guests are able to share the performance of
a single physical GPU.

To configure this feature, manually create a mediated device for the libvirt service to be able to use it as
a vGPU. For details, see the Virtualization Deployment and Administration Guide. (BZ#1292451)

KASLR for KVM guests


Red Hat Enteprise Linux 7.5 introduces the Kernel Address Space Randomization (KASLR) feature for
KVM guest virtual machines. KASLR enables randomizing the physical and virtual address at which the
kernel image is decompressed, and thus prevents guest security exploits based on the location of kernel
objects.

KASLR is activated by default, but can be deactivated on a specific guest by adding the nokaslr string
to the guest's kernel command line.

Note that kernel crash dumps of guests with KASLR activated cannot be analyzed using the crash
utility. To fix this, add the <vmcoreinfo/> element to the <features> section of the XML
configuration files of your guests. However, KVM guests with <vmcoreinfo/> cannot be migrated to a

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CHAPTER 18. VIRTUALIZATION

host system that does not support this element. This includes hosts that use Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7.4 and earlier (BZ#1411490, BZ#1395248)

Parallel decompression of OVA files supported


With this release, the pigz and pxz decompression utilities are supported by the virt-v2v utility.

These utilities speed up extraction of OVA files compressed with the gzip and xz utilities on multi-
processor machines. In addition, the command-line interfaces for pigz and pxz are fully compatible with
the command-line interfaces for gzip and xz.

If pigz and pxz are installed, they are used by default. If pigz and pxz are not installed, there is no
change to the extraction behavior. (BZ#1448739)

SMAP now supported on Cannonlake guests


With this update, the Superior Mode Access Prevention (SMAP) feature is supported on guests that use
the 7th Generation Intel Processors codenamed Cannonlake. This prevents malicious programs from
forcing the kernel to use data from a user-space program, and thus increases the security of the guests.

To verify that your host CPU can provide SMAP for your guest, use the virsh capabilities
command and look for the <feature name='smap'/> string. (BZ#1465223)

libvirt rebased to 3.9.0


The libvirt packages have been upgraded to version 3.9.0, which provides a number of bug fixes and
enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

Sparse files are now preserved after moving them to or from another host.

Response limits for remote procedure calls (RPCs) have been increased.

Virtualized IBM POWER9 CPUs are now supported.

Attaching devices to running guest virtual machines, also known as device hot plug, now
supports more device types, such as input devices.

The libvirt library has been secured against the CVE-2017-1000256 and CVE-2017-5715
security issues.

VFIO-mediated devices now function more reliably. (BZ#1472263)

virt-manager rebased to 1.4.3


The virt-manager packages have been upgraded to version 1.4.3, which provides a number of bug fixes
and enhancements over the previous version. Notable changes include:

The virt-manager interface now displays the correct CPU models when creating a guest virtual
machine that does not use the AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.

The default device selection has been optimized for guests using the IBM POWER, IBM z
Systems, or the 64-bit ARM architectures.

If an installed network card on the host system is compatible with single root I/O virtualization
(SR-IOV), it is now possible to create a virtual network that lists a pool of available virtual
functions of the selected SR-IOV-capable card.

The selection of OS types and versions for a newly created guest has been expanded.
(BZ#1472271)

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7.5 Release Notes

virt-what rebased to version 1.18


The virt-what packages have been updated to upstream version 1.18, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, the virt-what utility can now detect the
following guest virtual machine types:

Guests running on an 64-bit ARM host and booted using the Advanced Configuration and Power
Interfaces.

Guests running on the oVirt or Red Hat Virtualization hypervisor.

Guests running on an IBM POWER7 host that uses logical partitioning (LPAR).

Guests running on the FreeBSD bhyve hypervisor.

Guests running on an IBM z Systems host that uses the KVM hypervisor.

Guests emulated using the QEMU Tiny Code Generator (TCG).

Guests running on the OpenBSD virtual machine monitor (VMM) service.

Guests running on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.

Guests running on the Oracle VM Server for SPARC platform.

In addition, the following bugs have been fixed:

The virt-what utility no longer fails on platforms that do not use the System Managemement
BIOS (SMBIOS).

virt-what now works correctly even if the $PATH variable is not set. (BZ#1476878)

tboot rebased to version 1.96


The tboot packages have been upgraded to upstream version 1.96, which fixes several bugs and adds
various enhancements. Notable changes include:

The OpenSSL library versions 1.1.0 and later are now supported for RSA key manipulation and
ECDSA signature verification.

Support has been added for event logs of Trusted Computing Group (TCG) trusted platform
modules (TPMs).

The x2APIC series of Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APICs) is now supported.

Additional checks have been added to prevent kernel images from being overwritten
unintentionally.

The tboot utility can no longer overwrite modules while moving them.

A bug has been fixed that caused sealing and unsealing Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
secrets to fail.

Several null pointer dereference bugs have been fixed. (BZ#1457529)

virt-v2v can convert VMware guests with snapshots


The virt-v2v utility has been enhanced to convert VMware guest virtual machines that have
snapshots. Note that after the conversion, the status of such a guest is set to the top-most snapshot and
the other snapshots are removed. (BZ#1172425)

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CHAPTER 18. VIRTUALIZATION

virt-rescue enhanced
This release of the virt-rescue utility includes the following enhancements:

Ctrl+character sequences now act on commands run in virt-rescue and not on virt-
rescue itself.

The -i option allows users to mount all disks after inspecting the guest. (BZ#1438710)

virt-v2v now converts Linux guests encrypted with LUKS


With this update, the virt-v2v utility can convert Linux guests installed with full-disk LUKS encryption,
that is when all the partitions other than the /boot partition are encrypted.

Notes:

The virt-v2v utility does not support conversion of Linux guests on partitions with other types
of encryption schemes.

The virt-p2v utility does not support conversion of Linux machines installed with full-disk
LUKS encryption. (BZ#1451665)

CAT support added to libvirt on specific CPU models


The libvirt service now supports Cache Allocation Technology (CAT) on specific CPU models. This
enables guest virtual machines to have part of their host's CPU cache allocated for their vCPU threads.

For details on configuring this feature, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-


us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/virtualization_tuning_and_optimization_guide/index.html#sect_VTOG-
vCPU_cache_reservation. (BZ#1289368)

PTP device added to improve time synchronization of KVM guests


The PTP device has been added for KVM guest virtual machines. It enhances the kvmclocks service
by preventing clock divergence between the host and the guest due to NTP adjustment. As a result, the
PTP device ensures more reliable time synchronization between the KVM host and its guests.

For details on setting up the PTP device, see the Virtualization Deployment and Administration Guide.
(BZ#1379822)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 19. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR ARM


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for ARM introduces Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 user space with an
updated kernel, which is based on version 4.14 and is provided by the kernel-alt packages. The offering
is distributed with other updated packages but most of the packages are standard Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7 Server RPMs. Installation ISO images are available on the Customer Portal
Downloads page.

For information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 user space, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
documentation. For information regarding the previous version, refer to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 for
ARM - Release Notes.

The following packages are provided as Development Preview in this release:

libvirt (Optional channel)

qemu-kvm-ma (Optional channel)

NOTE

KVM virtualization is a Development Preview on the 64-bit ARM architecture, and thus is
not supported by Red Hat. For more information, see the Virtualization Deployment and
Administration Guide. Customers may contact Red Hat and describe their use case, which
will be taken into consideration for a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

19.1. NEW FEATURES AND UPDATES


Core Kernel
This update introduces the qrwlock queue write lock for 64-bit ARM systems. The
implementation of this mechanism improves performance and prevents lock starvation by
ensuring fair handling of multiple CPUs competing for the global task lock. This change also
resolves a known issue, which was present in earlier releases and which caused soft lockups
under heavy load.

Note that any kernel modules built for previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for ARM
(against the kernel-alt packages) must be rebuilt against the updated kernel. (BZ#1507568)

Security
USBGuard is now fully supported on 64-bit ARM systems
The USBGuard software framework provides system protection against intrusive USB devices by
implementing basic whitelisting and blacklisting capabilities based on device attributes. Using
USBGuard on 64-bit ARM systems, previously available as a Technology Preview, is now fully
supported.

19.2. KERNEL CONFIGURATION CHANGES

HARDWARE ENABLEMENT
Bluetooth (disabled)

WIRELESS (disabled)

CPU_IDLE (enabled)

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CHAPTER 19. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR ARM

GPIO_DWAPB (enabled)

I2C (enabled) - Designware, QUP, and XLP9XX

sensor support:

IIO drivers (disabled)

Accel sensors (disabled)

light + orientation + interrupt trigger (disabled)

Input driver

mouse, synaptics, rmi4

LED

Intel SS4200 (disabled)

Generic IRQ CHIP (enabled)

Hibernate (enabled)

Clock Source DATA (enabled)

OSS_CORE (disabled)

all SND drivers (disabled)

Networking Driver Support


Thunder2 driver (enabled)

Amazon (enabled)

Altera (disabled)

ARC (disabled)

Broadcom B44, BCMGENET, BNX2X_VLAN, CNIC (disabled)

Hisilicon (enabled)

cadence MACB (disabled)

Chelsio T3 (disabled)

Intel E1000 (disabled)

Mellanox (enabled)

myri10GE (disabled)

Qlogic - qla2xxx, netxen_nic, Qed, Qede (enabled)

Qualcomm - qcom_emac (enabled)

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7.5 Release Notes

Broadcom - bcm7xxx (disabled)

Infiniband Support
CXBG4 (enabled)

I40IW (enabled)

MLX4 (enabled)

MLX5 (enabled)

IPOIB (enabled)

IPOIB_CM (enabled)

IPOIB_DEBUG (enabled)

ISERT (enabled)

SRP (enabled)

SRPT (enabled)

CORE KERNEL SUPPORT


Schedule Imbalance (enabled)

48 bit VA support (enabled)

tick cpu accounting (disabled)

Context Tracking (enabled)

RCU NOCB (enabled)

CGROUP-Hugetlb (enabled)

CRIU (enabled)

BPF_SYSCALL (disabled)

PERF_USE_VMALLOC (disabled)

HZ_100/HZ (enabled)

NO_HZ_IDLE (disabled)

NO_HZ_FULL (enabled)

BPF_EVENTS (disabled)

LZ4 compression (disabled)

BTREE (enabled)

CPUMASK_OFFSTACK (disabled)

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CHAPTER 19. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR ARM

DEBUG_INFO_DWARF4 (enabled)

SCHEDSTATS (enabled)

Striaght DEVMEM (disabled)

Transparent Hugepage (HTP) (enabled)

ZSMaLLOC_STAT, IDLE_PAGE_TRACKING(enabled)

PAGE_EXTENSION and PAGE_POISONING (disabled)

Networking Stack Support


SLIP - (enabled)

JME (disabled)

IPVLAN (disabled)

BPF_JIT (disabled)

dccp (disabled)

[ipv4] NET_FOU, Diag, CDG, NV (disabled)

[ipv6] ILA (disabled), GRE (enabled)

MAC80211 (disabled)

netfilter_conntrack (enabled)

Graphic and GPU Support


DRM_I2C_SIL64 (disabled)

TTY

serial_nonstandard, cyclades, synclinkmp, synclink_gt, N_HDLC, serial_8250_MID


(enabled)

fbdev (enabled)

USB - PHY (disabled)

Storage Support
Block scsi request (enabled)

Block debugfs (enabled)

Block Multi-Queue PCI (enabled)

Block Multi-Queue VirtIO (enabled)

Block Multi-Queue IOSched_deadline (enabled)

MD Long Write -(disabled)

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7.5 Release Notes

SCSI - ARCMSR, AM53C974, WD719x, BNX2X_FCOE, BNX2_ISCSI, ESAS2R (disabled)

SCSI - HISI_SAS (enabled)

SPI - QUP, SLP (enabled)

SSB (disabled)

File Systems
FS_DAX (enabled)

BTRFS (disabled)

Ceph (enabled)

DLM (disabled)

FSCAHE (disabled)

GFS2 (disabled)

Swap over NFS (disabled)

NFS-FSCACHE (enabled)

Virtualization and KVM Support


KVM_IRQCHIP, KVM_IRQ_ROUTING, KVM_MSI (enabled)

Virtio - noiommu (enabled)

19.3. SUPPORT IN RED HAT SATELLITE


System management of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for ARM is supported in Red Hat Satellite 6 but not
in Red Hat Satellite 5.

19.4. KNOWN ISSUES


SELinux MLS policy is not supported with kernel version 4.14
SELinux Multi-Level Security (MLS) Policy denies unknown classes and permissions, and kernel
version 4.14 in the kernel-alt packages recognizes the map permission, which is not defined in any
policy. Consequently, every command on a system with active MLS policy and SELinux in enforcing
mode terminates with the Segmentation fault error. A lot of SELinux denial warnings occurs on
systems with active MLS policy and SELinux in permissive mode. The combination of SELinux MLS
policy with kernel version 4.14 is not supported.

ipmitool communicates with BMC only when IPMI_SI=no on Cavium ThunderX


When starting ipmi.service with the systemctl command, the default configuration attempts to load
the ipmi_si driver. On Cavium ThunderX systems, which do not have an IPMI SI device,
ipmi.service incorrectly removes the ipmi_devintf driver. Consequently, the ipmitool utility in
the kernel is not able to communicate with the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). To work
around this problem, edit the /etc/sysconfig/ipmi file and set the IPMI_SI variable as follows:

IPMI_SI=no

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CHAPTER 19. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR ARM

Then reboot the operating system if necessary. As a result, the correct drivers are loaded and ipmitoo
can communicate with BMC through the /dev/ipmi0/ directory. (BZ#1448181)

Putting SATA ALPM devices into low power mode does not work correctly
When using the following commands to enable and disable low power mode for Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment (SATA) devices using the Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) power
management protocol on the 64-bit ARM systems, SATA does not work correctly:

tuned-adm profile powersave

tuned-adm profile performance

Consequently, SATA failures stop all disk I/O, and users have to reboot the operating system to fix it. To
work around this problem, use one of the following options:

Do not put the system into the powersave profile

Check with your hardware vendor for firmware updates that might fix the bug with ALPM

(BZ#1430391)

Setting tuned to network-latency causes system hang on ARM


If the tuned profile is set to network-latency on the 64-bit ARM systems, the operating system
becomes unresponsive, and the kernel prints a backtrace to the serial console. To work around this
problem, do not set the tuned profile to network-latency. (BZ#1503121)

modprobe succeeds to load kernel modules with incorrect parameters


When attempting to load a kernel module with an incorrect parameter using the modprobe command,
the incorrect parameter is ignored, and the module loads as expected on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for
ARM and for IBM Power LE (POWER9).

Note that this is a different behavior compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for traditional architectures,
such as AMD64 and Intel 64, IBM z Systems and IBM Power Systems. On these systems, modprobe
exits with an error, and the module with an incorrect parameter does not load in the described situation.

On all architectures, an error message is recorded in the dmesg output. (BZ#1449439)

19.5. BUG FIXES


The ld linker generates correct dynamic executables
Previously, the ld linker failed to create correct dynamic executables and terminated when invoked by
the Go language compiler go on the 64-bit ARM architecture. The linker has been updated to correctly
handle copy relocations. As a result, the linker no longer fails in the described situation. (BZ#1430743)

The ld linker generates correct dynamic relocations for constant data


Previously, the ld linker generated an incorrect kind of dynamic relocations for constant data shared
between a library and executable on the 64-bit ARM architecture. As a consequence, the produced
executable files wasted resources and terminated unexpectedly when the shared data was accessed.
The linker has been updated to generate correct dynamic relocations, and the described problem no
longer occurs. (BZ#1452170)

qrwlock is now enabled for 64-bit ARM systems


This update introduces the qrwlock queued read-write lock for 64-bit ARM systems. The

83
7.5 Release Notes

implementation of this mechanism improves performance and prevents lock starvation by ensuring fair
handling of multiple CPUs competing for the global task lock. This change also resolves a known issue
tracked in Red Hat Bugzilla #1454844, which was present in earlier releases and which caused soft
lockups under heavy load.

Note that any kernel modules built for previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for ARM (against
the kernel-alt packages) must be rebuilt against the updated kernel.

CMA disabled by default


On 64-bit ARM Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems with memory limited to 1G or below, the Contiguous
Memory Allocator (CMA) consumed large amount of memory, thus leaving insufficient memory for the
rest of the kernel. Consequently, the out-of-memory (OOM) condition sometimes occurred in the kernel
or certain user-space applications, such as Shared Memory in Linux (SHM)(/dev/shm).

The CMA support in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel is now disabled by default for all architectures,
and CMA no longer causes OOM.(BZ#1519317)

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CHAPTER 20. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR IBM POWER LE (POWER9)

CHAPTER 20. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR IBM


POWER LE (POWER9)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for IBM Power LE (POWER9) introduces Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
user space with an updated kernel, which is based on version 4.14 and is provided by the kernel-alt
packages. The offering is distributed with other updated packages but most of it is the standard Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7 Server RPMs. Installation ISO images are available on the Customer Portal
Downloads page.

For information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 installation and user space, see the Installation Guide
and other Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 documentation. For information regarding the previous version,
refer to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 for IBM Power LE (POWER9) - Release Notes.

NOTE

Bare metal installations on IBM Power LE using a USB drive require you to specify the
inst.stage2= boot option manually at the boot menu. See the Boot Options chapter in
the Installation Guide for detailed information.

20.1. NEW FEATURES AND UPDATES


Virtualization
KVM virtualization is now supported on IBM POWER9 systems. However, due to hardware
differences, certain features and functionalities differ from what is supported on AMD64 and Intel
64 systems. For details, see the Virtualization Deployment and Administration Guide.

Platform Tools
OProfile now includes support for the IBM POWER9 processor. Note that the
PM_RUN_INST_CMPL OProfile performance monitoring event cannot be setup and should not
be used in this version of OProfile. (BZ#1463290)

This update adds support for the IBM POWER9 performance monitoring hardware events to
papi. It includes basic PAPI presets for events, such as instructions (PAPI_TOT_INS) or
processor cycles (PAPI_TOT_CYC). (BZ#1463291)

This version of libpfm includes support for the IBM POWER9 performance monitoring hardware
events. (BZ#1463292)

SystemTap includes backported compatibility fixes necessary for the kernel.

Previously, the memcpy() function from the GNU C Library (glibc) used unaligned vector load
and store instructions on 64-bit IBM POWER systems. Consequently, when memcpy() was
used to access device memory on POWER9 systems, performance would suffer. The
memcpy() function has been enhanced to use aligned memory access instructions, to provide
better performance for applications regardless of the memory involved on POWER9, without
affecting the performance on previous generations of the POWER architecture. (BZ#1498925)

Security
USBGuard is now available as a Technology Preview on IBM Power LE (POWER9)
The USBGuard software framework provides system protection against intrusive USB devices by
implementing basic whitelisting and blacklisting capabilities based on device attributes. USBGuard is
now available as a Technology Preview on IBM Power LE (POWER9).

85
7.5 Release Notes

Note that USB is not supported on IBM z Systems, and the USBGuard framework cannot be provided on
those systems.

20.2. KERNEL CONFIGURATION CHANGES


HARDWARE ENABLEMENT
DEVFREQ_GOV_SIMPLE_ONDEMAND (enabled)

GPIO IRQCHIP (enabled)

HID plantronic (disabled)

I2C sensors

JC42 (disabled)

NTC thermostat (enabled)

I2C MUX (enabled)

Networking Driver Support


Broadcom B44 driver (disabled)

Brocade BNA driver (disabled)

Calxeda driver(disabled)

IBM ethernet driver [ehea] (disabled)

Intel E1000 driver (disabled)

Mellanox driver [mlxsw] (disabled)

Netronoma driver [NFP] (disabled)

Qlogic [qla3xxx] driver (disabled)

SFC falcon driver (disabled)

Wireless (disabled)

WLAN (disabled)

Ath driver (disabled)

Ath10k driver (disabled)

Ath 9k driver (disabled)

Ath wil6210 (disabled)

Broadcom WLAN (disabled)

Broadcom brcm80211 (disabled)

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CHAPTER 20. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR IBM POWER LE (POWER9)

Intel WLAN (disabled)

Intel iwlegacy (disabled)

Intel iwlwifi (disabled)

Marvell driver (disabled)

Marvell mwiflex (disabled)

Ralink WLAN driver (disabled)

Ralink rt2x00 driver (disabled)

Realtek driver (disabled)

Realtek rt1818x driver (disabled)

Realtek rtiwifi driver (disabled)

NVME driver + target driver (enabled)

ptp 1588 driver (disabled)

s390 HMC driver (disabled)

RTL8192e driver (disabled)

RTL8712u driver (disabled)

Serial UARTLITE driver (enabled)

USB LED trigger USBPORT (disabled)

USBIP driver (disabled)

Power Mgt Deubg + Adv Debug + Sleep Debug (enabled)

CORE KERNEL SUPPORT


Sched Imbalance patchset (enabled)

OPTprobes, kprobe on ftrace (enabled)

64bit Aligned Access (disabled)

Arch Soft Dirty (enabled)

Arch MMAP Rnd Compat (disabled)

SWIOTLB (disabled)

Crypto: akcipher, rsa (enabled)

Compression:

Kernel gzip support (enabled)

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7.5 Release Notes

Kernel XZ support (enabled)

Locking: Mutex spin on owner (enabled in debugging kernel)

Function Tracer (enabled)

Dynamic Ftrace (enabled)

Ftrace mcount record (enabled)

Common kernel Libaries

Rational (enabled)

Btree (enabled)

libfdt (enabled)

parman (disabled)

MM

NO_BOOTMEM (enabled)

MOVABLE NODE (enabled)

HMM (Hetrogenous Memory Management) (enabled)

HMM Mirrored (enabled)

Coherent Device Memory (CDM) (enabled)

Zone Device (enabled)

IMA (enabled)

YAMA (disabled)

Networking Stack Support


Compact Netlink Msg (disabled)

BPF_JIT (enabled)

DCCP (disabled)

CCIDS (disabled)

IPv6 NF target NPT (disabled)

Mac80211 (disabled)

Desktop, Graphic, and GPU Support


DRM_DP_AUX_CHARDEV (enabled)

STK1160 video usb driver (disabled)

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CHAPTER 20. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.5 FOR IBM POWER LE (POWER9)

V412 BUF2_DMA_SG (enabled)

Storage Support
DAX (disabled)

NVDIMM + PFN + DAX (enabled)

SCSI

3Ware 9xxx driver (disabled)

3Ware sAS driver (disabled)

ARCMSR driver (disabled)

AIC79xx driver (disabled)

Broadcom Bnx2x driver (enabled)

Broadcom Bnx2 driver (disabled)

QED driver (disabled)

QEDI driver (disabled)

File Systems
BTRFS (disabled)

DLM (disabled)

GFS2 DLM locking support (disabled)

Virtualization and KVM Support


vhost [vsock] (disabled)

VMWare vsock (disabled)

20.3. SUPPORT IN RED HAT SATELLITE


System management of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 for IBM POWER LE (POWER9) is supported in
Red Hat Satellite 6 but not in Red Hat Satellite 5.

20.4. KNOWN ISSUES


SELinux MLS policy is not supported with kernel version 4.14
SELinux Multi-Level Security (MLS) Policy denies unknown classes and permissions, and kernel
version 4.14 in the kernel-alt packages recognizes the map permission, which is not defined in any
policy. Consequently, every command on a system with active MLS policy and SELinux in enforcing
mode terminates with the Segmentation fault error. A lot of SELinux denial warnings occurs on
systems with active MLS policy and SELinux in permissive mode. The combination of SELinux MLS
policy with kernel version 4.14 is not supported.

kdump saves the vmcore only if mpt3sas is blacklisted

89
7.5 Release Notes

When kdump kernel loads the mpt3sas driver, the kdump kernel crashes and fails to save the vmcore
on certain POWER9 systems. To work around this problem, blacklist mpt3sas from the kdump kernel
environment by appending the module_blacklist=mpt3sas string to the
KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND variable in the /etc/sysconfig/kdump file:

KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND="irqpoll maxcpus=1 ... module_blacklist=mpt3sas"

Then restart the kdump service to pick up the changes to the configuration file by running the
systemctl restart command as the root user:

~]# systemctl restart kdump.service

As a result, kdump is now able to save the vmcore on the POWER9 systems. (BZ#1496273)

Recovering from OOM situation fails due to incorrect function of OOM-killer


Recovering from an out-of-memory (OOM) situation does not work correctly on systems with large
amounts of memory. Kernel's OOM-killer kills the process using the most memory and frees the memory
to be used again. However, sometimes the OOM-killer does not wait long enough before killing a second
process. Eventually, the OOM-killer kills all the processes on the system and logs this error:

Kernel panic - not syncing: Out of memory and no killable processes...

If this happens, the operating system must be rebooted. There is no available workaround.
(BZ#1405748)

HTM is disabled for guests running on IBM POWER systems


The Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) feature currently prevents migrating guest virtual machines
from IBM POWER8 to IBM POWER9 hosts, and has therefore been disabled by default. As a
consequence, guest virtual machines running on IBM POWER8 and IBM POWER9 hosts cannot use
HTM, unless the feature is manually enabled.

To do so, change the default pseries-rhel7.5 machine type of these guests to pseries-rhel7.4.
Note that guests configured this way cannot be migrated from an IBM POWER8 host to an IBM
POWER9 host. (BZ#1525599)

Migrating guests with huge pages from IBM POWER8 to IBM POWER9 fails
IBM POWER8 hosts can only use 16MB and 16GB huge pages, but these huge-page sizes are not
supported on IBM POWER9. As a consequence, migrating a guest from an IBM POWER8 host to an
IBM POWER9 host fails if the guest is configured with static huge pages.

To work around this problem, disable huge pages on the guest and reboot it prior to migration.
(BZ#1538959)

modprobe succeeds to load kernel modules with incorrect parameters


When attempting to load a kernel module with an incorrect parameter using the modprobe command,
the incorrect parameter is ignored, and the module loads as expected on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for
ARM and for IBM Power LE (POWER9).

Note that this is a different behavior compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for traditional architectures,
such as AMD64 and Intel 64, IBM z Systems and IBM Power Systems. On these systems, modprobe
exits with an error, and the module with an incorrect parameter does not load in the described situation.

On all architectures, an error message is recorded in the dmesg output. (BZ#1449439)

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20.5. BUG FIXES


kdump no longer hangs due to the attempts to read the memory from on-board devices
On the little-endian variants of IBM Power Systems hardware, the kdump mechanism became
unresponsive because the kernel attempted to read the memory from on-board devices such as the
GPU, and include it as a part of the vmcore. This update fixes kexec-tools to skip the on-board
devices when attempting to read the memory during kdump. As a result, kdump now works correctly, the
vmcore is saved to disk and the operating system reboots as expected. (BZ#1478049)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 21. ATOMIC HOST AND CONTAINERS


Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host is a secure, lightweight, and minimal-footprint operating system
optimized to run Linux containers. See the Atomic Host and Containers Release Notes for the latest new
features, known issues, and Technology Previews.

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CHAPTER 22. RED HAT SOFTWARE COLLECTIONS

CHAPTER 22. RED HAT SOFTWARE COLLECTIONS


Red Hat Software Collections is a Red Hat content set that provides a set of dynamic programming
languages, database servers, and related packages that you can install and use on all supported
releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures, the 64-bit ARM
architecture, IBM z Systems, and IBM POWER, little endian. Certain components are available also for
all supported releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 on AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.

Red Hat Developer Toolset is designed for developers working on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.
It provides current versions of the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU Debugger, and other development,
debugging, and performance monitoring tools. Red Hat Developer Toolset is included as a separate
Software Collection.

Dynamic languages, database servers, and other tools distributed with Red Hat Software Collections do
not replace the default system tools provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, nor are they used in
preference to these tools. Red Hat Software Collections uses an alternative packaging mechanism
based on the scl utility to provide a parallel set of packages. This set enables optional use of alternative
package versions on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. By using the scl utility, users can choose which
package version they want to run at any time.

IMPORTANT

Red Hat Software Collections has a shorter life cycle and support term than Red Hat
Enterprise Linux. For more information, see the Red Hat Software Collections Product Life
Cycle.

See the Red Hat Software Collections documentation for the components included in the set, system
requirements, known problems, usage, and specifics of individual Software Collections.

See the Red Hat Developer Toolset documentation for more information about the components included
in this Software Collection, installation, usage, known problems, and more.

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7.5 Release Notes

PART II. NOTABLE BUG FIXES


This part describes bugs fixed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 that have a significant impact on users.

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CHAPTER 23. GENERAL UPDATES

CHAPTER 23. GENERAL UPDATES


runc notifies systemd about user-specified CPU quota limits
Previously, the runc program did not notify systemd about user-specified CPU quota limits when a
container was started. Consequently, systemd was unaware of the user-specified limits, and therefore
the CPU quota was reset to the default value (unlimited) during the systemctl daemon-reload
operation. With this update, runc now notifies systemd about user-specified CPU quota limits when a
container is started, and the described problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1455071)

Segmentation faults in applications because of only non-existent paths in


LD_LIBRARY_PATH no longer happen
Previously, when the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable contained only non-existent paths, the
dynamic loader produced a segmentation fault. Consequently, applications terminated unexpectedly with
a segmentation fault at startup in the described situation. The dynamic loader has been fixed. As a
result, applications no longer terminate unexpectedly in the described situation.

Note that updating the glibc package is enough to fix this bug for any affected applications.
(BZ#1443236)

The setup package now creates the tape group with the correct group number
Previously, when installing the setup package, the tape group was created with an ID that was
inconsistent with all other versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. With this update, the group ID has been
changed from 30 to the standard 33. As a result, fresh installations of the operating system now have the
correct group number for the tape group.

On previously installed systems affected by this problem:

1. Edit the group ID in the /etc/group and /etc/gshadow files.

2. Change the group ownership for all files owned by the former tape group. (BZ#1433020)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 24. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY


The IdM LDAP server no longer becomes unresponsive when resolving an AD
user takes a long time
When the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) took a long time to resolve a user from a trusted
Active Directory (AD) domain on the Identity Management (IdM) server, the IdM LDAP server sometimes
exhausted its own worker threads. Consequently, the IdM LDAP server was unable to respond to further
requests from SSSD clients or other LDAP clients. This update adds a new API to SSSD on the IdM
server, which enables identity requests to time out. Also, the IdM LDAP extended identity operations
plug-in and the Schema Compatibility plug-in now support this API to enable canceling requests that take
too long. As a result, the IdM LDAP server can recover from the described situation and keep responding
to further requests. (BZ#1415162, BZ#1473571, BZ#1473577)

Application configuration snippets in /etc/krb5.conf.d/ are now automatically


read in existing configurations
Previously, Kerberos did not automatically add support for the /etc/krb5.conf.d/ directory to
existing configurations. Consequently, application configuration snippets in /etc/krb5.conf.d/ were
not read unless the user added the include statement for the directory manually. This update modifies
existing configurations to include the appropriate includedir line pointing to /etc/krb5.conf.d/.
As a result, applications can rely on their configuration snippets in /etc/krb5.conf.d.

Note that if you manually remove the includedir line after this update, successive updates will not add
it again. (BZ#1431198)

pam_mkhomedir can now create home directories under /


Previously, the pam_mkhomedir module was unable to create subdirectories under the / directory.
Consequently, when a user with a home directory in a non-existent directory under / attempted to log in,
the attempt failed with this error:

Unable to create and initialize directory '/<directory_path>'.

This update fixes the described problem, and pam_mkhomedir is now able to create home directories in
this situation.

Note that even after applying this update, SELinux might still prevent pam_mkhomedir from creating the
home directory, which is the expected SELinux behavior. To ensure pam_mkhomedir is allowed to
create the home directory, modify the SELinux policy using a custom SELinux module, which enables the
required paths to be created with the correct SELinux context. (BZ#1509338)

Kerberos operations depending on KVNO in the keytab file no longer fail when a
RODC is used
The adcli utility did not handle the key version number (KVNO) properly when updating Kerberos keys
on a read-only domain controller (RODC). Consequently, some operations, such as validating a
Kerberos ticket, failed because no key with a matching KVNO was found in the keytab file. With this
update, adcli detects if a RODC is used and handles the KVNO accordingly. As a result, the keytab file
contains the right KVNO, and all Kerberos operations depending on this behavior work as expected.
(BZ#1471021)

krb5 properly displays errors about PKINIT misconfiguration in single-realm KDC


environments
Previously, when Public Key Cryptography for Initial Authentication in Kerberos (PKINIT) was
misconfigured, the krb5 package did not report the incorrect configuration to the administrator. For
example, this problem occurred when the deprecated pkinit_kdc_ocsp option was specified in the

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CHAPTER 24. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY

/etc/krb5.conf file. With this update, krb5 exposes PKINIT initialization failures when only one realm
is specified in the Kerberos key distribution center (KDC). As a result, single-realm KDCs report PKINIT
misconfiguration properly. (BZ#1460089)

Certificate System no longer incorrectly logs ROLE_ASSUME audit events


Previously, Certificate System incorrectly generated the ROLE_ASSUME audit event for certain operations
even if no privileged access occurred for a user. Consequently, the event was incorrectly logged. The
problem has been fixed and ROLE_ASSUME events are no longer logged in the mentioned scenario.
(BZ#1461524)

Updated attributes in CERT_STATUS_CHANGE_REQUEST_PROCESSED audit log event


Previously, the CERT_STATUS_CHANGE_REQUEST_PROCESSED audit event in log files contained the
following attributes:

ReqID - The requester ID

SubjectID - The subject ID of the certificate

For consistency with other audit events, the attributes have been modified and now contain the following
information:

ReqID - The request ID

SubjectID - The requester ID (BZ#1461217)

Signed audit log verification now works correctly


Previously, due to improper logging system initialization and incorrect signature calculation by the
verification tool, signed audit log verification could fail on the first log entry and after log rotation. With this
update, the logging system and the verification tool have been fixed. As a result, signed audit log
verification now works correctly in the mentioned scenarios. (BZ#1404794)

Certificate System now validates the banner file


A previous version of Certificate System introduced a configurable access banner - a custom message to
be displayed in the PKI console at the start of every secure session. The contents of this banner were not
validated, which could cause a JAXBUnmarshalException error if the message contained invalid
UTF-8 characters. With this update, the contents of the banner file are validated both on server startup
and on client requests. If the file is found to contain invalid UTF-8 characters on server startup, the server
will not start. If invalid characters are found when a client requests the banner, the server will return an
error message and not send the banner to the client. (BZ#1446579)

The TPS subsystem no longer fails when performing a symmetric key changeover
on a HSM
Previously, attempting to perform a symmetric key changeover with the master key on a Hardware
Security Module (HSM) token failed with an error reported by the Certificate System Token Processing
System (TPS) subsystem. This update fixes the way the master key on a HSM is used to calculate the
new key set, allowing the TPS to successfully upgrade a token key set when the master resides on a
HSM. The fix is currently verified with the G&D SmartCafe 6.0 HSM. (BZ#1465142)

Certificate System CAs no longer display an error when handing subject DNs
without a CN component
Previously, an incoming request missing the Common Name (CN) component caused a
NullPointerException on the Certificate Authority (CA) because the implementation expected the
CN to be present in the subject Distinguished Name (DN) of the Certificate Management over CMS
(CMC). This update allows the CA to handle subject DN without a CN component, preventing the
exception from being thrown. (BZ#1474658)

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7.5 Release Notes

The pki-server-upgrade utility no longer fails if target files are missing


A bug in the pki-server-upgrade utiltiy caused it to attempt to locate a non-existent file. As a
consequence, the upgrade process failed to complete, and could possibly leave the PKI deployment in
an invalid state. With this update, pki-server-upgrade has been modified to correctly handle cases
where target files are missing, and PKI upgrades now work correctly. (BZ#1479663)

The Certificate System CA key replication now works correctly


A previous update to one of the key unwrapping functions introduced a requirement for a key usage
parameter which was not being supplied at the call site, which caused lightweight Certiciate Authority
(CA) key replication to fail. This bug has been fixed by modifying the call site so that it supplies the key
usage parameter, and lightweight CA key replication now works as expected. (BZ#1484359)

Certificate System no longer fails to import PKCS #12 files


An earlier change to PKCS #12 password encoding in the Network Security Services (NSS) caused
Certificate System to fail to import PKCS #12 files. As a consequence, the Certificate Authority (CA)
clone installation could not be completed. With this update, PKI will retry a failed PKCS #12 decryption
with a different password encoding, which allows it to import PKCS #12 files produced by both old and
new versions of NSS, and CA clone installation succeeds. (BZ#1486225)

The TPS user interface now displays the token type and origin fields
Previously, the tps-cert-find and tps-cert-show Token Processing System (TPS) user interface
utilites did not display the token type and origin fields which were present in the legacy TPS interface.
The interface has been updated and now displays the missing information. (BZ#1491052)

Certificate System issued certificates with an expiration date later than the
expiration date of the CA certificate
Previously, when signing a certificate for an external Certificate Authority (CA), Certificate System used
the ValidityConstraint plug-in. Consequently, it was possible to issue certificates with a later expiry
date than the expiry date of the issuing CA. This update adds the CAValidityConstraint plug-in to
the registry so that it becomes available for the enrollment profiles. In addition, the
ValidityConstraint plug-in in the caCMCcaCert profile has been replaced with the
CAValidityConstraint plug-in which effectively sets the restrictions. As a result, issuing certificates
with an expiry date later than the issuing CA is no longer allowed. (BZ#1518096)

CA certificates without SKI extension no longer causes issuance failures


A previous update of Certificate System incorrectly removed a fallback procedure, which generated the
Issuer Key Identifier. Consequently, the Certificate Authority (CA) failed to issue certificates if the CA
signing certificate does not have the Subject Key Identifier (SKI) extension set. With this update, the
missing procedure has been added again. As a result, issuing certificates no longer fails if the CA
signing certificate does not contain the SKI extension. (BZ#1499054)

Certificate System correctly logs the user name in CMC request audit events
Previously, when Certificate System received a Certificate Management over CMS (CMC) request, the
server logged an audit event with the SubjectID field set to $NonRoleUser$. As a result,
administrators could not verify who issued the request. This update fixes the problem, and Certificate
System now correctly logs the user name in the mentioned scenario. (BZ#1506819)

The Directory Server trivial word check password policy now works as expected
Previously, when you set a userPassword attribute to exactly the same value as an attribute restricted
by the passwordTokenMin setting with the same length, Directory Server incorrectly allowed the
password update operation. With this update, the trivial word check password policy feature now
correctly verifies the entire user attribute value as a whole, and the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1517788)

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The pkidestroy utility now fully removes instances that are started by the pki-
tomcatd-nuxwdog service
Previously, the pkidestroy utility did not remove Certificate System instances that used the pki-
tomcatd-nuxwdog service as a starting mechanism. As a consequence, administrators had to migrate
pki-tomcatd-nuxwdog to the service without watchdog before using pkidestroy to fully remove an
instance. The utility has been updated, and instances are correctly removed in the mentioned scenario.

Note that if you manually removed the password file before running pkidestroy, the utility will ask for
the password to update the security domain. (BZ#1498957)

The Certificate System deployment archive file no longer contains passwords in


plain text
Previously, when you created a new Certificate System instance by passing a configuration file with a
password in the [DEFAULT] section to the pkispawn utility, the password was visible in the archived
deployment file. Although this file has world readable permissions, it is contained within a directory that is
only accessible by the Certificate Server instance user, which is pkiuser, by default. With this update,
permissions on this file have been restricted to the Certificate Server instance user, and pkispawn now
masks the password in the archived deployment file.

To restrict access to the password on an existing installation, manually remove the password from the
/etc/sysconfig/pki/tomcat/<instance_name>/<subsystem>/deployment.cfg file, and set
the file's permissions to 600. (BZ#1532759)

ACIs with the targetfilter keyword work correctly


Previously, if an Access Control Instruction (ACI) in Directory Server used the targetfilter keyword,
searches containing the geteffective rights control returned before the code was executed for
template entries. Consequently, the GetEffectireRights() function could not determine the
permissions when creating entries and returned false-negative results when verifying an ACI. With this
update, Directory Server creates a template entry based on the provided geteffective attribute and
verifies access to this template entry. As a result, ACIs in the mentioned scenario work correctly.
(BZ#1459946)

Directory Server searches with a scope set to one have been fixed
Due to a bug in Directory Server, searches with a scope set to one returned all child entries instead of
only the ones that matched the filter. This update fixes the problem. As a result, searches with scope
one only return entries which are matching the filter. (BZ#1511462)

Clear error message when sending TLS data to a non-LDAPS port


Previously, Directory Server decoded TLS protocol handshakes sent to a port that was configured to use
plain text as an LDAPMessage data type. However, decoding failed and the server reported the
misleading BER was 3 bytes, but actually was <greater> error. With this update, Directory
Server detects if TLS data is sent to a port configured for plain text and returns the following error
message to the client:

Incoming BER Element may be misformed. This may indicate an attempt to use
TLS on a plaintext port, IE ldaps://localhost:389. Check your client
LDAP_URI settings.

As a result, the new error message indicates that an incorrect client configuration causes the problem.
(BZ#1445188)

Directory Server no longer logs an error if not running the cleanallruv task
After removing a replica server from an existing replication topology without running the cleanallruv

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7.5 Release Notes

task, Directory Server previously logged an error about not being able to replace referral entries. This
update adds a check for duplicate referrals and removes them. As a result, the error is no longer logged.
(BZ#1434335)

Using a large number of CoS templates no longer slow down the virtual attribute
processing time
Due to a bug, using a large number of Class of Service (CoS) templates in Directory Server increased
the virtual attribute processing time. This update improves the structure of the CoS storage. As a result,
using a large number of CoS templates no longer increases the virtual attribute processing time.
(BZ#1523183)

Directory Server now handles binds during an online initialization correctly


During an online initialization from one Directory Server master to another, the master receiving the
changes is temporarily set into a referral mode. While in this mode, the server only returns referrals.
Previously, Directory Server incorrectly generated these bind referrals. As a consequence, the server
could terminate unexpectedly in the mentioned scenario. With this update, the server correctly generates
bind referrals. As a result, the server now correctly handles binds during an online initialization.
(BZ#1483681)

The dirsrv@.service meta target is now linked to multi-user.target


Previously, the dirsrv@.service meta target had the Wants parameter set to dirsrv.target in its
systemd file. When you enabled dirsrv@.service, this correctly enabled the service to the
dirsrv.target, but dirsrv.target was not enabled. Consequently, Directory Server did not start
when the system booted. With this update, the dirsrv@.service meta target is now linked to multi-
user.target. As a result, when you enable dirsrv@.service, Directory Server starts automatically
when the system boots. (BZ#1476207)

The memberOf plug-in now logs all update attempts of the memberOf attribute
In certain situations, Directory Server fails to update the memberOf attribute of a user entry. In this case,
the memberOf plug-in logs an error message and forces the update. In the previous Directory Server
version, the second try was not logged if it was successful. Consequently, the log entries were
misleading, because only the failed attempt was logged. With this update, the memberOf plug-in also
logs the successful update if the first try failed. As a result, the plug-in now logs the initial failure, and the
subsequent successful retry as well. (BZ#1533571)

The Directory Server password policies now work correctly


Previously, subtree and user password policies did not use the same default values as the global
password policy. As a consequence, Directory Server incorrectly skipped certain syntax checks. This bug
has been fixed. As a result, the password policy features work the same for the global configuration and
the subtree and user policies. (BZ#1465600)

A buffer overflow has been fixed in Directory Server


Previously, if you configured an attribute to be indexed and imported an entry that contained a large
binary value into this attribute, the server terminated unexpectedly due to an buffer overflow. The buffer
has been fixed. As a result, the server works as expected in the mentioned scenario. (BZ#1498980)

Directory Server now sends the password expired control during grace logins
Previously, Directory Server did not send the expired password control when an expired password had
grace logins left. Consequently, clients could not tell the user that the password was expired or how
many grace logins were left. The problem has been fixed. As a result, clients can now tell the user if a
password is expired and how many grace logins remain. (BZ#1464505)

An unnecessary global lock has been removed from Directory Server

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Previously, when the memberOf plug-in was enabled and users and groups were stored in separate
back ends, a deadlock could occur. An unnecessary global lock has been removed and, as a result, the
deadlock no longer occurs in the mentioned scenario. (BZ#1501058)

Replication now works correctly with TLS client authentication and FIPS mode
enabled
Previously, if you used TLS client authentication in a Directory Server replication environment with
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) mode enabled, the internal Network Security Services
(NSS) database token differed from a token on a system with FIPS mode disabled. As a consequence,
replication failed. The problem has been fixed, and as a result, replication agreements with TLS client
authentication now work correctly if FIPS mode is enabled. (BZ#1464463)

Directory Server now correctly sets whether virtual attributes are operational
The pwdpolicysubentry subtree password policy attribute in Directory Server is flagged as
operational. However, in the previous version of Directory Server, this flag was incorrectly applied to
following virtual attributes that were processed. As a consequence, the search results were not visible to
the client. With this update, the server now resets the attribute before processing the next virtual attribute
and Class of Service (CoS). As a result, the expected virtual attributes and CoS are now returned to the
client. (BZ#1453155)

Backup now succeeds if replication was enabled and a changelog file existed
Previously, if replication was enabled and a changelog file existed, performing a backup on this master
server failed. This update sets the internal options for correctly copying a file. As a result, creating a
backup now succeeds in the mentioned scenario. (BZ#1476322)

Certificate System updates the revocation reason correctly


Previously, if a user temporarily lost a smart card token, the administrator of a Certificate System Token
Processing System (TPS) in some cases changed the status of the certificate from on hold to
permanently lost or damaged. However, the new revocation reason did not get reflected on the CA.
With this update, it is possible to change a certificate status from on hold directly to revoked. As a
result, the revocation reason is updated correctly. (BZ#1500474)

A race condition has been fixed in the Certificate System clone installation
process
In certain situations, a race condition arose between the LDAP replication of security domain session
objects and the execution of an authenticated operation against a clone other than the clone where the
login occurred. As a consequence, cloning a Certificate System installation failed. With this update, the
clone installation process now waits for the security domain login to finish before it enables the security
domain session objects to be replicated to other clones. As a result, the clone installation no longer fails.
(BZ#1402280)

Certificate System now uses strong ciphers by default


With this update, the list of enabled ciphers has been changed. By default, only strong ciphers, which are
compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), are enabled in Certificate System.

RSA ciphers enabled by default:

TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA

TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA

TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256

TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256

TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

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7.5 Release Notes

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA

Note that the TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA and TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA ciphers


need to be enabled to enable the pkispawn utility to connect to the LDAP server during the installation
and configuration.

ECC ciphers enabled by default:

TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA

TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256

TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256

TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

In addition, the default ranges of the sslVersionRangeStream and sslVersionRangeDatagram


parameters in the /var/lib/pki/<instance_name>/conf/server.xml file now use only TLS 1.1
and TLS 1.2 ciphers. (BZ#1539125)

The pkispawn utility no longer displays incorrect errors


Previously, during a successful installation of Certificate System, the pkispawn utility incorrectly
displayed errors related to deleting temporary certificates. The problem has been fixed, and the error
messages no longer display if the installation succeeds. (BZ#1520277)

The Certificate System profile configuration update method now correctly handles
backslashes
Previously, a parser in Certificate System removed backslash characters from the configuration when a
user updated a profile. As a consequence, affected profile configurations could not be correctly imported,
and issuing certificates failed or the system issued incorrect certificates. Certificate System now uses a
parser that handles backslashes correctly. As a result, profile configuration updates import the
configuration correctly. (BZ#1541853)

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CHAPTER 25. CLUSTERING

CHAPTER 25. CLUSTERING


Pacemaker correctly implements fencing and unfencing for Pacemaker remote
nodes
Previously, Pacemaker did not implement unfencing for Pacemaker remote nodes. As a consequence,
Pacemaker remote nodes remained fenced even if a fence device required unfencing. With this update,
Pacemaker correctly implements both fencing and unfencing for Pacemaker remote nodes, and the
described problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1394418)

Pacemaker now probes guest nodes


Important update for users of guest nodes.

Pacemaker now probes guest nodes, which are Pacemaker remote nodes created using the remote-
node parameter of a resource such as VirtualDomain. If users were previously relying on the fact that
probes were not done, the probes may fail, potentially causing fencing of the guest node. If a guest node
cannot run a probe of a resource (for example, if the software is not even installed on the guest), then
the location constraint banning the resource from the guest node should have the resource-
discovery option set to never, the same as would be required with a cluster node or remote node in
the same situation. (BZ#1489728)

The pcs resource cleanup command no longer generates unnecessary cluster


load
The pcs resource cleanup command cleans the records of failed resource operations that have
been resolved. Previously, the command probed all resources on all nodes, generating an unnecessary
load on cluster operation. With this fix, the command probes only the resources for which a resource
operation failed. The previous functionality of the pcs resource cleanup command has been
replaced by the new pcs resource refresh command, which probes all resources on all nodes. For
information on cluster resource cleanup, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html-single/high_availability_add-on_reference/#s1-resource_cleanup-
HAAR. (BZ#1508351)

Warning generated when user specifies action attribute for stonith device
Previously, it was possible for a user to set an action attribute for a stonith device, even though this
option is deprecated and is not recommended as it can cause unexpected fencing. The following fixes
have been implemented:

When a user tries to set an action option of a stonith device with the CLI, this generates a
warning message along with the instructions to use the --force flag to set this attribute.

The pcsd Web UI now displays a warning message next to action option field.

The output of the pcs status command displays a warning when a stonith device has the
action option set. (BZ#1421702)

It is now possible to enable stonith agent debugging without specifying the --


force flag
Previously, attempting to enable debugging of a stonith agent by setting the debug or verbose
parameters required that the user specify the --force flag. With this fix, using the --force flag is no
longer necessary. (BZ#1432283)

The fence_ilo3 resource agent no longer has a default value of cycle for the
action parameter
Previously, the fence_ilo3 resource agent had a default value of cycle for the action parameter.

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7.5 Release Notes

This value is unsupported, as it may cause data corruption. The default value for this parameter is now
onoff. Additionally, a warning is now displayed in the output of the pcs status command and the web
UI if a stonith device has its method option set to cycle. (BZ#1519370, BZ#1523378)

Pacemaker no longer starts up when sbd is enabled but not started successfully
by systemd
Previously, if sbd did not start properly, systemd would still start Pacemaker. This would lead to sbd
poison pill triggered reboots not being performed without this being detected by fence_sbd and, in the
case of quorum-based watchdog fencing, the nodes losing quorum would not self-fence either. With this
fix, if sbd does not come up properly Pacemaker is not started. This should prevent all sources of data
curruption due to sbd not coming up. (BZ#1525981)

A fenced node in an ‘sbd’ setup now shuts down reliably


Previously, when a node received an ‘off’ via the poison pill mechanism used by ‘sbd’ on a shared disk,
the node would be likely to reboot instead of powering off. With this fix, receiving an ‘off’ will power off the
node. Receiving a ‘reset’ will reboot the node. If the node is not able to perform the software-driven
reboot or power off properly, the watchdog is going to trigger and the action performed is what the
watchdog device is configured to. A fenced node in an ‘sbd’ setup now shuts down reliably if the
watchdog device is configured to power off the node, and fencing is requesting ‘off’ via the poison pill
mechanism on a shared disk. (BZ#1468580)

IPaddr2 resource agent now finds NIC for IPv6 addresses with 128 netmask
Previously, the IPaddr2 resource agent failed to find the NIC for IPv6 addresses with 128 netmask.
This fix corrects that issue. (BZ#1445628)

portblock agent no longer yields excessive unnecessary messages


Previously, the portblock agent would flood the /var/log/messages file with monitoring messages
that provided no useful information. With this fix, the /var/log/messages file contains more limited
logging output from the portblock agent. (BZ#1457382)

/var/run/resource-agents directory now persists across reboots


Previously, the /var/run/resource-agents directory, created at installation of the resource-
agents package, was not persistent across reboots. With this fix, the directory is now present after a
reboot. (BZ#1462802)

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CHAPTER 26. COMPILER AND TOOLS

CHAPTER 26. COMPILER AND TOOLS


Package selection now works in system-config-kickstart
A bug in the system-config-kickstart graphical Kickstart file creation utility caused the package
selection to be unavailable because the tool could not download package information from repositories.
This bug is now fixed, and you can now configure package selection in system-config-kickstart
again. (BZ#1272068)

NVMe devices no longer show up as Unknown in parted and Anaconda


Previously, any Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) devices were not being recognized by the
Anaconda installer and the parted storage configuration tool during the installation, and were instead
being labeled as Model: Unknown (unknown). This update backports an upstream patch that
enables recognition of these devices, and they are now being correctly identified as NVMe Device
(nvme) during installation. (BZ#1316239)

DBD::MySQL now sends and receives smaller integers correctly on big-endian


platforms
Previously, the DBD::MySQL Perl driver incorrectly handled integers smaller than 64 bits on big endian
platforms. Consequently, tests for prepared statements failed for certain variable sizes on the IBM z
Systems architecture. This bug has been fixed, and the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1311646)

The version Perl module now supports tainted input and tainted version objects
Previously, the version module of Perl was unable to correctly parse tainted input. Consequently,
when building a version object from a tainted variable, the version->new() method reported the
Invalid version format (non-numeric data) error. This update adds support for parsing
tainted input and for printing tainted version objects and strings. (BZ#1378885)

The HTTP::Daemon Perl module now supports IPv6


Previously, the HTTP::Daemon Perl module did not support IPv6 addresses. Consequently, when
running an HTTP::Daemon::SSL server on an IPv6 address, the server terminated unexpectedly on an
attempt to print the IPv6 address with an Arg length for inet_ntoa error message. With this
update, the HTTP::Daemon module has been ported from the IO::Socket::INET to the
IO::Socket::IP module. As a result, HTTP::Daemon handles IPv6 addresses as expected.
(BZ#1413065)

GDB shows inline function names in breakpoint listing


Previously, the GDB debugger showed caller function names instead of inlined callee function names
when listing breakpoints. As a consequence, GDB users were not able to identify breakpoints placed on
inline functions from the function name. GDB has been extended to store names of inline callee functions
when breakpoints are placed. As a result, GDB now correctly displays names of inline functions when
listing breakpoints. (BZ#1228556)

Relocation failures at module load time due to wrong GCC alignment fixed
Previously, GCC generated code containing .toc sections with 2^0 alignment. As a consequence,
relocation failures could occur at module load time. GCC has been changed to generate .toc sections
aligned to 2^3. This fix eliminates most cases of occurrence of this bug. (BZ#1487434)

The istream::sentry object from the gcc C++ standard library no longer throws
exceptions
Previously, the istream::sentry object from the gcc C++ standard library did not properly handle
exceptions that happen while skipping whitespace. As a consequence, an unexpected exception could

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7.5 Release Notes

occur in the object's code. The constructor for the sentry class has been fixed to catch the exceptions
and update the error state of the istream object appropriately. (BZ#1469384)

Multiple fixes in gdb on IBM Power


Previously, various features of the gdb debugger have been broken on the IBM Power architecture:

Record and replay functionality was not available and resulted in error messages or not restoring
the previous register values.

Printing short vector return values resulted in wrong values displayed.

Single stepping over atomic sequences failed to actually step over them - the program counter
did not change.

This update fixes these features. (BZ#1480498, BZ#1480496, BZ#1480497)

GDB no longer crashes when dumping core from a process that terminates
Previously, the GDB debugger did not consider that a process can be terminated while GDB is dumping it
into a core file. As a consequence, when a dumped program terminated after receiving an unexpected
SIGKILL signal, the gcore utility terminated unexpectedly as well. With this update, GDB has been
extended to handle this situation. As a result, GDB and the gcore command no longer terminate
unexpectedly and create invalid core files. (BZ#1493675)

GDB can again dump memory protected by the VM_DONTDUMP flag


Previous changes to the GNU Debugger GDB made the behavior of the gcore command more similar to
the behavior of the Linux kernel when dumping process memory to increase data security. Consequently,
users of GDB could not dump memory protected by the VM_DONTDUMP flag. The new set dump-
excluded-mappings setting has been added to GDB to enable dumping of memory with this flag. As a
result, users can dump the whole process memory with GDB again. (BZ#1518243)

Programs using the CLONE_PTRACE flag on threads now run under strace
Previously, programs which set the CLONE_PTRACE flag on new threads caused undefined behavior of
the strace tool, because it uses the ptrace() function for its operation. As a consequence, such
programs could be neither traced nor executed properly. The strace tool has been modified to ignore
threads with an unexpected CLONE_PTRACE flag. As a result, programs which use CLONE_PTRACE
execute properly under strace. (BZ#1466535)

exiv2 rebased to version 0.26


The exiv2 packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.26, which provides a number of bug
fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, exiv2 now contains:

CMake support for Visual Studio

Recursive File Dump

ICC Profile Support

The exiv2 command for metadata piping

Lens File for user lens definitions

User defined lens types

WebP Support

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CHAPTER 26. COMPILER AND TOOLS

For the complete changelog, see http://www.exiv2.org/changelog.html#v0.26. (BZ#1420227)

gssproxy fixed to properly update ccaches


Previously, the gssproxy package did not correctly handle the key version number (kvno) incrementation
in Kerberos credential caches (ccaches). As a consequence, stale ccaches were not properly
overwritten. This update fixes these problems in gssproxy ccache caching. As a result, ccaches are now
properly updated, and the caching prevents excessive requests for updates. (BZ#1488629)

gcc on the little-endian variant of IBM Power Systems architecture no longer


creates unused stack frames
Previously, using the -pg -mprofile=kernel options of the gcc compiler on the little-endian variant
of IBM Power Systems architecture could result in unused stack frames being generated for leaf
functions. The gcc compiler has been fixed and the unused stack frames no longer occur in this
situation. (BZ#1468546)

Several bugs fixed in gssproxy


This update fixes several bugs in the gssproxy package. The bug fixes include preventing potential
memory leaks and concurrency problems. (BZ#1462974)

The BFD library regains the ability to convert binary addresses to source code
positions
A previous enhancement to the BFD library from the binutils package caused a bug in parsing the
DWARF debug information. As a consequence, BFD and all tools using it, such as gprof and perf,
were unable to convert binary file addresses to positions in source code. With this update, BFD has been
modified to prevent the described problem. As a result, BFD can now convert addresses in binary files
into positions in source code as expected.

Note that tools that use the BFD library must be relinked in order to take advantage of this fix.
(BZ#1465318)

Applications using vector registers for passing arguments work again


Previously, the dynamic loader in the GNU C library ( glibc ) contained an optimization which avoided
saving and restoring vector registers for 64-bit Intel and AMD architectures. Consequently, applications
compiled for these architectures and using unsupported vector registers for passing function arguments,
not adhering to the published x86-64 psABI specification, could fail and produce unexpected results. This
update changes the dynamic loader to use the XSAVE and XSAVEC context switch CPU instructions,
preserving more CPU state, including all vector registers. As a result, applications using vector registers
for argument passing, in ways which are not supported by the x86-64 psABI specification, work again.
(BZ#1504969)

curl now properly resets the HTTP authentication state


Prior to this update, the authentication state was not reset properly when an HTTP transfer finished or
when the 'curl_easy_reset()' function was called. Consequently, the curl tool did not send the request
body to the following URL. With this update, the authentication state is reset properly when an HTTP
transfer is done or when curl_easy_reset() is called, and the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1511523)

The strip utility works again


Previously, the BFD library missed a NULL pointer check on the IBM z Systems architecture. As a
consequence, running the strip utility caused a segmentation fault. This bug has been fixed, and
strip now works as expected. (BZ#1488889)

Importing python modules generated by f2py now works properly


Previously, when dynamic linking loader was configured to load symbols globally, a segmentation fault

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7.5 Release Notes

occurred when importing any python module generated by the f2py utility. This update renames the
PyArray_API symbol to _npy_f2py_ARRAY_API, which prevents potential conflicts with the same
symbol in the multiarray module. As a result, importing modules generated by f2py no longer leads to a
segmentation fault. (BZ#1167156)

mailx is not encoding multi-byte subjects properly


Previously, the mailx mail user agent did not split non-ASCII message headers on multi-byte character
boundaries when encoding into the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) standard. As a
consequence, the headers were incorrectly decoded. This update modifies the MIME encoding function
so that it splits headers into encoded words on multi-byte character boundaries. As a result, mailx now
sends messages with headers that can be properly decoded. (BZ#1474130)

The --all-logs option now works as expected in sosreport


Previously, the --all-logs option was ignored by the apache, nscd, and logs plug-ins of the
sosreport utility. This bug has been fixed, and the mentioned plug-ins now correctly handle--all-
logs. Note that when using --all-logs, it is impossible to limit the size of the log with the --log-
size option, which is an expected behavior. (BZ#1183243)

Python scripts can now correctly connect to HTTPS servers through a proxy,
while explicitly setting the port
The Python standard library provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux was previously updated to enable
certificate verification by default. However, a bug prevented Python scripts using the standard library
from connecting to HTTPS servers using a proxy when explicitly setting the port to connect to. The same
bug also prevented users from using the bootstrap script for registration with Red Hat Satellite 6 through
a proxy. This bug is now fixed, and scripts can now connect to HTTPS servers and register using Red
Hat Satellite as expected. (BZ#1483438)

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CHAPTER 27. DESKTOP

CHAPTER 27. DESKTOP


Stylus of Dell Canvas 27 fixed
Previously, Dell Canvas 27 contained a Wacom tablet in which the ranges were offset by default. As a
consequence, the stylus mapped to the upper left quarter of the screen. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
supports the stylus of the Dell Canvas 27, making sure coordinates are accurately reported. As a result,
the cursor is placed directly under the tip of the stylus as required. (BZ#1507821)

llvmpipe crashes on IBM Power Systems


On the little-endian variant of IBM Power Systems architecture, a race-condition in GNOME Shell code
previously caused that, the LLVM engine for Mesa, llvm-private, terminated unexpectedly. This
update disables threading in the JavaScript engine which prevents the segmentation fault from occurring.
As a result, llvm-private no longer crashes on IBM Power Systems. (BZ#1523121)

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CHAPTER 28. FILE SYSTEMS


NFS shares no longer become unresponsive after a TCP connection is closed
Previously, NFS clients sometimes entered a 60 second TIME_WAIT period after initiating the TCP
disconnect sequence. This happened only when TCP timestamps were disabled on the connection.
During the waiting period, the client was unable to reconnect the NFS TCP connection.

Due to waiting in the TIME_WAIT period, the NFS mount points were unresponsive, an rpciod kernel
thread was using 100% CPU, and the retrans number in the output of the nfsstat -r command was
becoming a very large number. In addition, NFS mounts with lower values of the timeo and retrans
options could cause I/O errors.

With this update, the NFS TCP connection is able to reconnect immediately after a disconnect sequence
using a different source port. As a result, NFS mounts no longer become unresponsive and rpciod no
longer causes a high system load after a connection is closed. (BZ#1479043)

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CHAPTER 29. HARDWARE ENABLEMENT

CHAPTER 29. HARDWARE ENABLEMENT


genwqe-tools updated for IBM Power Systems ppc64 and ppc64le architectures
The genwqe-tools packages have been updated for IBM Power Systems and the little-endian variant of
IBM Power Systems. This enhancement update includes the following backported fixes from genwqe-
tools master branch:

the adler32 detect corruption checksum now returns correction on the


deflateSetDictionary() function

the deflateSetDictionary() function now returns error on NULL dictionary as required by


the spec file

The debugger has been removed form the zpipe_rnd.c file

Potential overflow in expression has been avoided

Out of bounds access and possible resource leak have been fixed

To simplify contributions, a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) has been changed to the
Developer's Certificate of Origin (DCO)

Potential security hole has been resolved

The Failure of the Hardware Accelerator Tool genwqe_cksum which causes EEH, has been
resolved

Users of genwqe-tools are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs and add
these enhancements. (BZ#1456492)

Hardware utility tools now correctly identify recently released hardware


Prior to this update, obsolete ID files caused that recently released hardware connected to a computer
was reported as unknown. To fix this bug, PCI, USB, and vendor device identification files have been
updated. As a result, hardware utility tools now correctly identify recently released hardware.
(BZ#1489281)

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CHAPTER 30. INSTALLATION AND BOOTING


The installer no longer crashes when you select an incomplete IMSM RAID array
during manual partitioning
Previously, if the system being installed had a storage drive which was previously part of an Intel Matrix
(IMSI) RAID array which was broken at the time of the installation, the disk was displayed as Unknown in
the Installation Destination screen in the graphical installer. If you attempted to select this drive
as an installation target, the installer crashed with the An unknown error has occured message.
This update adds proper handling for such drives, and allows you to use them as standard installation
targets. (BZ#1465944)

Installer now accepts additional time zone definitions in Kickstart files


Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0, Anaconda switched to a different, more restrictive method of
validating time zone selections. This caused some time zone definitions, such as Japan, to be no longer
valid despite being acceptable in previous versions, and legacy Kickstart files with these definitions had
to be updated or they would default to the Americas/New_York time zone.

The list of valid time zones was previously taken from pytz.common_timezones in the pytz Python
library. This update changes the validation settings for the timezone Kickstart command to use
pytz.all_timezones, which is a superset of the common_timezones list and which allows
significantly more time zones to be specified. This change ensures that old Kickstart files made for Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 6 still specify valid time zones.

Note that this change only applies to the timezone Kickstart command. The time zone selection in the
graphical and text-based interactive interfaces remains unchanged. Existing Kickstart files for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7 that had valid time zone selections do not require any updates. (BZ#1452873)

Proxy configuration set up using a boot option now works correctly in Anaconda
Previously, proxy configuration made in the boot menu command line using the proxy= option was not
correctly applied when probing remote package repositories. This was caused by an attempt to avoid a
refresh of the Installation Source screen if network settings were changed. This update improves
the installer logic so that proxy configuration now applies at all times but still avoids blocking the user
interface on settings changes. (BZ#1478970)

FIPS mode now supports loading files over HTTPS during installation
Previously, installation images did not support FIPS mode (fips=1) during installation where a Kickstart
file is being loaded from an HTTPS source (inst.ks=https://<location>/ks.cfg). This release
implements support for this previously missing functionality, and loading files over HTTPS in FIPS mode
works as expected. (BZ#1341280)

Network scripts now correctly update /etc/resolv.conf


Network scripts have been enhanced to update the /etc/resolv.conf file correctly. Notably:

The scripts now update the nameserver and search entries in the /etc/resolv.conf file
after the DNS* and DOMAIN options, respectively, have been updated in the ifcfg-* files in the
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory

The scripts now also update the order of nameserver entries after it has been updated in the
ifcfg-* files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

Support for the DNS3 option has been added

The scripts now correctly process duplicate and randomly omitted DNS* options (BZ#1364895)

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Files with the .old extension are now ignored by network scripts
Network scripts in Red Hat Enterprise Linux contain a regular expression which causes them to ignore
ifcfg-* configuration files with certain extensions, such as .bak, .rpmnew or .rpmold. However, the
.old extension was missing from this set, despite being used in documentation and in common
practice. This update adds the .old extension into the list, which ensures that script files which use it
will be ignored by network scripts as expected. (BZ#1455419)

Bridge devices no longer fail to obtain an IP address


Previously, bridge devices sometimes failed to obtain an IP address from the DHCP server immediately
after system startup. This was caused by a race condition where the ifup-eth script did not wait for the
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to complete its startup. This bug has been fixed by adding a delay that
causes ifup-eth to wait long enough for STP to finish starting. (BZ#1380496)

The rhel-dmesg service can now be disabled correctly


Previously, even if the rhel-dmesg.service was explicitly disabled using systemd, it continued to
run anyway. This bug has been fixed, and the service can now be disabled correctly. (BZ#1395391)

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CHAPTER 31. KERNEL


kdump can now capture a vmcore with nokaslr set
When using nokaslr and crashkernel=xxM,high options, a bug in the implementation of nokaslr
prevented the kdump mechanism from capturing a vmcore file. This fix ensures that if nokaslr is set,
the original loading address of the kernel is returned. As a result, kdump can now collect a vmcore when
Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization (KASLR) is compiled in the kernel, but disabled with
nokaslr, and high memory is specified in the crashkernel parameter. (BZ#1467561)

MPOL_PREFERRED policy now works with Transparent Huge Pages (THP) with optimal
performance
Allocating memory on node 1 with the MPOL_PREFERRED policy did not work with Transparent Huge
Pages (THP) enabled, but always fell back to the node 0 local node. Consequently, workload
performance for multinode systems was significantly impacted. The backported patch ensures
MPOL_PREFERRED policy with non-local node is respected, and system performance is back to optimal.
(BZ#1476709)

A cgroups deadlock has been fixed


In certain circumstances when using cgroups, a system deadlock occurred due to a race condition. This
update adds a work queue that fixes the race condition, which prevents the deadlock from happening.
(BZ#1476040)

System no longer becomes unresponsive when DM thin provisioning is used on


top of a loop device
Previously, system sometimes became unresponsive when Device Mapper (DM) thin provisioning was
used on top of a loop device. With this update, memory allocation now uses correct gfp mask. As a
result, the described problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1469247)

KASLR now no longer causes mirroring of kernel memory to non-mirrored


regions
Prior to this update, with specified mirrored memory regions and kernel address space layout
randomization (KASLR) enabled kernel memory could be located into non-mirrored memory regions. As
a consequence, non-mirrored memory regions became unmovable. With this update, Kernel memory
location is restricted from mirror regions. As a result, KASLR no longer causes mirroring of kernel
memory to non-mirrored regions. (BZ#1446684)

Users now receive message with prompt to remove white space characters in the
/etc/kdump.conf
Previously, one or more leading white space characters before a kdump configuration item in the
/etc/kdump.conf caused incorrect kdump configuration. With this update, an error message with
prompt to remove the leading white space characters return to users, and kdump no longer fails due to
the described behavior. (BZ#1476219)

An application with large .bss segment on IBM POWER Systems will no longer
cause random segmentation faults
Previously, on IBM POWER Systems architectures, an application with large .bss segment could cause
the dynamic linker to terminate unexpectedly. As a consequence, an application launched with the
dynamic linker could randomly cause segmentation faults. With this update, the ELF_ET_DYN_BASE
value has been increased to 4GB for 64-bit implementations and 4MB for 32-bit implementations on this
architecture. As a result, an application with large .bss segment on IBM POWER Systems architectures
will not lead to random segmentation faults. (BZ#1432288)

Kernel no longer consumes excessive amounts of resources to calculate load

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Previously, the kernel calculated load for every task group, including empty task groups, which
consumed an excessive amount of system resources on systems with a large number of processes. This
update prevents the kernel from calculating the load of empty task groups, which reduces the system
load in the described circumstances. (BZ#1460641)

Cpuset is now able to restore the effective CPU mask after a pair of offline and
online events
Prior to this update, the cpuset filesystem, which confines processes to processor and memory node
subsets, had one bitmap set enabled for CPUs used in a cpuset. As a consequence, a CPU offline event
followed by a CPU online event caused the affected CPU to be removed from all non-root cpusets. With
this update, cpuset has two bitmap sets enabled. As a result, cpuset is now able to properly track CPU
online or offline events to restore the effective CPU mask as long as the -o cpuset_v2_mode mount
flag is used when mounting cpuset cgroup. (BZ#947004)

Access to /proc/[pid]/maps is now significantly faster


Previously, the time to locate a task of a stack Virtual Memory Area (VMA) in the [stack:TID]
annotation scaled directly with the number of active tasks in the system. As a consequence, the more
tasks were running in the system, the slower it was to correctly annotate the stack VMA, which causes
slowed access to the /proc/[pid]/maps files. With this update, the [stack:TID] annotation is no
longer used. As a result, access to /proc/[pid]/maps is now significantly faster, particularly when a
lot of tasks is running in the system. (BZ#1448534)

fadump no longer fails to restart


Previously, fadump stopped during DLPAR memory remove operation and then started to restart. Under
certain circumstances fadump failed to restart. With this update, the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1438695)

makedumpfile can now map page table entries correctly


On some virtual machines running on HP hardware, it was impossible to correctly obtain the physical
address of the virtual machine's memory, causing the makedumpfile utility to fail with an error similar
to:

readmem: Can't convert a virtual address(ffffffffb21158a0) to physical


address

The problem happened because file_size was incorrectly calculated, preventing the
readpage_elf() function from working properly. This update fixes the calculation of file_size on
these systems, ensuring that a vmcore file can be collected, and the makedumpfile --mem-usage
command estimates the vmcore size correctly. (BZ#1448861)

Asymmetric groups are used for overlapping scheduling domains


Previously, scheduling group construction on certain Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) systems
negatively influenced thread migration. This situation adversely affected the performance when a task
could not be migrated to a neighboring NUMA node. With this update, asymmetric groups are used for
overlapping scheduling domains to solve the problem. (BZ#1373534)

The KASLR no longer causes kernel to become unresponsive while booting the
system
Previously, the kernel sometimes became unresponsive on certain SGI UV systems when the Kernel
Address Space Layout Randomization (KASLR) feature was enabled. As a consequence, the systems
were unable to boot. With this update, the kernel does not attempt to adapt the size of the direct mapping
when KASLR is enabled. As a result, the system now boots normally and the described problem no
longer occurs. (BZ#1457046)

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7.5 Release Notes

Unplugging a Wacom tablet with ExpressKeys no longer causes the operating


system to reboot
When some Wacom tablets were unplugged from a running GNOME session on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 7.4, the operating system rebooted within five seconds. This problem was initially observed on
Wacom model 27QHD devices. This update ensures that the tablet can be unplugged without causing
the operating system to reboot. (BZ#1462363)

Setting memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes no longer causes a problem when removing


that memory cgroup later
Previously, setting the cgroup memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes parameter caused a problem when
that memory cgroup was later removed. The problem occurred when an attempt was made to merge the
memory cgroup kmem cache, which was not handled properly. This update disables kmem cache merging
for memory cgroups by backporting the current upstream code, which no longer uses this functionality.
(BZ#1442618)

The sha1-avx2 encryption algorithm is now re-enabled


Due to a read-beyond error (when the code attempts to read memory outside of its boundary), the sha1-
avx2 encryption algorithm was disabled. With this update, the problem has been resolved, and
administrators may now use sha1-avx2. (BZ#1469200)

VXLAN rebased to version 4.14


The VXLAN driver has been upgraded to upstream version 4.14, which provides a number of bug fixes
over the previous version. Notable changes include the following:

The tunnel source IP address is used in route lookups.

VXLAN Generic Protocol Extension (VXLAN-GPE) now uses the correct Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

The VNI 0xffffff value can now be used.

A race condition on tunnel removal has been fixed.

Static forwarding database (fdb) entries now behave consistently with Linux bridge.
(BZ#1467280)

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CHAPTER 32. NETWORKING


Network operation persists when ip6mr unregisters an already unregistered device
Previously, the IPv6 multicast routing (ip6mr) code tried to unregister an already unregistered
device. As a consequence, a bug was reported in the syslog causing the network operation to stop.
With this update, ip6mr no longer unregisters devices that are already marked as unregistered. As a
result, no more bugs are reported in syslog, and the network operation persists in the described
scenario. (BZ#1445046)

Sending big files through VTI no longer fails


Previously, when sending a big file through Virtual Tunnel Interface (VTI) failed because VTI
did not handle Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU). As a consequence, files with greater
size than the PMTU size could not be sent. This update adds PMTU handling. As a result, PMTU can be
updated in Tx path, and the described problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1467521)

L2TP with IPv6 encapsulation now works in name space


Previously, using Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) with IPv6 encapsulation did not support
name space. As a consequence, L2TP could not be used in name space. With this update, L2TP with
IPv6 encapsulation is now aware of name space, and the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1465711)

Flushing ARP entries no longer fails


Previously, trying to flush an incomplete or failed Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) entry had
no effect. As a consequence, the incomplete ARP entry remained there, and in some cases caused
problems for debugging systems or networks. This update allows for the removal of an incomplete or
failed ARP entry. As a result, users can now get an ARP table as expected. (BZ#1383691, BZ#1469945)

Using cls_matchall with classful queue disciplines no longer causes the kernel to
crash
Previously, the matchall classifier (cls_matchall) did not assign the classic option to a packet. As
a consequence, the kernel terminated unexpectedly when trying to use cls_matchall with classful
queueing disciplines (classful qdiscs), such as Hierarchical Token Bucket (HTB) or Class Based
Queueing (CBQ). With this update, when cls_matchall processes classid, classid is assigned to
a packet. As a result, cls_matchall with classful qdiscs can now be used successfully and the
user-provided value of classid is no longer ignored in the described scenario.

For more details on the kernel actions related to classid, see the OPTIONS section in the tc-
matchall (8) man page. (BZ#1460213)

ICMP error packets are no longer lost when a user connects to a closed SCTP port
Previously, when trying to connect to a closed Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) port, an
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) error reply from the server was lost. This
occurred only with Network Interface Cards (NICs) that used non-linear buffers to receive data.
As a consequence, for a connection to a closed SCTP port, the user was waiting until a timeout instead
of getting the connection refused error message from the server immediately. With this update, the
received data is handled in a linear way and the ICMP error reply is not lost. As a result, the user
receives the corresponding ICMP error in the described situation. (BZ#1450529)

SCTP now selects the right source address


Previously, when using a secondary IPv6 address, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)
selected the source address based on the best prefix matching with the destination address. As a
consequence, in some cases, a packet was sent through an interface with the wrong IPv6 address. With

117
7.5 Release Notes

this update, SCTP uses the address that already exists in the routing table for this specific route. As a
result, SCTP uses the expected IPv6 address as the source address when secondary addresses are
used on a host. (BZ#1460106)

Device reference held by iptables CLUSTERIP target is now properly released on


namespace deletion
Previously, the iptables CLUSTERIP target held a direct reference to the network device specified as
input device in the associated rule. When that rule inside a namespace was deleted, the corresponding
reference was not released. As a consequence, upon namespace deletion, dangling references held by
the CLUSTERIP target sometimes prevented deletion of network devices contained in the namespace.
For this reason, it was not possible to create a device with the same name and the related memory was
not freed. With this update, the CLUSTERIP target rule reference does not hold the related device but its
index. As a result, when deleting a namespace, all the rules and references related to this namespace
are also cleared properly. (BZ#1472892)

The nftables configuration files are no longer publicly readable


Previously, during installation in the RPM file, the nftables configuration file mode bits were not
adjusted accordingly. As a consequence, the configuration templates in the /etc/nftables directory
and the etc/sysconfig/nftables.conf main configuration file were publicly readable. With this
update, the file mode bits are explicitly set to correct values when installing the configuration files. As a
result, the user can now install the configuration files with the correct permissions.

Note that the configuration files which are not modified by the administrator, are replaced with
configuration files with the correct permissions.

The modified configuration files are not replaced. In that case, for /etc/sysconfig/nftables.conf,
an rpmnew file is created which has the correct permissions. For any files in /etc/nftables, no
rpmnew file is created, and the user must manually set the permissions. (BZ#1451404)

The Ready to read events are now correctly sent to an application when
SENDER_DRY_EVENTS is enabled
Previously, when enabling the SENDER_DRY_EVENTS notifications or when the Stream Control
Transmission Protocol (SCTP) Partial Reliability triggered the removal of a chunk, the SCTP stack
flagged an event that it was already generated and sent it to an application. However, the flag was not
removed afterwards. As a consequence, the application missed the ready to read event. With this
update, the stack does not flag the event in such cases anymore. As a result, the ready to read
events are now correctly dispatched to an application. (BZ#1442784)

SCTP statistics now available


Previously, the stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) statistics parser could not handle the
/proc/net/sctp/snmp source file. As a consequence, users were not able to see the statistic
information. Parsing of the SCTP statistics has been fixed. As a result, the SCTP statistics are now
available to users. (BZ#1329338)

The firewalld service daemon no longer hangs in the rmmod process


Previously, some network device drivers, specifically some wi-fi and IP over InfiniBand
Network Interface Cards (IPoIB NICs) drivers, held conntrack entries associated with
untracked packets for an unlimited amount of time. As a consequence, at removal time, the conntrack
kernel module was in a busy loop waiting for these entries to be freed. This led to the rmmod
nf_conntrack module consuming 100% of the CPU usage causing firewalld to hang at shutdown
time. With this update, the new kernel removes support for the notrack conntrack entries, and
conntrack no longer waits for such entries to be freed. As a result, the firewalld shutdown no longer
hangs. (BZ#1317099)

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CHAPTER 33. SECURITY

CHAPTER 33. SECURITY


When firewalld starts, net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_max is no longer reset to
default if its configuration exists
Previously, firewalld reset the nf_conntrack settings to their default values when it was started or
restarted. As a consequence, the net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_max setting was restored to its
default value. With this update, each time firewalld starts, it reloads nf_conntrack sysctls as they
are configured in /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/sysctl.d. As a result,
net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_max maintains the user-configured value. (BZ#1462977)

Tomcat can now be started using tomcat-jsvc with SELinux in enforcing mode
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, the tomcat_t unconfined domain was not correctly defined in the
SELinux policy. Consequently, the Tomcat server cannot be started by the tomcat-jsvc service with
SELinux in enforcing mode. This update allows the tomcat_t domain to use the dac_override,
setuid, and kill capability rules. As a result, Tomcat is now able to start through tomcat-jsvc with
SELinux in enforcing mode. (BZ#1470735)

SELinux now allows vdsm to communicate with lldpad


Prior to this update, SELinux in enforcing mode denied the vdsm daemon to access lldpad
information. Consequently, vdsm was not able to work correctly. With this update, a rule to allow a
virtd_t domain to send data to a lldpad_t domain through the dgram socket has been added to the
selinux-policy packages. As a result, vdsm labeled as virtd_t can now communicate with lldpad
labeled as lldpad_t if SELinux is set to enforcing mode. (BZ#1472722)

OpenSSH servers without Privilege Separation no longer crash


Prior to this update, a pointer had been dereferenced before its validity was checked. Consequently,
OpenSSH servers with the Privilege Separation option turned off crashed during the session
cleanup. With this update, pointers are checked properly, and OpenSSH servers no longer crash while
running without Privilege Separation due the described bug.

Note that disabling OpenSSH Privilege Separation is not recommended. (BZ#1488083)

The clevis luks bind command no longer fails with the DISA STIG-compliant
password policy
Previously, passwords generated as part of the clevis luks bind command were not compliant with
the Defense Information Systems Agency Security Technical Implementation Guide (DISA STIG)
password policy set in the pwquality.conf file. Consequently, clevis luks bind failed on DISA
STIG-compliant systems in certain cases. With this update, passwords are generated using a utility
designed to generate random passwords that pass the password policy, and clevis luks bind now
succeeds in the described scenario. (BZ#1500975)

WinSCP 5.10 now works properly with OpenSSH


Previously, OpenSSH incorrectly recognized WinSCP version 5.10 as older version 5.1. As a
consequence, the compatibility bits for WinSCP version 5.1 were enabled for WinSCP 5.10, and the
newer version did not work properly with OpenSSH. With this update, the version selectors have been
fixed, and WinSCP 5.10 now works properly with OpenSSH servers. (BZ#1496808)

SFTP no longer allows to create zero-length files in read-only mode


Prior to this update, the process_open function in the OpenSSH SFTP server did not properly prevent
write operations in read-only mode. Consequently, attackers were allowed to create zero-length files.
With this update, the function has been fixed, and the SFTP server no longer allows any file creation in
read-only mode. (BZ#1517226)

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CHAPTER 34. SERVERS AND SERVICES


Internal buffer locks no longer cause deadlocks in libdb
Previously, the libdb database did not lock its internal buffers in the correct order when it accessed
pages located in an off-page duplicate (OPD) tree while processing operations on a cursor. A writer
process accessed first the primary tree and then the OPD tree while a reader process did the same in the
reverse order. When a writer process accessed a page from the primary tree while a reader process
accessed a page from the OPD tree, the processes were unable to access the page from the other tree
because the pages were simultaneously locked by the other process. This consequently caused a
deadlock in libdb because neither of the processes released their locks. With this update, the btree
version of the cursor->get method has been modified to lock the tree's pages in the same order as
the writing methods, that is, the primary tree first and the OPD tree second. As a result, deadlocks in
libdb no longer occur in the described scenario. (BZ# 1349779)

Weekly log rotations are now triggered more predictably


Weekly log rotations were previously performed by the logrotate utility when exactly 7 days (604800
seconds) elapsed since the last rotation. Consequently, if the logrotate command was triggered by a
cron job slightly sooner, the rotation was delayed until the next run. With this update, weekly log
rotations ignore the exact time. As a result, when the day counter advances by 7 or more days since the
last rotation, a new rotation is triggered. (BZ#1465720)

ghostscript no longer crashes while processing large PDF files


Previously, processing large PDF files could cause the ghostscript utility to terminate unexpectedly
under certain rare circumstances. With this update, an internal ghostscript virtual machine limit,
DEFAULT_VM_THRESHOLD, has been increased, and the described problem no longer occurs. In
addition, processing of large files is now slightly faster. (BZ#1479852)

Converting large PDF files to PNG with ghostscript no longer fails


Due to a bug in the upstream source code, converting large PDF files to the PNG format using the
ghostscript utility failed under certain rare circumstances. This bug has been fixed, and the described
problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1473337)

krfb no longer crashes when unable to bind to an IPv6 port


Previously, connecting to the krfb application with a VNC client when krfb could not bind to an IPv6
port, krfb terminated unexpectedly. This update fixes the improper handling of uninitialized IPv6 socket,
and applications built on the libvncserver library now deal with the unsuccessful attempt to listen on an
IPv6 port correctly. (BZ#1314814)

mod_nss properly detects the threading model in Apache to improve performance


Previously, the mod_nss module was not detecting the threading model properly in Apache.
Consequently, users experienced slower performance because the TLS Session ID was not maintained
across handshakes and a new session ID was generated for each handshake. This update fixes the
threading model detection. As a result, TLS Session IDs are now properly cached, which eliminates the
described performance problems. (BZ#1461580)

atd no longer runs with 100% CPU utilization nor fills system log
Previously, the atd daemon of the at utility handled incorrectly some types of broken jobs, particularly
jobs of non-existent users. As a consequence, atd used up all available CPU resources and filled the
system log by messages sent with unlimited frequency. With this update, the handling of the broken jobs
by atd has been fixed and the problem does not occur anymore. (BZ#1481355)

ReaR now provides a more helpful error message when grub2-efi-x64-modules is


missing

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CHAPTER 34. SERVERS AND SERVICES

Previously, an attempt to create a ReaR backup on UEFI systems using the rear mkrescue and rear
mkbackup commands failed due to a missing grub2-efi-x64-modules package, which is not installed by
default but is required by ReaR to generate a GRUB image. The commands failed with the following error
message:

ERROR: Error occurred during grub2-mkimage of BOOTX64.efi

This message proved to be confusing and unhelpful. With this update, the error will still appear in the
same circumstances, but it will point out how to fix the problem:

WARNING: /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/moddep.lst not found, grub2-mkimage will


likely fail. Please install the grub2-efi-x64-modules package to fix this.

As the updated message explains, you must install the missing grub2-efi-x64-modules package before
you can create a ReaR backup on a system with UEFI firmware. (BZ#1492177)

ReaR no longer fails to determine disk size during a mkrescue operation


Previously, the ReaR (Relax-and-Recover) utility sometimes encountered a failure while querying
partition sizes when saving the disk layout due to a race condition with udev. As a consequence, the
mkrescue operation failed with the following message:

ERROR: BUG BUG BUG! Could not determine size of disk

Therefore it was not possible to create the rescue image. The bug has been fixed, and rescue image
creation now works as expected. (BZ#1388653)

ReaR no longer requires dosfsck and efibootmgr on non-UEFI systems


Previously, ReaR (Relax-and-Recover) incorrectly required the dosfsck and efibootmgr utilities
installed on systems that do not use UEFI. As a consequence, if the utilities were missing, the rear
mkrescue command failed with an error. This bug has been fixed, and ReaR now requires the
mentioned utilities to be installed only on UEFI systems. (BZ#1479002)

ReaR no longer fails with NetBackup and has more reliable network configuration
Previously, two problems in the startup procedure of the rescue system caused the ReaR (Relax-and-
Recover) restore process to fail when using the NetBackup method. The system's init scripts were
sourced instead of executed when used by ReaR. As a consequence, the NetBackup init script aborted
the system-setup process. Additionally, processes created by the system setup were immediately
terminated. This affected the dhclient tool as well, and in some cases caused an IP address conflict.
With this update, both bugs have been fixed. As a result, ReaR works properly with the NetBackup
method, and network configuration using DHCP is more reliable. (BZ#1506231)

ReaR recovery no longer fails when backup integrity checking is enabled


Previously, if ReaR (Relax-and-Recover) was configured to use backup integrity checking
(BACKUP_INTEGRITY_CHECK=1), the recovery process always failed because the md5sum command
could not find the backup archive. This bug has been fixed, and the described problem no longer occurs.
(BZ#1532676)

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CHAPTER 35. STORAGE


DM Multipath no longer crashes when adding a feature to an empty string
Previously, the DM Multipath service terminated unexpectedly when it attempted to add a feature to the
features string of a built-in device configuration that had no features string. With this update, DM
Multipath first checks if the features string exists, and creates one if necessary. As a result, DM Multipath
no longer crashes when trying to modify a nonexistent features string. (BZ#1459370)

I/O operations no longer hang with RAID1


Previously, the kernel did not handle Multiple Devices (MD) I/O errors properly in dm-raid. As a
consequence, the I/O sometimes became unresponsive. With this update, dm-raid now handles I/O
errors correctly, and I/O operations no longer hang with RAID1. (BZ#1506338)

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CHAPTER 36. SYSTEM AND SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 36. SYSTEM AND SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT


Yum no longer crashes in certain nss and nspr update scenario
Previously, when the yum installer updated a certain combination of nss and nspr package versions, the
transaction sometimes terminated prematurely due to a following symbol lookup error:

/lib64/libnsssysinit.so: undefined symbol: PR_GetEnvSecure

This then caused stale rpm locks. Yum has been updated to correctly deal with this particular nss and
nspr update scenario. As a result, yum does not terminate anymore in the described scenario.
(BZ#1458841)

The fastestmirror plug-in now orders mirrors before the metadata download
Previously, when the yum installer ran for the first time after a cache cleanup, the fastestmirror plug-
in did not select the fastest mirror before metadata download. This sometimes caused a delay if some
mirrors were slow or unavailable. With this update, the fastestmirror plug-in has been modified to
have effect on mirror selection before metadata download. As a result, the mirrors are polled and
arranged before metadata download, which prevents such delays. (BZ#1428210)

The package-cleanup script no longer removes package dependencies of non-


duplicates
Previously, running the package-cleanup script with the --cleandupes option also removed
packages that depended on duplicates. Consequently, some packages were removed unintentionally.
With this update, the package-cleanup script has been fixed to skip package dependencies of non-
duplicates. Instead, the package-cleanup script prints a warning with a suggestion of a workaround.
(BZ#1455318)

rhnsd.pid is now writable only by the owner


In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, the default permissions of the /var/run/rhnsd.pid file were
changed to -rw-rw-rw-.. This setting was not secure. With this update, the change has been reverted,
and the default permissions of /var/run/rhnsd.pid are now -rw-r--r--.. (BZ#1480306)

rhn_check now correctly reports system reboots to Satellite


Previously, if a system reboot of a Satellite client occurred during a rhn_check run, rhn_check did not
report its termination to Satellite. Consequently, the status of rhn_check in Satellite did not update. With
this update, this incorrect behavior is fixed and rhn_check now handles system reboots and reports the
correct status to Satellite. (BZ#1494389)

The rpm rhnlib -qi command now refers to the current upstream project website
Previously, the RPM information of the rhnlib package incorrectly referred to a deprecated upstream
project website. With this update, the rpm rhnlib -qi command displays the URL of the current
upstream project website. (BZ#1503953)

Kernel installations using rhnsd complete successfully


If a kernel installation scheduled by the kernel was run using the Red Hat Network Daemon (rhnsd),
the installation of the kernel sometimes stopped before completion. This issue has been fixed and kernel
installations using rhnsd now complete successfully. (BZ#1475039)

rhn_check no longer modifies permissions on files in /var/cache/yum/


Previously, when the Red Hat Network Daemon (rhnsd) executed the rhn_check command, the
command modified permissions on the files in the /var/cache/yum/ directory incorrectly, resulting in
a vulnerability. This bug has been fixed and rhn_check no longer modifies permissions on the files in

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7.5 Release Notes

the /var/cache/yum/ directory. (BZ#1489989)

subscription-manager reports an RPM package if its vendor contains non-UTF8


characters
Previously, the subscription-manager utility assumed UTF-8 data in the RPM package vendor field.
Consequently, if an RPM installed on the system contained a vendor with non-UTF8 characters, the
subscription-manager failed to report the packages. With this update, the subscription-
manager has been updated to ignore encoding issues in the RPM package vendor field. As a result,
subscription-manager reports a package profile correctly even if the installed RPM has a non-UTF8
vendor. (BZ#1519512)

subscription-manager now works with proxies that expect the Host header
Previously, the subscription-manager utility was not compatible with proxies that expect the Host
header because it did not include the Host header when connecting. With this update, subscription-
manager includes the Host header when connecting and is compatible with these proxies.
(BZ#1507158)

subscription-manager assigns valid IPv4 addresses to network.ipv4_address even


if initial DNS resolution fails
Previously, when the subscription-manager utility failed to resolve the IPv4 address of a system, it
incorrectly assigned the loopback interface address 127.0.0.1 for the network.ipv4_address fact.
This occurred even when there was a valid interface with a valid IP address. With this update, if
subscription-manager fails to resolve the IPv4 address of a system, it gathers IPv4 addresses from
all interfaces except the loopback interface and assigns the valid IPv4 addresses for the
network.ipv4_address fact. (BZ#1476817)

virt-who ensures that provided options fit the same virtualization type
With this update, the virt-who utility ensures that all command-line options provided by the user are
compatible with the intended virtualization type. In addition, if virt-who detects an incompatible option,
it provides a corresponding error message. (BZ#1461417)

virt-who configuration no longer resets on upgrade or reinstall


Previously, upgrading or reinstalling virt-who reset the configuration of the /etc/virt-who.conf
file to default values. This update changes the packaging of virt-who to prevent overwriting
configuration files, which ensures the described problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1485865)

virt-who now reads the 'address' field provided by RHEVM to discover and report
the correct host name
Previously, if the virt-who utility reported on a Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) host and the
hypervisor_id=hostname option was used, virt-who displayed an incorrect host name value. This
update ensures that virt-who reads the correct field value in the described circumstances and as a
result, the proper host name is displayed. (BZ#1389729)

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CHAPTER 37. VIRTUALIZATION

CHAPTER 37. VIRTUALIZATION


Guests no longer shut down unexpectedly during reboot
On a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 guest running on qemu-kvm-1.5.3-139.el7, if the i6300esb
watchdog was set to poweroff, the watchdog was triggered when shutting down due to the timeout
being calculated incorrectly. Consequently, when rebooting the guest, it shut down instead. With this
update, the timeout calculations in qemu-kvm have been corrected. As a result, the virtual machine
reboots properly. (BZ#1470244)

Guests accessed using a serial console no longer become unresponsive


Previously, if a client opened a host-side pseudoterminal device (pty) on a KVM guest pty serial console
and did not read from it, the guest in some cases became unresponsive because because of blocking
read/write calls. With this update, the host-side pty open mode was set to non-blocking. As a result, the
guest machine does not become unresponsive in the described scenario. (BZ#1455451)

virt-v2v now warns about not converting PCI passthrough devices


The virt-v2v utility currently cannot convert PCI passthrough devices and thus ignores them in the
conversion process. Prior to this update, however, attempting to convert a guest virtual machine with a
PCI passthrough device successfully converted the guest, but did not provide any warning about the
ignored PCI passthrough device. Now, converting such a guest logs an appropriate warning message
during the conversion. (BZ#1472719)

When importing OVAs, virt-v2v now parses MAC addresses


Previously, the virt-v2v utility did not parse the MAC addresses of network interfaces when importing
Open Virtual Appliances (OVAs). Consequently, the converted guest virtual machines had network
interfaces with different MAC addresses, resulting in the network setup breaking. With this release,
virt-v2v parses the MAC addresses, if available, of network interfaces when importing OVAs. As a
result, network converted guests have the same MAC addresses as specified in the OVAs and the
network setup does not break. (BZ#1506572)

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7.5 Release Notes

PART III. TECHNOLOGY PREVIEWS


This part provides a list of all Technology Previews available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

For information on Red Hat scope of support for Technology Preview features, see
https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.

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CHAPTER 38. GENERAL UPDATES

CHAPTER 38. GENERAL UPDATES


The systemd-importd VM and container image import and export service
Latest systemd version now contains the systemd-importd daemon that was not enabled in the
earlier build, which caused the machinectl pull-* commands to fail. Note that the systemd-
importd daemon is offered as a Technology Preview and should not be considered stable.
(BZ#1284974)

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CHAPTER 39. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY


Use of AD and LDAP sudo providers
The Active Directory (AD) provider is a back end used to connect to an AD server. Starting with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.2, using the AD sudo provider together with the LDAP provider is available as a
Technology Preview. To enable the AD sudo provider, add the sudo_provider=ad setting in the
[domain] section of the sssd.conf file. (BZ#1068725)

DNSSEC available as Technology Preview in IdM


Identity Management (IdM) servers with integrated DNS now support DNS Security Extensions
(DNSSEC), a set of extensions to DNS that enhance security of the DNS protocol. DNS zones hosted on
IdM servers can be automatically signed using DNSSEC. The cryptographic keys are automatically
generated and rotated.

Users who decide to secure their DNS zones with DNSSEC are advised to read and follow these
documents:

DNSSEC Operational Practices, Version 2: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6781#section-2

Secure Domain Name System (DNS) Deployment Guide:


http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-81-2

DNSSEC Key Rollover Timing Considerations: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7583

Note that IdM servers with integrated DNS use DNSSEC to validate DNS answers obtained from other
DNS servers. This might affect the availability of DNS zones that are not configured in accordance with
recommended naming practices described in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Networking Guide:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-
US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Configure_Host_Names.html#sec-
Recommended_Naming_Practices. (BZ#1115294)

Identity Management JSON-RPC API available as Technology Preview


An API is available for Identity Management (IdM). To view the API, IdM also provides an API browser as
Technology Preview.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, the IdM API was enhanced to enable multiple versions of API
commands. Previously, enhancements could change the behavior of a command in an incompatible
way. Users are now able to continue using existing tools and scripts even if the IdM API changes. This
enables:

Administrators to use previous or later versions of IdM on the server than on the managing client.

Developers to use a specific version of an IdM call, even if the IdM version changes on the
server.

In all cases, the communication with the server is possible, regardless if one side uses, for example, a
newer version that introduces new options for a feature.

For details on using the API, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/2728021 (BZ#1298286)

The Custodia secrets service provider is now available


As a Technology Preview, you can now use Custodia, a secrets service provider. Custodia stores or
serves as a proxy for secrets, such as keys or passwords.

For details, see the upstream documentation at http://custodia.readthedocs.io. (BZ#1403214)

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CHAPTER 39. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY

Containerized Identity Management server available as Technology Preview


The rhel7/ipa-server container image is available as a Technology Preview feature. Note that the
rhel7/sssd container image is now fully supported.

For details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html-


single/using_containerized_identity_management_services. (BZ#1405325, BZ#1405326)

129
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 40. CLUSTERING


The pcs tool now manages bundle resources in Pacemaker
As a Technology Preview starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, the pcs tool supports bundle
resources. You can now use the pcs resource bundle create and the pcs resource bundle
update commands to create and modify a bundle. You can add a resource to an existing bundle with
the pcs resource create command. For information on the parameters you can set for a bundle
resource, run the pcs resource bundle --help command. (BZ#1433016)

New fence-agents-heuristics-ping fence agent


As a Technology Preview, Pacemaker now supports the fence_heuristics_ping agent. This agent
aims to open a class of experimental fence agents that do no actual fencing by themselves but instead
exploit the behavior of fencing levels in a new way.

If the heuristics agent is configured on the same fencing level as the fence agent that does the actual
fencing but is configured before that agent in sequence, fencing issues an off action on the heuristics
agent before it attempts to do so on the agent that does the fencing. If the heuristics agent gives a
negative result for the off action it is already clear that the fencing level is not going to succeed, causing
Pacemaker fencing to skip the step of issuing the off action on the agent that does the fencing. A
heuristics agent can exploit this behavior to prevent the agent that does the actual fencing from fencing a
node under certain conditions.

A user might want to use this agent, especially in a two-node cluster, when it would not make sense for a
node to fence the peer if it can know beforehand that it would not be able to take over the services
properly. For example, it might not make sense for a node to take over services if it has problems
reaching the networking uplink, making the services unreachable to clients, a situation which a ping to a
router might detect in that case. (BZ#1476401)

Heuristics supported in corosync-qdevice as a Technology Preview


Heuristics are a set of commands executed locally on startup, cluster membership change, successful
connect to corosync-qnetd, and, optionally, on a periodic basis. When all commands finish
successfully on time (their return error code is zero), heuristics have passed; otherwise, they have failed.
The heuristics result is sent to corosync-qnetd where it is used in calculations to determine which
partition should be quorate. (BZ#1413573, BZ#1389209)

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CHAPTER 41. DESKTOP

CHAPTER 41. DESKTOP


Wayland available as a Technology Preview
The Wayland display server protocol is now available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a Technology
Preview. This update adds the dependent packages required to enable Wayland support in GNOME,
which supports fractional scaling. Wayland uses the libinput library as its input driver.

The following features are currently unavailable or do not work correctly:

Multiple GPU support is impossible.

The NVIDIA binary driver does not work under Wayland.

The xrandr utility does not work under Wayland due to its different approach to handling,
resolutions, rotations, and layout.

Screen recording, remote desktop, and accessibility do not always work correctly under
Wayland.

No clipboard manager is available.

It is impossible to restart GNOME Shell under Wayland.

Wayland ignores keyboard grabs issued by X11 applications, such as virtual machines viewers.
(BZ#1481411)

Fractional Scaling available as a Technology Preview


Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, GNOME provides, as a Technology Preview, fractional
scaling to address problems with monitors whose DPI lies in the middle between lo (scale 1) and hi
(scale 2).

Due to technical limitations, fractional scaling is available only on Wayland. (BZ#1481395)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 42. FILE SYSTEMS


ext4 and XFS file systems now support DAX
Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, Direct Access (DAX) provides, as a Technology Preview, a
means for an application to directly map persistent memory into its address space. To use DAX, a
system must have some form of persistent memory available, usually in the form of one or more Non-
Volatile Dual In-line Memory Modules (NVDIMMs), and a file system that supports DAX must be created
on the NVDIMM(s). Also, the file system must be mounted with the dax mount option. Then, an mmap of
a file on the dax-mounted file system results in a direct mapping of storage into the application's address
space. (BZ#1274459)

pNFS block layout is now available


As a Technology Preview, Red Hat Enterprise Linux clients can now mount pNFS shares with the block
layout feature.

Note that Red Hat recommends using the pNFS SCSI layout instead, which is similar to block layout but
easier to use. (BZ#1111712)

pNFS SCSI layout is now available for client and server


Client and server support for parallel NFS (pNFS) SCSI layouts is provided as a Technology Preview
starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3. Building on the work of block layouts, the pNFS layout is
defined across SCSI devices and contains sequential series of fixed-size blocks as logical units that must
be capable of supporting SCSI persistent reservations. The Logical Unit (LU) devices are identified by
their SCSI device identification, and fencing is handled through the assignment of reservations.
(BZ#1305092)

OverlayFS
OverlayFS is a type of union file system. It allows the user to overlay one file system on top of another.
Changes are recorded in the upper file system, while the lower file system remains unmodified. This
allows multiple users to share a file-system image, such as a container or a DVD-ROM, where the base
image is on read-only media. Refer to the kernel file Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.txt for
additional information.

OverlayFS remains a Technology Preview in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 under most circumstances.
As such, the kernel will log warnings when this technology is activated.

Full support is available for OverlayFS when used with Docker under the following restrictions:

OverlayFS is only supported for use as a Docker graph driver. Its use can only be supported for
container COW content, not for persistent storage. Any persistent storage must be placed on
non-OverlayFS volumes to be supported. Only default Docker configuration can be used; that is,
one level of overlay, one lowerdir, and both lower and upper levels are on the same file system.

Only XFS is currently supported for use as a lower layer file system.

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 and earlier, SELinux must be enabled and in enforcing mode
on the physical machine, but must be disabled in the container when performing container
separation, that is the /etc/sysconfig/docker file must not contain --selinux-enabled.
Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, OverlayFS supports SELinux security labels, and you
can enable SELinux support for containers by specifying --selinux-enabled in
/etc/sysconfig/docker.

The OverlayFS kernel ABI and userspace behavior are not considered stable, and may see
changes in future updates.

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CHAPTER 42. FILE SYSTEMS

In order to make the yum and rpm utilities work properly inside the container, the user should be
using the yum-plugin-ovl packages.

Note that OverlayFS provides a restricted set of the POSIX standards. Test your application thoroughly
before deploying it with OverlayFS.

Note that XFS file systems must be created with the -n ftype=1 option enabled for use as an overlay.
With the rootfs and any file systems created during system installation, set the --mkfsoptions=-n
ftype=1 parameters in the Anaconda kickstart. When creating a new file system after the installation,
run the # mkfs -t xfs -n ftype=1 /PATH/TO/DEVICE command. To determine whether an
existing file system is eligible for use as an overlay, run the # xfs_info /PATH/TO/DEVICE | grep
ftype command to see if the ftype=1 option is enabled.

There are also several known issues associated with OverlayFS as of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
release. For details, see Non-standard behavior in the
Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.txt file. (BZ#1206277)

Btrfs file system


The Btrfs (B-Tree) file system is available as a Technology Preview in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 introduced the last planned update to this feature. Btrfs has been
deprecated, which means Red Hat will not be moving Btrfs to a fully supported feature and it will be
removed in a future major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. (BZ#1477977)

New package: ima-evm-utils


The ima-evm-utils package provides utilities to label the file system and verify the integrity of your system
at run time using the Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA) and Extended Verification Module (EVM)
features. These utilities enable you to monitor if files have been accidentally or maliciously altered.

The ima-evm-utils package is now available as a Technology Preview. (BZ#1384450)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 43. HARDWARE ENABLEMENT


LSI Syncro CS HA-DAS adapters
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 included code in the megaraid_sas driver to enable LSI Syncro CS high-
availability direct-attached storage (HA-DAS) adapters. While the megaraid_sas driver is fully supported
for previously enabled adapters, the use of this driver for Syncro CS is available as a Technology
Preview. Support for this adapter is provided directly by LSI, your system integrator, or system vendor.
Users deploying Syncro CS on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 and later are encouraged to provide
feedback to Red Hat and LSI. For more information on LSI Syncro CS solutions, please visit
http://www.lsi.com/products/shared-das/pages/default.aspx. (BZ#1062759)

tss2 enables TPM 2.0 for IBM Power LE


The tss2 package adds IBM implementation of a Trusted Computing Group Software Stack (TSS) 2.0 as
a Technology Preview for the IBM Power LE architecture. This package enables users to interact with
TPM 2.0 devices. (BZ#1384452)

ibmvnic Device Driver


Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, the ibmvnic Device Driver has been available as a
Technology Preview for IBM POWER architectures. vNIC (Virtual Network Interface Controller) is a
PowerVM virtual networking technology that delivers enterprise capabilities and simplifies network
management. It is a high-performance, efficient technology that when combined with SR-IOV NIC
provides bandwidth control Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities at the virtual NIC level. vNIC significantly
reduces virtualization overhead, resulting in lower latencies and fewer server resources, including CPU
and memory, required for network virtualization. (BZ#1391561, BZ#947163)

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CHAPTER 44. KERNEL

CHAPTER 44. KERNEL


Heterogeneous memory management included as a Technology Preview
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 introduced the heterogeneous memory management (HMM) feature as a
Technology Preview. This feature has been added to the kernel as a helper layer for devices that want to
mirror a process address space into their own memory management unit (MMU). Thus a non-CPU
device processor is able to read system memory using the unified system address space. To enable this
feature, add experimental_hmm=enable to the kernel command line. (BZ#1230959)

criu rebased to version 3.5


Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 introduced the criu tool as a Technology Preview. This tool implements
Checkpoint/Restore in User-space (CRIU), which can be used to freeze a running application
and store it as a collection of files. Later, the application can be restored from its frozen state.

Note that the criu tool depends on Protocol Buffers, a language-neutral, platform-neutral
extensible mechanism for serializing structured data. The protobuf and protobuf-c packages, which
provide this dependency, were also introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 as a Technology
Preview.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, the criu packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.5, which
provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements. In addition, support for IBM z Systems and the 64-bit
ARM architecture has been added. (BZ#1400230, BZ#1464596)

kexec as a Technology Preview


The kexec system call has been provided as a Technology Preview. This system call enables loading
and booting into another kernel from the currently running kernel, thus performing the function of the boot
loader from within the kernel. Hardware initialization, which is normally done during a standard system
boot, is not performed during a kexec boot, which significantly reduces the time required for a reboot.
(BZ#1460849)

kexec fast reboot as a Technology Preview


As a Technology Preview, this update adds the kexec fast reboot feature, which makes the reboot
significantly faster. To use this feature, you must load the kexec kernel manually, and then reboot the
operating system. It is not possible to make kexec fast reboot as the default reboot action.

Special case is using kexec fast reboot for Anaconda. It still does not enable to make kexec
fast reboot default. However, when used with Anaconda, the operating system can automatically
use kexec fast reboot after the installation is complete in case that user boots kernel with the
anaconda option. To schedule a kexec reboot, use the inst.kexec command on the kernel command
line, or include a reboot --kexec line in the Kickstart file. (BZ#1464377)

Unprivileged access to name spaces can be enabled as a Technology Preview


You can now set the namespace.unpriv_enable kernel command-line option if required, as a
Technology Preview.

The default setting is off.

When set to 1, issuing a call to the clone() function with the flag CLONE_NEWNS as an unprivileged user
no longer returns an error and allows the operation.

However, to enable the unprivileged access to name spaces, the CAP_SYS_ADMIN flag has to be set in
some user name space to create a mount name space. (BZ#1350553)

SCSI-MQ as a Technology Preview in the qla2xxx driver

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7.5 Release Notes

The qla2xxx& driver updated in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 can now enable the use of SCSI-MQ
(multiqueue) with the ql2xmqsupport=1 module parameter. The default value is 0 (disabled). The
SCSI-MQ functinality is provided as a Technology Preview when used with the qla2xxx driver.

Note that a recent performance testing at Red Hat with async IO over Fibre Channel adapters using
SCSI-MQ has shown significant performance degradation under certain conditions. A fix is being tested
but was not ready in time for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 General Availability. (BZ#1414957)

NVMe over Fibre Channel is now available as a Technology Preview


The NVMe over Fibre Channel transport type is now available as a Technology Preview. NVMe over
Fibre Channel is an additional fabric transport type for the Nonvolatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol,
in addition to the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) protocol that was previously introduced in Red
Hat Enterprise Linux.

To enable NVMe over Fibre Channel in the lpfc driver, edit the /etc/modprobe.d/lpfc.conf file
and add one or both of the following options:

To enable the NVMe mode of operation, add the lpfc_enable_fc4_type=3 option.

To enable target mode, add the lpfc_enable_nvmet=<wwpn list> option, where <wwpn
list> is a comma-separated list of World-Wide Port Name (WWPN) values with the 0x prefix.

To configure an NVMe target, use the nvmetcli utility.

NVMe over Fibre Channel provides a higher-performance, lower-latency I/O protocol over existing Fibre
Channel infrastructure. This is especially important with solid-state storage arrays, because it allows the
performance benefits of NVMe storage to be passed through the fabric transport, rather than being
encapsulated in a different protocol, SCSI.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, NVMe over Fibre Channel is available only with Broadcom 32Gbit
adapters, which use the lpfc driver. (BZ#1387768, BZ#1454386)

perf cqm has been replaced by resctrl


The Intel Cache Allocation Technology (CAT) was introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 as a
Technology Preview. However, the perf cqm tool did not work correctly due to an incompatibility
between perf infrastructure and Cache Quality of Service Monitoring (CQM) hardware support.
Consequently, multiple problems occurred when using perf cqm.

These problems included most notably:

perf cqm did not support the group of tasks which is allocated using resctrl

perf cqm gave random and inaccurate data due to several problems with recycling

perf cqm did not provide enough support when running different kinds of events together (the
different events are, for example, tasks, system-wide, and cgroup events)

perf cqm provided only partial support for cgroup events

The partial support for cgroup events did not work in cases with a hierarchy of cgroup events, or
when monitoring a task in a cgroup and the cgroup together

Monitoring tasks for the lifetime caused perf overhead

perf cqm reported the aggregate cache occupancy or memory bandwidth over all sockets,
while in most cloud and VMM-bases use cases the individual per-socket usage is needed

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CHAPTER 44. KERNEL

With this update, perf cqm has been replaced by the approach based on the resctrl file system,
which address all of the aforementioned problems. (BZ#1457533, BZ#1288964)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 45. REAL-TIME KERNEL


The SCHED_DEADLINE scheduler class as Technology Preview
The SCHED_DEADLINE scheduler class for the real-time kernel, which was introduced in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.4, continues to be available as a Technology Preview. The scheduler enables
predictable task scheduling based on application deadlines. SCHED_DEADLINE benefits periodic
workloads by reducing application timer manipulation. (BZ#1297061)

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CHAPTER 46. NETWORKING

CHAPTER 46. NETWORKING


Cisco usNIC driver
Cisco Unified Communication Manager (UCM) servers have an optional feature to provide a Cisco
proprietary User Space Network Interface Controller (usNIC), which allows performing Remote Direct
Memory Access (RDMA)-like operations for user-space applications. The libusnic_verbs driver, which is
available as a Technology Preview, makes it possible to use usNIC devices via standard InfiniBand
RDMA programming based on the Verbs API. (BZ#916384)

Cisco VIC kernel driver


The Cisco VIC Infiniband kernel driver, which is available as a Technology Preview, allows the use of
Remote Directory Memory Access (RDMA)-like semantics on proprietary Cisco architectures.
(BZ#916382)

Trusted Network Connect


Trusted Network Connect, available as a Technology Preview, is used with existing network access
control (NAC) solutions, such as TLS, 802.1X, or IPsec to integrate endpoint posture assessment; that
is, collecting an endpoint's system information (such as operating system configuration settings, installed
packages, and others, termed as integrity measurements). Trusted Network Connect is used to verify
these measurements against network access policies before allowing the endpoint to access the
network. (BZ#755087)

SR-IOV functionality in the qlcnic driver


Support for Single-Root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) has been added to the qlcnic driver as a Technology
Preview. Support for this functionality will be provided directly by QLogic, and customers are encouraged
to provide feedback to QLogic and Red Hat. Other functionality in the qlcnic driver remains fully
supported. (BZ#1259547)

The libnftnl and nftables packages


Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3., the nftables and libnftl packages are available as a
Technology Preview.

The nftables packages provide a packet-filtering tool, with numerous improvements in convenience,
features, and performance over previous packet-filtering tools. It is the designated successor to the
iptables, ip6tables, arptables, and ebtables utilities.

The libnftnl packages provide a library for low-level interaction with nftables Netlink's API over the
libmnl library. (BZ#1332585)

The flower classifier with off-loading support


flower is a Traffic Control (TC) classifier intended to allow users to configure matching on well-known
packet fields for various protocols. It is intended to make it easier to configure rules over the u32
classifier for complex filtering and classification tasks. flower also supports the ability to off-load
classification and action rules to underlying hardware if the hardware supports it. The flower TC
classifier is now provided as a Technology Preview. (BZ#1393375)

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CHAPTER 47. RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX SYSTEM ROLES


POWERED BY ANSIBLE
Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles
Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, available as a Technology Preview, is a configuration interface
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux subsystems, which makes system configuration easier through the inclusion
of Ansible Roles. This interface enables managing system configurations across multiple versions of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as well as adopting new major releases.

Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles packages have been
distributed through the Extras channel. For details regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles,
see https://access.redhat.com/articles/3050101. (BZ#1313263)

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CHAPTER 48. SECURITY


USBGuard enables blocking USB devices while the screen is locked as a
Technology Preview
With the USBGuard framework, you can influence how an already running usbguard-daemon instance
handles newly inserted USB devices by setting the value of the InsertedDevicePolicy runtime
parameter. This functionality is provided as a Technology Preview, and the default choice is to apply the
policy rules to figure out whether to authorize the device or not.

See the Blocking USB devices while the screen is locked Knowledge Base article:
https://access.redhat.com/articles/3230621 (BZ#1480100)

pk12util can now import certificates signed with RSA-PSS


The pk12util tool now provides importing a certificate signed with the RSA-PSS algorithm as a
Technology Preview.

Note that if the corresponding private key is imported and has the
PrivateKeyInfo.privateKeyAlgorithm field that restricts the signing algorithm to RSA-PSS, it is
ignored when importing the key to a browser. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1413596
for more information. (BZ#1431210)

Support for certificates signed with RSA-PSS in certutil has been improved
Support for certificates signed with the RSA-PSS algorithm in the certutil tool has been improved.
Notable enhancements and fixes include:

The --pss option is now documented.

The PKCS#1 v1.5 algorithm is no longer used for self-signed signatures when a certificate is
restricted to use RSA-PSS.

Empty RSA-PSS parameters in the subjectPublicKeyInfo field are no longer printed as


invalid when listing certificates.

The --pss-sign option for creating regular RSA certificates signed with the RSA-PSS
algorithm has been added.

Support for certificates signed with RSA-PSS in certutil is provided as a Technology Preview.
(BZ#1425514)

NSS is now able to verify RSA-PSS signatures on certificates


With the new version of the nss package, the Network Security Services (NSS) libraries now
provide verifying RSA-PSS signatures on certificates as a Technology Preview. Prior to this update,
clients using NSS as the SSL backend were not able to establish a TLS connection to a server that
offered only certificates signed with the RSA-PSS algorithm.

Note that the functionality has the following limitations:

The algorithm policy settings in the /etc/pki/nss-legacy/rhel7.config file do not apply


to the hash algorithms used in RSA-PSS signatures.

RSA-PSS parameters restrictions between certificate chains are ignored and only a single
certificate is taken into account. (BZ#1432142)

SECCOMP can be now enabled in libreswan

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7.5 Release Notes

As a Technology Preview, the seccomp=enabled|tolerant|disabled option has been added to


the ipsec.conf configuration file, which makes it possible to use the Secure Computing mode
(SECCOMP). This improves the syscall security by whitelisting all the system calls that Libreswan is
allowed to execute. For more information, see the ipsec.conf(5) man page. (BZ#1375750)

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CHAPTER 49. STORAGE

CHAPTER 49. STORAGE


Multi-queue I/O scheduling for SCSI
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 includes a new multiple-queue I/O scheduling mechanism for block devices
known as blk-mq. The scsi-mq package allows the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) subsystem
to make use of this new queuing mechanism. This functionality is provided as a Technology Preview and
is not enabled by default. To enable it, add scsi_mod.use_blk_mq=Y to the kernel command line.

Although blk-mq is intended to offer improved performance, particularly for low-latency devices, it is not
guaranteed to always provide better performance. In particular, in some cases, enabling scsi-mq can
result in significantly worse performance, especially on systems with many CPUs. (BZ#1109348)

Targetd plug-in from the libStorageMgmt API


Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, storage array management with libStorageMgmt, a storage array
independent API, has been fully supported. The provided API is stable, consistent, and allows
developers to programmatically manage different storage arrays and utilize the hardware-accelerated
features provided. System administrators can also use libStorageMgmt to manually configure storage
and to automate storage management tasks with the included command-line interface.

The Targetd plug-in is not fully supported and remains a Technology Preview. (BZ#1119909)

Support for Data Integrity Field/Data Integrity Extension (DIF/DIX)


DIF/DIX is a new addition to the SCSI Standard. It is fully supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for the
HBAs and storage arrays specified in the Features chapter, but it remains in Technology Preview for all
other HBAs and storage arrays.

DIF/DIX increases the size of the commonly used 512 byte disk block from 512 to 520 bytes, adding the
Data Integrity Field (DIF). The DIF stores a checksum value for the data block that is calculated by the
Host Bus Adapter (HBA) when a write occurs. The storage device then confirms the checksum on
receipt, and stores both the data and the checksum. Conversely, when a read occurs, the checksum can
be verified by the storage device, and by the receiving HBA. (BZ#1072107)

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CHAPTER 50. VIRTUALIZATION


USB 3.0 support for KVM guests
USB 3.0 host adapter (xHCI) emulation for KVM guests remains a Technology Preview in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7. (BZ#1103193)

Select Intel network adapters now support SR-IOV as a guest on Hyper-V


In this update for Red Hat Enterprise Linux guest virtual machines running on Hyper-V, a new PCI
passthrough driver adds the ability to use the single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) feature for Intel
network adapters supported by the ixgbevf driver. This ability is enabled when the following conditions
are met:

SR-IOV support is enabled for the network interface controller (NIC)

SR-IOV support is enabled for the virtual NIC

SR-IOV support is enabled for the virtual switch

The virtual function (VF) from the NIC is attached to the virtual machine.

The feature is currently supported with Microsoft Windows Server 2016. (BZ#1348508)

No-IOMMU mode for VFIO drivers


As a Technology Preview, this update adds No-IOMMU mode for virtual function I/O (VFIO) drivers. The
No-IOMMU mode provides the user with full user-space I/O (UIO) access to a direct memory access
(DMA)-capable device without a I/O memory management unit (IOMMU). Note that in addition to not
being supported, using this mode is not secure due to the lack of I/O management provided by IOMMU.
(BZ#1299662)

virt-v2v can now use vmx configuration files to convert VMware guests
As a Technology Preview, the virt-v2v utility now includes the vmx input mode, which enables the
user to convert a guest virtual machine from a VMware vmx configuration file. Note that to do this, you
also need access to the corresponding VMware storage, for example by mounting the storage using
NFS. It is also possible to access the storage using SSH, by adding the -it ssh parameter.
(BZ#1441197, BZ#1523767)

virt-v2v can convert Debian and Ubuntu guests


As a technology preview, the virt-v2v utility can now convert Debian and Ubuntu guest virtual
machines. Note that the following problems currently occur when performing this conversion:

virt-v2v cannot change the default kernel in the GRUB2 configuration, and the kernel
configured in the guest is not changed during the conversion, even if a more optimal version of
the kernel is available on the guest.

After converting a Debian or Ubuntu VMware guest to KVM, the name of the guest's network
interface may change, and thus requires manual configuration. (BZ#1387213)

Virtio devices can now use vIOMMU


As a Technology Preview, this update enables virtio devices to use virtual Input/Output Memory
Management Unit (vIOMMU). This guarantees the security of Direct Memory Access (DMA) by allowing
the device to DMA only to permitted addresses. However, note that only guest virtual machines using
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 or later are able to use this feature. (BZ#1283251, BZ#1464891)

virt-v2v converts VMWare guests faster and more reliably

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As a Technology Preview, the virt-v2v utility can now use the VMWare Virtual Disk Development Kit
(VDDK) to import a VMWare guest virtual machine to a KVM guest. This enables virt-v2v to connect
directly to the VMWare ESXi hypervisor, which improves the speed and reliability of the conversion.

Note that this conversion import method requires the external nbdkit utility and its VDDK plug-in.
(BZ#1477912)

Open Virtual Machine Firmware


The Open Virtual Machine Firmware (OVMF) is available as a Technology Preview in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7. OVMF is a UEFI secure boot environment for AMD64 and Intel 64 guests.
(BZ#653382)

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7.5 Release Notes

PART IV. DEVICE DRIVERS


This part provides a comprehensive listing of all device drivers that are new or have been updated in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

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CHAPTER 51. NEW DRIVERS


Storage Drivers

USB Type-C Connector Class (typec.ko.xz):

USB Type-C Connector System Software Interface driver (typec_ucsi.ko.xz):

TCM QLA2XXX series NPIV enabled fabric driver (tcm_qla2xxx.ko.xz):

Chelsio FCoE driver (csiostor.ko.xz): 1.0.0-ko

Network Drivers

Software simulator of 802.11 radio(s) for mac80211 (mac80211_hwsim.ko.xz):

Vsock monitoring device. Based on nlmon device. (vsockmon.ko.xz):

Cavium LiquidIO Intelligent Server Adapter Virtual Function Driver (liquidio_vf.ko.xz): 1.6.1

Cavium LiquidIO Intelligent Server Adapter Driver (liquidio.ko.xz): 1.6.1

Mellanox firmware flash lib (mlxfw.ko.xz):

Intel OPA Virtual Network driver (opa_vnic.ko.xz):

Broadcom NetXtreme-C/E RoCE Driver Driver (bnxt_re.ko.xz):

VMware Paravirtual RDMA driver (vmw_pvrdma.ko.xz):

Graphics Drivers and Miscellaneous Drivers

MC Driver for Intel SoC using Pondicherry memory controller (pnd2_edac.ko.xz):

ALPS HID driver (hid-alps.ko.xz):

Intel Corporation DAX device (device_dax.ko.xz):

Synopsys DesignWare DMA Controller platform driver (dw_dmac.ko.xz):

Synopsys DesignWare DMA Controller core driver (dw_dmac_core.ko.xz);

Intel Sunrisepoint PCH pinctrl/GPIO driver (pinctrl-sunrisepoint.ko.xz):

Intel Lewisburg pinctrl/GPIO driver (pinctrl-lewisburg.ko.xz):

Intel Cannon Lake PCH pinctrl/GPIO driver (pinctrl-cannonlake.ko.xz):

Intel Denverton SoC pinctrl/GPIO driver (pinctrl-denverton.ko.xz):

Intel Gemini Lake SoC pinctrl/GPIO driver (pinctrl-geminilake.ko.xz):

Intel pinctrl/GPIO core driver (pinctrl-intel.ko.xz):

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 52. UPDATED DRIVERS


Storage Driver Updates

The QLogic Fibre Channel HBA driver (qla2xxx.ko.xz) has been updated to version
9.00.00.00.07.5-k1.

The Cisco FCoE HBA Driver driver (fnic.ko.xz) has been updated to version 1.6.0.34.

The Emulex OneConnectOpen-iSCSI driver (be2iscsi.ko.xz) has been updated to version


11.4.0.1.

The QLogic FCoE driver (bnx2fc.ko.xz) has been updated to version 2.11.8.

The Microsemi Smart Family Controller driver (smartpqi.ko.xz) has been updated to version
1.1.2-126.

The Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver (lpfc.ko.xz) has been updated to version
0:11.4.0.4.

The LSI MPT Fusion SAS 3.0 Device driver (mpt3sas.ko.xz) has been updated to version
16.100.00.00.

The QLogic QEDF 25/40/50/100Gb FCoE driver (qedf.ko.xz) has been updated to version
8.20.5.0.

The Avago MegaRAID SAS driver (megaraid_sas.ko.xz) has been updated to version
07.702.06.00-rh2.

The HP Smart Array Controller driver (hpsa.ko.xz) has been updated to version 3.4.20-0-RH2.

Network Driver Updates

The Realtek RTL8152/RTL8153 Based USB Ethernet Adapters driver (r8152.ko.xz) has been
updated to version v1.08.9.

The Intel(R) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network driver (ixgbe.ko.xz) has been updated to version
5.1.0-k-rh7.5.

The Intel(R) Ethernet Switch Host Interface driver (fm10k.ko.xz) has been updated to version
0.21.7-k.

The Intel(R) Ethernet Connection XL710 Network driver (i40e.ko.xz) has been updated to
version 2.1.14-k.

The Intel(R) 10 Gigabit Virtual Function Network driver (ixgbevf.ko.xz) has been updated to
version 4.1.0-k-rh7.5.

The Intel(R) XL710 X710 Virtual Function Network driver (i40evf.ko.xz) has been updated to
version 3.0.1-k.

The Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) driver (ena.ko.xz) has been updated to version 1.2.0k.

The Cisco VIC Ethernet NIC driver (enic.ko.xz) has been updated to version 2.3.0.42.

The Broadcom BCM573xx network driver (bnxt_en.ko.xz) has been updated to version 1.8.0.

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CHAPTER 52. UPDATED DRIVERS

The QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx Core Module driver (qed.ko.xz) has been updated to version
8.10.11.21.

The QLogic 1/10 GbE Converged/Intelligent Ethernet driver (qlcnic.ko.xz) has been updated to
version 5.3.66.

The Mellanox ConnectX HCA Ethernet driver (mlx4_en.ko.xz) has been updated to version 4.0-
0.

The Mellanox ConnectX HCA low-level driver (mlx4_core.ko.xz) has been updated to version
4.0-0.

The Mellanox Connect-IB, ConnectX-4 core driver (mlx5_core.ko.xz) has been updated to
version 5.0-0.

Graphics Driver and Miscellaneous Driver Updates

The standalone VMware SVGA device drm driver (vmwgfx.ko.xz) has been updated to version
2.14.0.0.

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7.5 Release Notes

PART V. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY


This part provides an overview of functionality that has been deprecated in all minor releases up to Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

Deprecated functionality continues to be supported until the end of life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
Deprecated functionality will likely not be supported in future major releases of this product and is not
recommended for new deployments. For the most recent list of deprecated functionality within a
particular major release, refer to the latest version of release documentation.

Deprecated hardware components are not recommended for new deployments on the current or future
major releases. Hardware driver updates are limited to security and critical fixes only. Red Hat
recommends replacing this hardware as soon as reasonably feasible.

A package can be deprecated and not recommended for further use. Under certain circumstances, a
package can be removed from a product. Product documentation then identifies more recent packages
that offer functionality similar, identical, or more advanced to the one deprecated, and provides further
recommendations.

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT


ENTERPRISE LINUX 7
Python 2 has been deprecated
Python 2 will be replaced with Python 3 in the next Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) major release.

See the Conservative Python 3 Porting Guide for information on how to migrate large code bases to
Python 3.

Note that Python 3 is available to RHEL customers, and supported on RHEL, as a part of Red Hat
Software Collections.

LVM libraries and LVM Python bindings have been deprecated


The lvm2app library and LVM Python bindings, which are provided by the lvm2-python-libs package,
have been deprecated.

Red Hat recommends the following solutions instead:

The LVM D-Bus API in combination with the lvm2-dbusd service. This requires using Python
version 3.

The LVM command-line utilities with JSON formatting; this formatting has been available since
the lvm2 package version 2.02.158.

Mirrored mirror log has been deprecated in LVM


The mirrored mirror log feature of mirrored LVM volumes has been deprecated. A future major release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux will no longer support creating or activating LVM volumes with a mirrored
mirror log.

The recommended replacements are:

RAID1 LVM volumes. The main advantage of RAID1 volumes is their ability to work even in
degraded mode and to recover after a transient failure. For information on converting mirrored
volumes to RAID1, see the Converting a Mirrored LVM Device to a RAID1 Device section in the
LVM Administration guide.

Disk mirror log. To convert a mirrored mirror log to disk mirror log, use the following command:
lvconvert --mirrorlog disk my_vg/my_lv.

Deprecated packages related to Identity Management and security


The following packages have been deprecated and will not be included in a future major release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux:

Deprecated packages Proposed replacement package or product

authconfig authselect

pam_pkcs11 sssd [a]

pam_krb5 sssd [b]

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7.5 Release Notes

Deprecated packages Proposed replacement package or product

openldap-servers Depending on the use case, migrate to Identity Management included in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux or to Red Hat Directory Server. [c]

mod_auth_kerb mod_auth_gssapi

python-kerberos python-gssapi

python-krbV

python-requests- python-requests-gssapi
kerberos

hesiod No replacement available.

mod_nss mod_ssl

mod_revocator No replacement available.

[a] System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) contains enhanced smart card functionality.

[b] For details on migrating from pam_krb5 to sssd, see Migrating from pam_krb5 to sssd in the upstream SSSD
documentation.

[c] Red Hat Directory Server requires a valid Directory Server subscription. For details, see also What is the support status
of the LDAP-server shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux? in Red Hat Knowledgebase.

NOTE

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, the following packages were added to the table above:

mod_auth_kerb

python-kerberos, python-krbV

python-requests-kerberos

hesiod

mod_nss

mod_revocator

Support for earlier IdM servers and for IdM replicas at domain level 0 will be
limited
Red Hat does not plan to support using Identity Management (IdM) servers running Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.3 and earlier with IdM clients of the next major release of RHEL. If you plan to
introduce client systems running on the next major version of RHEL into a deployment that is currently
managed by IdM servers running on RHEL 7.3 or earlier, be aware that you will need to upgrade the
servers, moving them to RHEL 7.4 or later.

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In the next major release of RHEL, only domain level 1 replicas will be supported. Before introducing IdM
replicas running on the next major version of RHEL into an existing deployment, be aware that you will
need to upgrade all IdM servers to RHEL 7.4 or later, and change the domain level to 1.

Consider planning the upgrade in advance if your deployment will be affected.

Bug-fix only support for the nss-pam-ldapd and NIS packages in the next major
release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
The nss-pam-ldapd packages and packages related to the NIS server will be released in the future
major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux but will receive a limited scope of support. Red Hat will accept
bug reports but no new requests for enhancements. Customers are advised to migrate to the following
replacement solutions:

Affected packages Proposed replacement package or product

nss-pam-ldapd sssd

ypserv Identity Management in Red Hat Enterprise Linux

ypbind

portmap

yp-tools

Use the Go Toolset instead of golang


The golang package has been updated to version 1.9 with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

The golang package, available in the Optional channel, will be removed from a future minor release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Developers are encouraged to use the Go Toolset instead, which is
currently available as a Technology Preview through the Red Hat Developer program.

mesa-private-llvm will be replaced with llvm-private


The mesa-private-llvm package, which contains the LLVM-based runtime support for Mesa, will be
replaced in a future minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 with the llvm-private package.

libdbi and libdbi-drivers have been deprecated


The libdbi and libdbi-drivers packages will not be included in the next Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
major release.

Ansible deprecated in the Extras channel


Ansible and its dependencies will no longer be updated through the Extras channel. Instead, the Red
Hat Ansible Engine product has been made available to Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions and will
provide access to the official Ansible Engine channel. Customers who have previously installed Ansible
and its dependencies from the Extras channel are advised to enable and update from the Ansible Engine
channel, or uninstall the packages as future errata will not be provided from the Extras channel.

Ansible was previously provided in Extras (for AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures, and IBM POWER,
little endian) as a runtime dependency of, and limited in support to, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
System Roles. Ansible Engine is available today for AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures, with IBM
POWER, little endian availability coming soon.

Note that Ansible in the Extras channel was not a part of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux FIPS validation
process.

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7.5 Release Notes

The following packages have been deprecated from the Extras channel:

ansible(-doc)

libtomcrypt

libtommath(-devel)

python2-crypto

python2-jmespath

python-httplib2

python-paramiko(-doc)

python-passlib

sshpass

For more information and guidance, see the Knowledgebase article at


https://access.redhat.com/articles/3359651.

Note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, available as a Technology Preview, continue to be
distributed though the Extras channel. Although Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles no longer
depend on the ansible package, installing ansible from the Ansible Engine repository is still needed to
run playbooks which use Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles.

signtool has been deprecated


The signtool tool from the nss packages, which uses insecure signature algorithms, has been
deprecated and will not be included in a future minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

TLS compression support has been removed from nss


To prevent security risks, such as the CRIME attack, support for TLS compression in the NSS library has
been removed for all TLS versions. This change preserves the API compatibility.

Public web CAs are no longer trusted for code signing by default
The Mozilla CA certificate trust list distributed with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 no longer trusts any
public web CAs for code signing. As a consequence, any software that uses the related flags, such as
NSS or OpenSSL, no longer trusts these CAs for code signing by default. The software continues to fully
support code signing trust. Additionally, it is still possible to configure CA certificates as trusted for code
signing using system configuration.

Sendmail has been deprecated


Sendmail has been deprecated in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Customers are advised to use
Postfix, which is configured as the default Mail Transfer Agent (MTA).

dmraid has been deprecated


Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, the dmraid packages have been deprecated. It will stay available in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 releases but a future major release will no longer support legacy hybrid
combined hardware and software RAID host bus adapter (HBA).

Automatic loading of DCCP modules through socket layer is now disabled by


default
For security reasons, automatic loading of the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP)
kernel modules through socket layer is now disabled by default. This ensures that userspace

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applications can not maliciously load any modules. All DCCP related modules can still be loaded
manually through the modprobe program.

The /etc/modprobe.d/dccp-blacklist.conf configuration file for blacklisting the DCCP modules


is included in the kernel package. Entries included there can be cleared by editing or removing this file to
restore the previous behavior.

Note that any re-installation of the same kernel package or of a different version does not override
manual changes. If the file is manually edited or removed, these changes persist across package
installations.

rsyslog-libdbi has been deprecated


The rsyslog-libdbi sub-package, which contains one of the less used rsyslog module, has been
deprecated and will not be included in a future major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Removing
unused or rarely used modules helps users to conveniently find a database output to use.

The inputname option of the rsyslog imudp module has been deprecated
The inputname option of the imudp module for the rsyslog service has been deprecated. Use the
name option instead.

SMBv1 is no longer installed with Microsoft Windows 10 and 2016 (updates 1709
and later)
Microsoft announced that the Server Message Block version 1 (SMBv1) protocol will no longer be
installed with the latest versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Windows Server. Microsoft also
recommends users to disable SMBv1 on earlier versions of these products.

This update impacts Red Hat customers who operate their systems in a mixed Linux and Windows
environment. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 and earlier support only the SMBv1 version of the protocol.
Support for SMBv2 was introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2.

For details on how this change affects Red Hat customers, see SMBv1 no longer installed with latest
Microsoft Windows 10 and 2016 update (version 1709) in Red Hat Knowledgebase.

FedFS has been deprecated


Federated File System (FedFS) has been deprecated because the upstream FedFS project is no longer
being actively maintained. Red Hat recommends migrating FedFS installations to use autofs, which
provides more flexible functionality.

Btrfs has been deprecated


The Btrfs file system has been in Technology Preview state since the initial release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6. Red Hat will not be moving Btrfs to a fully supported feature and it will be removed
in a future major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The Btrfs file system did receive numerous updates from the upstream in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4
and will remain available in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 series. However, this is the last planned
update to this feature.

tcp_wrappers deprecated
The tcp_wrappers package has been deprecated. tcp_wrappers provides a library and a small daemon
program that can monitor and filter incoming requests for audit, cyrus-imap, dovecot, nfs-utils, openssh,
openldap, proftpd, sendmail, stunnel, syslog-ng, vsftpd, and various other network services.

nautilus-open-terminal replaced with gnome-terminal-nautilus


Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, the nautilus-open-terminal package has been deprecated and
replaced with the gnome-terminal-nautilus package. This package provides a Nautilus extension that

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7.5 Release Notes

adds the Open in Terminal option to the right-click context menu in Nautilus. nautilus-open-terminal is
replaced by gnome-terminal-nautilus during the system upgrade.

sslwrap() removed from Python


The sslwrap() function has been removed from Python 2.7. After the 466 Python Enhancement
Proposal was implemented, using this function resulted in a segmentation fault. The removal is
consistent with upstream.

Red Hat recommends using the ssl.SSLContext class and the ssl.SSLContext.wrap_socket()
function instead. Most applications can simply use the ssl.create_default_context() function,
which creates a context with secure default settings. The default context uses the system's default trust
store, too.

Symbols from libraries linked as dependencies no longer resolved by ld


Previously, the ld linker resolved any symbols present in any linked library, even if some libraries were
linked only implicitly as dependencies of other libraries. This allowed developers to use symbols from the
implicitly linked libraries in application code and omit explicitly specifying these libraries for linking.

For security reasons, ld has been changed to not resolve references to symbols in libraries linked
implicitly as dependencies.

As a result, linking with ld fails when application code attempts to use symbols from libraries not
declared for linking and linked only implicitly as dependencies. To use symbols from libraries linked as
dependencies, developers must explicitly link against these libraries as well.

To restore the previous behavior of ld, use the -copy-dt-needed-entries command-line option.
(BZ#1292230)

Windows guest virtual machine support limited


As of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Windows guest virtual machines are supported only under specific
subscription programs, such as Advanced Mission Critical (AMC).

libnetlink is deprecated
The libnetlink library contained in the iproute-devel package has been deprecated. The user should
use the libnl and libmnl libraries instead.

S3 and S4 power management states for KVM have been deprecated


Native KVM support for the S3 (suspend to RAM) and S4 (suspend to disk) power management states
has been discontinued. This feature was previously available as a Technology Preview.

The Certificate Server plug-in udnPwdDirAuth is discontinued


The udnPwdDirAuth authentication plug-in for the Red Hat Certificate Server was removed in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.3. Profiles using the plug-in are no longer supported. Certificates created with a
profile using the udnPwdDirAuth plug-in are still valid if they have been approved.

Red Hat Access plug-in for IdM is discontinued


The Red Hat Access plug-in for Identity Management (IdM) was removed in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.3. During the update, the redhat-access-plugin-ipa package is automatically
uninstalled. Features previously provided by the plug-in, such as Knowledgebase access and support
case engagement, are still available through the Red Hat Customer Portal. Red Hat recommends to
explore alternatives, such as the redhat-support-tool tool.

The Ipsilon identity provider service for federated single sign-on


The ipsilon packages were introduced as Technology Preview in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2. Ipsilon
links authentication providers and applications or utilities to allow for single sign-on (SSO).

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7

Red Hat does not plan to upgrade Ipsilon from Technology Preview to a fully supported feature. The
ipsilon packages will be removed from Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a future minor release.

Red Hat has released Red Hat Single Sign-On as a web SSO solution based on the Keycloak
community project. Red Hat Single Sign-On provides greater capabilities than Ipsilon and is designated
as the standard web SSO solution across the Red Hat product portfolio.

Several rsyslog options deprecated


The rsyslog utility version in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 has deprecated a large number of options.
These options no longer have any effect and cause a warning to be displayed.

The functionality previously provided by the options -c, -u, -q, -x, -A, -Q, -4, and -6 can be
achieved using the rsyslog configuration.

There is no replacement for the functionality previously provided by the options -l and -s

Deprecated symbols from the memkind library


The following symbols from the memkind library have been deprecated:

memkind_finalize()

memkind_get_num_kind()

memkind_get_kind_by_partition()

memkind_get_kind_by_name()

memkind_partition_mmap()

memkind_get_size()

MEMKIND_ERROR_MEMALIGN

MEMKIND_ERROR_MALLCTL

MEMKIND_ERROR_GETCPU

MEMKIND_ERROR_PMTT

MEMKIND_ERROR_TIEDISTANCE

MEMKIND_ERROR_ALIGNMENT

MEMKIND_ERROR_MALLOCX

MEMKIND_ERROR_REPNAME

MEMKIND_ERROR_PTHREAD

MEMKIND_ERROR_BADPOLICY

MEMKIND_ERROR_REPPOLICY

Options of Sockets API Extensions for SCTP (RFC 6458) deprecated

157
7.5 Release Notes

The options SCTP_SNDRCV, SCTP_EXTRCV and SCTP_DEFAULT_SEND_PARAM of Sockets API


Extensions for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol have been deprecated per the RFC 6458
specification.

New options SCTP_SNDINFO, SCTP_NXTINFO, SCTP_NXTINFO and SCTP_DEFAULT_SNDINFO have


been implemented as a replacement for the deprecated options.

Managing NetApp ONTAP using SSLv2 and SSLv3 is no longer supported by


libstorageMgmt
The SSLv2 and SSLv3 connections to the NetApp ONTAP storage array are no longer supported by the
libstorageMgmt library. Users can contact NetApp support to enable the Transport Layer Security
(TLS) protocol.

dconf-dbus-1 has been deprecated and dconf-editor is now delivered separately


With this update, the dconf-dbus-1 API has been removed. However, the dconf-dbus-1 library has
been backported to preserve binary compatibility. Red Hat recommends using the GDBus library instead
of dconf-dbus-1.

The dconf-error.h file has been renamed to dconf-enums.h. In addition, the dconf Editor is now
delivered in the separate dconf-editor package.

FreeRADIUS no longer accepts Auth-Type := System


The FreeRADIUS server no longer accepts the Auth-Type := System option for the rlm_unix
authentication module. This option has been replaced by the use of the unix module in the authorize
section of the configuration file.

Deprecated Device Drivers


The following device drivers continue to be supported until the end of life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
but will likely not be supported in future major releases of this product and are not recommended for new
deployments.

3w-9xxx

3w-sas

aic79xx

aoe

arcmsr

ata drivers:

acard-ahci

sata_mv

sata_nv

sata_promise

sata_qstor

sata_sil

sata_sil24

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7

sata_sis

sata_svw

sata_sx4

sata_uli

sata_via

sata_vsc

bfa

cxgb3

cxgb3i

hptiop

isci

iw_cxgb3

mptbase

mptctl

mptsas

mptscsih

mptspi

mtip32xx

mvsas

mvumi

OSD drivers:

osd

libosd

osst

pata drivers:

pata_acpi

pata_ali

pata_amd

pata_arasan_cf

159
7.5 Release Notes

pata_artop

pata_atiixp

pata_atp867x

pata_cmd64x

pata_cs5536

pata_hpt366

pata_hpt37x

pata_hpt3x2n

pata_hpt3x3

pata_it8213

pata_it821x

pata_jmicron

pata_marvell

pata_netcell

pata_ninja32

pata_oldpiix

pata_pdc2027x

pata_pdc202xx_old

pata_piccolo

pata_rdc

pata_sch

pata_serverworks

pata_sil680

pata_sis

pata_via

pdc_adma

pm80xx(pm8001)

pmcraid

qla3xxx

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7

stex

sx8

ufshcd

Deprecated Adapters
The following adapters from the aacraid driver have been deprecated:

PERC 2/Si (Iguana/PERC2Si), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0001

PERC 3/Di (Opal/PERC3Di), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0002

PERC 3/Si (SlimFast/PERC3Si), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0003

PERC 3/Di (Iguana FlipChip/PERC3DiF), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0004

PERC 3/Di (Viper/PERC3DiV), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0002

PERC 3/Di (Lexus/PERC3DiL), PCI ID 0x1028:0x0002

PERC 3/Di (Jaguar/PERC3DiJ), PCI ID 0x1028:0x000a

PERC 3/Di (Dagger/PERC3DiD), PCI ID 0x1028:0x000a

PERC 3/Di (Boxster/PERC3DiB), PCI ID 0x1028:0x000a

catapult, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0283

tomcat, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0284

Adaptec 2120S (Crusader), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec 2200S (Vulcan), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec 2200S (Vulcan-2m), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Legend S220 (Legend Crusader), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Legend S230 (Legend Vulcan), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec 3230S (Harrier), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec 3240S (Tornado), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-2020ZCR SCSI PCI-X ZCR (Skyhawk), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-2025ZCR SCSI SO-DIMM PCI-X ZCR (Terminator), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-2230S + ASR-2230SLP PCI-X (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ASR-2130S (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

AAR-2820SA (Intruder), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

AAR-2620SA (Intruder), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

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7.5 Release Notes

AAR-2420SA (Intruder), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP9024RO (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP9014RO (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP9047MA (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP9087MA (Lancer), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP5445AU (Hurricane44), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ICP9085LI (Marauder-X), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ICP5085BR (Marauder-E), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ICP9067MA (Intruder-6), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

Themisto Jupiter Platform, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0287

Themisto Jupiter Platform, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0200

Callisto Jupiter Platform, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ASR-2020SA SATA PCI-X ZCR (Skyhawk), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-2025SA SATA SO-DIMM PCI-X ZCR (Terminator), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

AAR-2410SA PCI SATA 4ch (Jaguar II), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

CERC SATA RAID 2 PCI SATA 6ch (DellCorsair), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

AAR-2810SA PCI SATA 8ch (Corsair-8), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

AAR-21610SA PCI SATA 16ch (Corsair-16), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ESD SO-DIMM PCI-X SATA ZCR (Prowler), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

AAR-2610SA PCI SATA 6ch, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-2240S (SabreExpress), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-4005, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

IBM 8i (AvonPark), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

IBM 8i (AvonPark Lite), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

IBM 8k/8k-l8 (Aurora), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

IBM 8k/8k-l4 (Aurora Lite), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

ASR-4000 (BlackBird), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-4800SAS (Marauder-X), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

ASR-4805SAS (Marauder-E), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7

ASR-3800 (Hurricane44), PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

Perc 320/DC, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec 5400S (Mustang), PCI ID 0x1011:0x0046

Adaptec 5400S (Mustang), PCI ID 0x1011:0x0046

Dell PERC2/QC, PCI ID 0x1011:0x0046

HP NetRAID-4M, PCI ID 0x1011:0x0046

Dell Catchall, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Legend Catchall, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec Catch All, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0285

Adaptec Rocket Catch All, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0286

Adaptec NEMER/ARK Catch All, PCI ID 0x9005:0x0288

The following adapters from the mpt2sas driver have been deprecated:

SAS2004, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0070

SAS2008, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0072

SAS2108_1, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0074

SAS2108_2, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0076

SAS2108_3, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0077

SAS2116_1, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0064

SAS2116_2, PCI ID 0x1000:0x0065

SSS6200, PCI ID 0x1000:0x007E

The following adapters from the megaraid_sas driver have been deprecated:

Dell PERC5, PCI ID 0x1028:0x15

SAS1078R, PCI ID 0x1000:0x60

SAS1078DE, PCI ID 0x1000:0x7C

SAS1064R, PCI ID 0x1000:0x411

VERDE_ZCR, PCI ID 0x1000:0x413

SAS1078GEN2, PCI ID 0x1000:0x78

SAS0079GEN2, PCI ID 0x1000:0x79

SAS0073SKINNY, PCI ID 0x1000:0x73

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7.5 Release Notes

SAS0071SKINNY, PCI ID 0x1000:0x71

The following adapters from the qla2xxx driver have been deprecated:

ISP24xx, PCI ID 0x1077:0x2422

ISP24xx, PCI ID 0x1077:0x2432

ISP2422, PCI ID 0x1077:0x5422

QLE220, PCI ID 0x1077:0x5432

QLE81xx, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8001

QLE10000, PCI ID 0x1077:0xF000

QLE84xx, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8044

QLE8000, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8432

QLE82xx, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8021

The following adapters from the qla4xxx driver have been deprecated:

QLOGIC_ISP8022, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8022

QLOGIC_ISP8324, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8032

QLOGIC_ISP8042, PCI ID 0x1077:0x8042

The following Ethernet adapter controlled by the be2net driver has been deprecated:

TIGERSHARK NIC, PCI ID 0x0700

The following adapters from the be2iscsi driver have been deprecated:

Emulex OneConnect 10Gb iSCSI Initiator (generic), PCI ID 0x212

OCe10101, OCm10101, OCe10102, OCm10102 BE2 adapter family, PCI ID 0x702

OCe10100 BE2 adapter family, PCI ID 0x703

The following adapters from the lpfc driver have been deprecated:

BladeEngine 2 (BE2) Devices

TIGERSHARK FCOE, PCI ID 0x0704

Fibre Channel (FC) Devices

FIREFLY, PCI ID 0x1ae5

PROTEUS_VF, PCI ID 0xe100

BALIUS, PCI ID 0xe131

PROTEUS_PF, PCI ID 0xe180

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CHAPTER 53. DEPRECATED FUNCTIONALITY IN RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7

RFLY, PCI ID 0xf095

PFLY, PCI ID 0xf098

LP101, PCI ID 0xf0a1

TFLY, PCI ID 0xf0a5

BSMB, PCI ID 0xf0d1

BMID, PCI ID 0xf0d5

ZSMB, PCI ID 0xf0e1

ZMID, PCI ID 0xf0e5

NEPTUNE, PCI ID 0xf0f5

NEPTUNE_SCSP, PCI ID 0xf0f6

NEPTUNE_DCSP, PCI ID 0xf0f7

FALCON, PCI ID 0xf180

SUPERFLY, PCI ID 0xf700

DRAGONFLY, PCI ID 0xf800

CENTAUR, PCI ID 0xf900

PEGASUS, PCI ID 0xf980

THOR, PCI ID 0xfa00

VIPER, PCI ID 0xfb00

LP10000S, PCI ID 0xfc00

LP11000S, PCI ID 0xfc10

LPE11000S, PCI ID 0xfc20

PROTEUS_S, PCI ID 0xfc50

HELIOS, PCI ID 0xfd00

HELIOS_SCSP, PCI ID 0xfd11

HELIOS_DCSP, PCI ID 0xfd12

ZEPHYR, PCI ID 0xfe00

HORNET, PCI ID 0xfe05

ZEPHYR_SCSP, PCI ID 0xfe11

ZEPHYR_DCSP, PCI ID 0xfe12

165
7.5 Release Notes

To check the PCI IDs of the hardware on your system, run the lspci -nn command.

Note that other adapters from the mentioned drivers that are not listed here remain unchanged.

The libcxgb3 library and the cxgb3 firmware package have been deprecated
The libcxgb3 library provided by the libibverbs package and the cxgb3 firmware package have been
deprecated. They continue to be supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 but will likely not be supported
in the next major releases of this product. This change corresponds with the deprecation of the cxgb3,
cxgb3i, and iw_cxgb3 drivers listed above.

SFN4XXX adapters have been deprecated


Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, SFN4XXX Solarflare network adapters have been
deprecated. Previously, Solarflare had a single driver sfc for all adapters. Recently, support of
SFN4XXX was split from sfc and moved into a new SFN4XXX-only driver, called sfc-falcon. Both
drivers continue to be supported at this time, but sfc-falcon and SFN4XXX support is scheduled for
removal in a future major release.

Software-initiated-only FCoE storage technologies have been deprecated


The software-initiated-only type of the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) storage technology has been
deprecated due to limited customer adoption. The software-initiated-only storage technology will remain
supported for the life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. The deprecation notice indicates the intention to
remove software-initiated-based FCoE support in a future major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

It is important to note that the hardware support and the associated user-space tools (such as drivers,
libfc, or libfcoe) are unaffected by this deprecation notice.

Containers using the libvirt-lxc tooling have been deprecated


The following libvirt-lxc packages are deprecated since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1:

libvirt-daemon-driver-lxc

libvirt-daemon-lxc

libvirt-login-shell

Future development on the Linux containers framework is now based on the docker command-line
interface. libvirt-lxc tooling may be removed in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (including
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7) and should not be relied upon for developing custom container management
applications.

For more information, see the Red Hat KnowledgeBase article.

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PART VI. KNOWN ISSUES

PART VI. KNOWN ISSUES


This part documents known problems in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

167
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 54. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY


A crash is reported after an unsuccessful lightweight CA key retrieval
When using Identity Management (IdM), if retrieving the lightweight certificate authority (CA) key fails for
some reason, the operation terminates unexpectedly with an uncaught exception. The exception results
in a crash report. (BZ#1478366)

OpenLDAP causes programs to fail immediately in case of incorrect configuration


Previously, the Mozilla implementation of Network Security Services (Mozilla NSS) silently ignored
certain misconfigurations in the OpenLDAP suite, which caused programs to fail only on connection
establishment. With this update, OpenLDAP has switched from Mozilla NSS to OpenSSL (see the
release note for BZ#1400578). With OpenSSL, the TLS context is established immediately, and
therefore programs fail immediately. This behavior prevents potential security risks, such as keeping
non-working TLS ports open.

To work around this problem, verify and fix your OpenLDAP configuration. (BZ#1515833)

OpenLDAP reports failures when CACertFile or CACertDir point to an invalid


location
Previously, if the CACertFile or CACertDir options pointed to an unreadable or otherwise unloadable
location, the Mozilla implementation of Network Security Services (Mozilla NSS) did not necessarily
consider it a misconfiguration. With this update, the OpenLDAP suite has switched from Mozilla NSS to
OpenSSL (see the release note for BZ#1400578). With OpenSSL, if CACertFile or CACertDir point to
such an invalid location, the problem is no longer silently ignored.

To avoid the failures, remove the misconfigured option, or make sure it points to a loadable location.

Additionally, OpenLDAP now applies stricter rules for the contents of the directory to which CACertDir
points. If you experience errors when using certificates in this directory, it is possible the directory is in an
inconsistent state. To fix this problem, run the openssl rehash command on the folder.

For details on CACertFile and CACertDir, see these man pages: ldap.conf(5), slapd.conf(5), slapd-
config(5), and ldap_set_option(3). (BZ#1515918, BZ#1515839)

OpenLDAP does not update TLS configuration after inconsistent changes in


cn=config
With this update, OpenLDAP has switched from the Mozilla implementation of Network Security Services
(Mozilla NSS) to OpenSSL (see the release note for BZ#1400578). With OpenSSL, inconsistent changes
of the TLS configuration in the cn=config database break the TLS protocol on the server, and
configuration is not updated as expected. To avoid this problem, use only one change record to update
the TLS configuration in cn=config. See the ldif(5) man page for a definition of a change record.
(BZ#1524193)

Identity Management terminates connections unexpectedly


Due to a bug in Directory Server, Identity Management (IdM) terminates connections unexpectedly after
a certain amount of time, and authentication fails with the following error:

kinit: Generic error (see e-text) while getting initial credentials

The problem occurs if you installed IdM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 from an offline media. To work
around the problem, run yum update to receive the updated 389-ds-base package which fixes the
problem. (BZ#1544477)

Directory Server can terminate unexpectedly during shutdown

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CHAPTER 54. AUTHENTICATION AND INTEROPERABILITY

Directory Server uses the nunc-stans framework to manage connection events. If a connection is
closed when shutting down the server, a nunc-stans job can access a freed connection structure. As a
consequence, Directory Server can terminate unexpectedly. Because this situation occurs in a late state
of the shutdown process, data is not corrupted or lost. Currently, no workaround is available.
(BZ#1517383)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 55. CLUSTERING


Data corruption occurs on RAID 10 reshape on top of VDO with el7 kernel.
RAID 10 reshape (with both LVM and mdadm) on top of VDO corrupts data and can eventually trigger the
raid10.c:1011 kernel bug. Stacking RAID 10 (or other RAID types) on top of VDO does not take
advantage of the deduplication/compression capabilities of VDO and is not recommended. (BZ#1528466,
BZ#1530776)

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CHAPTER 56. COMPILER AND TOOLS

CHAPTER 56. COMPILER AND TOOLS


Memory consumption of applications using libcurl grows with each TLS
connection
The Network Security Services (NSS) PK11_DestroyGenericObject() function does not
release resources allocated by PK11_CreateGenericObject() early enough. Consequently, the
memory allocated by applications using the libcurl package can grow with each TLS connection.

To work around this problem:

Re-use existing TLS connections where possible or

Use certificates and keys from the NSS database instead of loading them from files directly using
libcurl (BZ#1510247)

OProfile and perf can not sample events on 2nd generation Intel Xeon Phi
processors when NMI watchdog is disabled
Due to a performance counter hardware error, sampling performance events with the default hardware
event CPU_CLK_UNHALTED may fail on 2nd generation Intel Xeon Phi processors. As a consequence,
the OProfile and perf tools fail to receive any samples when the NMI watchdog is disabled. To work
around this problem, enable NMI watchdog before running the perf or operf command:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog


...
operf some_examined_program
opreport
...

Note that this workaround allows only the selected tool to work correctly, but not the NMI watchdog,
because it is based on the NMI watchdog using the erroneous counter. (BZ#1536004)

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7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 57. DESKTOP


Cannot install downloaded RPM files from Nautilus
The yum backend to PackageKit does not support getting details about local files. As a consequence,
when an RPM file is double clicked in the Nautilus file manger, the file is not installed, and the
following error message is returned:

Sorry, this did not work, File is not supported

To work around this problem, either install the gnome-packagekit package to handle the double-click
action, or manually install the files using the yum utility. (BZ#1434477)

Caps Lock LED status


When using an UTF-8 keymap, even though the caps lock function works properly, the caps lock LED is
not updated while in TTY mode. For the LED to be correctly updated, starting from Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 7.5, the administrator needs to create the /etc/udev/rules.d/99-kbd.rules configuration file as
follows:

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="leds",
ENV{DEVPATH}=="*/input*::capslock",
ATTR{trigger}="kbd-ctrlllock"

To reload the new udev rule, run these commands:

# udevadm control --reload-rules


# udevadm trigger

After this change, when pressing the caps lock key, caps lock LED changes its status as expected.
(BZ#1470932, BZ#1256895)

Inconsistent GNOME Shell versions


The GNOME desktop environment currently displays different versions of GNOME Shell. For example,
the version returned by the gnome-shell --version command is different from the version found in
the Details section of Settings. (BZ#1511454)

Uninstall the 32-bit version of flatpak


Users are advised to uninstall the 32-bit version of the flatpak packages before updating to Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7.5 to prevent possible multilib conflicts. (BZ#1512940)

GNOME downgrade does not work


With the new version of GNOME (3.22) introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, downgrading
GNOME from version 3.22 to 3.14 using the yum downgrade or dnf downgrade commands is no
longer possible. The only workaround lies in replacing the GNOME-related packages with their old
versions. If you decide to downgrade manually, read the GNOME 3.16-3.22 release notes to find which
functionalities you are losing. (BZ#1451876)

Wayland ignores keyboard grabs issued by X11 applications, such as virtual


machines viewers
Currently, when running through the XWayland server, graphical clients that rely on the X11 software,
such as remote desktop viewers or virtual machine managers, are unable to obtain the system keyboard
shortcuts for their own use. As a consequence, activating these shortcuts in a guest window, such as a
virt-manager guest display, affects the local desktop instead of the guest.

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CHAPTER 57. DESKTOP

To work around the problem, use a Wayland native client with support for Wayland shortcuts inhibitor
protocol, or switch back to the default GNOME session on X11 to run the X11 clients that require system
keyboard shortcuts.

Note that Wayland is available as a Technology Preview. (BZ#1500397)

Superuser should not run graphical sessions


Opening a graphical session for the root user causes various bugs. The reason is that a graphical
session is not meant to be used by superuser as it can cause serious and unexpected issues, is non-
secure, and is against Unix principles. (BZ#1539772)

Keyboard not working in VM browsed by remote-viewer and virt-viewer


When run inside a Wayland session, remote-viewer and virt-viewer utilities do not recognize key
events in a virtual machine. Moreover, Xwayland reports the following error:

send_key: assertion 'scancode != 0'

(BZ#1540056)

gnome-system-log does not work on Wayland


Currently, when logged in a Wayland session, the root user is not allowed to access the user's Xwayland
display. As a consequence, running the gnome-system-log utility in terminal does not display system
log files.

To work around this problem, run the following xhost server access control program as follows:

$ xhost +si:localuser:root

(BZ#1537529)

GUI screen is shown incorrectly


The X driver for Emulex Pilot2 and Pilot3 cards contains a bug when running at depth of color 16. This
bug makes the graphics display unusable at this depth.

To make the display usable in some configurations, use 24 bpp image format. Alternatively, disable the
shadow framebuffer abstraction layer in the xorg.conf file by using the ShadowFB off option. Note
that disabling the shadow frambuffer may have significant performance impact. (BZ#1499129)

xrandr fails to provide some video modes


Different video drivers for X11 have different heuristics for adding display resolutions. In particular, the
Intel and generic modesetting drivers provide different sets of video modes for some laptop displays.
Consequently, some non-native video modes may not be available in all configurations.

To work around this problem, use a different video driver, or add resolutions to the output manually using
the xrandr(1) command-line utility. (BZ#1478625)

radeon fails to reset hardware correctly


The radeon kernel driver currently does not reset hardware in the kexec context correctly. Instead,
radeon falls over, which causes the rest of the kdump service to fail.

To work around this bug, blacklist radeon in kdump by adding the following line to the
/etc/kdump.conf file:

dracut_args --omit-drivers "radeon"

173
7.5 Release Notes

force_rebuild 1

Restart the machine and kdump. After starting kdump, the force_rebuild 1 line may be removed
from the configuration file.

Note that in this scenario, no graphics will be available during kdump, but kdump will complete
successfully. (BZ#1509444)

nouveau fails to load Nvidia secboot firmware


In some Dell Coffeelake systems, the nouveau kernel module fails to load Nvidia secboot firmware for
the pascal cards. As a consequence, Nvidia GPU on these systems occasionally does not work, and
some of the Display ports on the system thus do not work as well.

If this bug causes trouble booting, blacklist nouveau to mitigate the problem. Note that this, however, will
not make non-functional ports on the machine work correctly. (BZ#1535168)

Xchat status icon disappears from Top Icons panel


The Xchat status icon indicating incoming personal messages disappears from top icons panel after
suspending the system and resuming it again.

Top icons installed using Gnome Software preserve the suspend mode and do not disappear from the
panel. (BZ#1544840)

GDM does not activate hotplugged monitors


When a machine is booted without a monitor connected, the GNOME Display Manager (GDM)
screen remains deactivated when a monitor is plugged in.

As a workaround, kill GDM while the monitor is plugged in by running:

# systemctl restart gdm.service

Alternatively, use the xrandr utility to activate the monitor. (BZ#1497303)

Wacom Expresskeys Remote not detected as tablet


The gnome-shell and control-center utilities do not detect unpaired Wacom Expresskeys
Remote devices (EKRs). As a consequence, within the Wacom settings, there is no way to map the
buttons on the EKR.

Currently, EKR works only when it is paired to a tablet with a built-in pad. (BZ#1543631)

Synaptics dependency removes xorg-x11-drivers


Later releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 contain the xorg-x11-drv-libinput driver for X, which
can potentially provide a superior experience for some input devices. Users attempting to switch to
xorg-x11-drv-libinput can try removing the xorg-x11-drv-synaptics driver, which is required
by the xorg-x11-drivers package. However, removing synaptics requires removing xorg-x11-drivers.

To work around this issue, remove xorg-x11-drivers. This package exists only to install a reasonable
collection of drivers at system setup time, and removing it has no runtime impact. Any X driver already
installed will be updated as expected. (BZ#1516970)

T470s docking station jack does not work on resume


After suspending and resuming ThinkPad T470s connected to the docking station with analog audio
input or output, the user does not receive any output sound. This problem does not affect the analog
audio input or output in the ThinkPad laptop. (BZ#1548055)

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CHAPTER 57. DESKTOP

Screen occasionally turns off when xrandr is executed


With the Nouveau driver, RANDR operations combined with heavy 3D load, such as querying the screen
resolution, may cause screen flickering.

Flickering can be avoided by minimizing concurrent 3D and RANDR operations. Hence, query or resize
the screen while 3D usage is minimal. (BZ#1545550)

HDMI and DP for 8th generation Intel Core processors not enumerating sound
inputs
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux, support for alpha status hardware is disabled in the i915 driver by default.
which causes that i915 never binds to the audio driver. As a consequence, HDMI and DP video and
audio standards for 8th generation Intel Core processors do not enumerate sound inputs.

To work around this issue, boot your system with the i915.alpha_support=1 line added to the kernel
command line. (BZ#1540643)

Tray icons are non-responsive for auto-started applications


The GNOME Shell TopIcons extension, which shows legacy tray icons on the top of the screen, does
not work for auto-started applications: the tray icons are non-responsive. This bug does not include
applications started after the GNOME Session starts.

As a workaround, follow this short procedure to restart the GNOME session: 1. press Alt + F2, 2. type
r, 3. press Enter. (BZ#1550115)

Inconsistent panel color on login screen


When logging to a GNOME Classic session, suspending the laptop and resuming it again, the top panel
on login screen is white, instead of black.

This problem does not affect GNOME Classic functionality. (BZ#1541021)

Additional displays are mirrored after attaching a VM guest


When opening a guest VM monitor and enabling an additional display from the remote-viewer menu,
the content of the first display is mirrored to the newly attached one.

As a workaround, resize the remote-viewer frame of any display. The desktop environment will be
extended to both displays and guest displays will be properly rearranged. (BZ#1539686)

175
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 58. INSTALLATION AND BOOTING


Selecting the Lithuanian language causes the installer to crash
If you select the Lithuanian (Lietuvių) langauge on the first screen of the graphical installer and press
Continue (Tęsti), the installer crashes and displays a traceback message. To work around this
problem, either use a different language, or avoid the graphical installer and use a different approach
such as the text mode or a Kickstart installation. (BZ#1527319)

oscap-anaconda-addon fails to remediate when installing in TUI using Kickstart


The OpenSCAP Anaconda add-on fails to fully remediate a machine to the specified security policy
when the system is installed using a Kickstart file that sets installation display mode to the text-based
user interface (TUI) using the text Kickstart command. The problem occurs because packages required
for the remediation are not installed.

To work around this problem, you can either use the graphical installer or add packages required by the
security policy to the %packages section of the Kickstart file manually. (BZ#1547609)

The grub2-mkimage command fails on UEFI systems by default


The grub2-mkimage command may fail on UEFI systems with the following error message:

error: cannot open `/usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/moddep.lst': No such file or


directory.

This error is caused by a the package grub2-efi-x64-modules package missing from the system. The
package is missing due to a known issue where it is not part of the default installation, and it is not
marked as a dependency for grub2-tools which provides the grub2-mkimage command.

The error also causes some other tools which depend on it, such as ReaR, to fail.

To work around this problem, install the grub2-efi-x64-modules, either manually using Yum, or by adding
it to the Kickstart file used for installing the system. (BZ#1512493)

Kernel panic during RHEL 7.5 installation on HPE BL920s Gen9 systems
A known issue related to the fix for the Meltdown vulnerability causes a kernel panic with a NULL pointer
dereference during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 on HPE BL920s Gen2 (Superdome 2)
systems. When the problem appears, the following error message is displayed:

WARNING: CPU: 576 PID: 3924 at


kernel/workqueue.c:1518__queue_delayed_work+0x184/0x1a0

Then the system reboots, or enters an otherwise faulty state.

There are multiple possible workarounds for this problem:

Add the nopti option to the kernel command line using the boot loader. Once the system
finishes booting, upgrade to the latest RHEL 7.5 kernel.

Install RHEL 7.4, and then upgrade to the latest RHEL 7.5 kernel.

Install RHEL 7.5 on a single blade. Once the system is installed, upgrade to the latest RHEL 7.5
kernel, and then add additional blades as required. (BZ#1540061)

The READONLY=yes option is not sufficient to configure a read-only system

176
CHAPTER 58. INSTALLATION AND BOOTING

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, the READONLY=yes option in the /etc/sysconfig/readonly-root


file was used to configure a read-only system partition. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the option is no
longer sufficient, because systemd uses a new approach to mounting the system partition.

To configure a read-only system in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

Set the READONLY=yes option in /etc/sysconfig/readonly-root.

Add the ro option to the root mount point in the /etc/fstab file. (BZ#1444018)

177
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 59. KERNEL


Security patches addressing Spectre and Meltdown issues can cause
performance loss
Security patches to address issues reported in CVE-2017-5754, CVE-2017-5715, and CVE-2017-5753
have been implemented. For more information on the issues, including their impact, detection and
resolution, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase article at
https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/speculativeexecution. The patches are enabled by
default but they can cause a performance degradation.

Users can control the impact by using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Tunables. The three debugfs tunables
can be enabled or disabled on the kernel command line at boot, or at runtime using debugfs controls.
The tunables control Page Table Isolation (pti), Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (ibrs), and Indirect
Branch Prediction Barriers (ibpb). Red Hat enables each of the features by default as needed to protect
the architecture detected at boot.

Customers who feel confident that their systems are well protected by other means and wish to disable
the CVE mitigations to avoid such a performance loss, should use one of the following options:

1. Add the following flags to the kernel command line, and then reboot the kernel for the changes to take
effect:

spectre_v2=off nopti

2. Run the following commands to disable the patches at runtime. The change is immediately active and
does not require a reboot.

# echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/x86/pti_enabled


# echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/x86/retp_enabled
# echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/x86/ibrs_enabled

For more information on controlling the performance impact of the CVE mitigations, refer to the Red Hat
Knowledgebase article available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/3311301.

See also the Diagnose tab at https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/speculativeexecution.


(BZ#1532547)

The KSC does not support the xz compression


The Kernel module Source Checker (the ksc tool) is unable to process the xz compression method,
reporting the error:

File format not recognized (Only kernel object files are supported)

To work around the problem, manually uncompress any third party modules using the xz compression
before running the ksc tool. (BZ#1441455)

The update of megaraid_sas can lead to a performance decrease


The megaraid_sas driver has been updated to version 06.811.02.00-rh1, which brings a number of
performance improvements over the previous version. However, in some cases, with configurations
based on Solid-state Drives (SSD) a performance decrease has been observed. To work around this
problem, set the corresponding queue_depth parameter in the /sys/ directory to a higher value up to
256, which brings the performance back to its original level. (BZ#1367444)

qedi fails to bind to the iSCSI PCIe function if qede is loaded

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CHAPTER 59. KERNEL

The qede driver, which is the ethernet driver for the QL41xxx network adapters, allocates more MSI-X
vectors than needed. Consequently, the qedi driver fails to bind to the iSCSI PCIe function exposed by
the hardware. To work around this problem, unload both the qede and qedi drivers, and then load only
qedi. As a result, qedi is able to probe the iSCSI function exposed through the hardware and find any
attached iSCSI targets. (BZ#1484047)

radeon causes a kernel panic


On some systems equipped with the radeon kernel driver as the secondary or primary GPU, the
system occasionally fails to start due to a bug in the amdgpu graphics driver.

As a workaround, blacklist the radeon kernel driver. (BZ#1486100)

Kdump kernel fails to boot after a CPU hot add or hot remove operation
When running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on the little-endian variant of IBM Power Systems with Kdump
enabled, the Kdump crashkernel will fail to boot if triggered by kexec after a CPU hot add or hot remove
operation. To work around this problem, restart the kdump service after hot adding or hot removing a
CPU:

# systemctl restart kdump.service

(BZ#1549355)

179
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 60. NETWORKING


Verification of signatures using the MD5 hash algorithm is disabled in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7
It is impossible to connect to any Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Enterprise Access Point (AP) that
requires MD5 signed certificates. To work around this problem, copy the wpa_supplicant.service file from
the /usr/lib/systemd/system/ directory to the /etc/systemd/system/ directory and add the following line to
the Service section of the file:

Environment=OPENSSL_ENABLE_MD5_VERIFY=1

Then run the systemctl daemon-reload command as root to reload the service file.

Important: Note that MD5 certificates are highly insecure and Red Hat does not recommend using them.
(BZ#1062656)

180
CHAPTER 61. SECURITY

CHAPTER 61. SECURITY


NSS accept malformed RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signatures made with an RSA-PSS key
The Network Security Services (NSS) libraries do not check the type of an RSA public key used
by a server when validating signatures made using a corresponding private key. Consequently, NSS
accept malformed RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signatures if they are made with an RSA-PSS key. (BZ#1510156)

Authentication using ssh-agent not from OpenSSH fails


OpenSSH since version 7.4 negotiates the SHA-2 signature extension by default. Consequently, if a
signature is provided by the ssh-agent program that is not from the current OpenSSH suite and that
does not know the SHA-2 extension, authentication fails. To work around this problem, use the OpenSSH
ssh-agent to provide signatures. (BZ#1497680)

Parsing of OpenSSH public keys is more strict


Previously, the parsing of public keys was changed to be more strict. As a consequence, additional
spaces between the key type string and the key blob string are no longer ignored, and login attempts
with such keys now fail. To work around this problem, ensure that there is only one space character
between the key type and the key blob. (BZ#1493406)

SCAP Workbench fails to generate results-based remediations from tailored profiles


The following error occurs when trying to generate results-based remediation roles from a customized
profile using the the SCAP Workbench tool:

Error generating remediation role '.../remediation.sh': Exit code of


'oscap' was 1: [output truncated]

To work around this problem, use the oscap command with the --tailoring-file option.
(BZ#1533108)

Clevis can log spurious Device is not initialized error messages


If the Clevis pluggable framework is in the initramfs image and if you have an encrypted volume
configured to unlock during boot time and coincidently you have not configured the Clevis binding, then
the boot log shows spurious Device is not initialized error messages. To work around this
problem, perform the Clevis binding step, and the error messages for the volume disappear.
(BZ#1538759)

Libreswan is not working properly with seccomp=enabled on all configurations


The set of allowed syscalls in the Libreswan SECCOMP support implementation is currently not
complete. Consequently, when SECCOMP is enabled in the ipsec.conf file, the syscall filtering rejects
even syscalls needed for proper functioning of the pluto daemon; the daemon is killed, and the ipsec
service is restarted.

To work around this problem, set the seccomp= option back to the disabled state. SECCOMP support
must remain disabled to run ipsec properly. (BZ#1544463)

OpenSCAP RPM verification rules do not work correctly with VM and container file
systems
The rpminfo, rpmverify, and rpmverifyfile probes do not fully support offline mode.
Consequently, OpenSCAP RPM verification rules do not work correctly when scanning virtual machine
(VM) and container file systems in offline mode.

181
7.5 Release Notes

To work around this problem, disable the RPM verification rules or perform a manual check using a
guidance in the SCAP Security Guide. Results of scanning VM and container file systems in offline
mode might contain false negatives. (BZ#1556988)

Firefox and other applications using NSS become unresponsive when a smart card
is inserted
The Network Security Services (NSS) libraries incorrectly handle smart card insertion events and
states of such events. Consequently, the Firefox browser and other applications using NSS in the
Gnome Display Manager (GDM) do not reliably detect the card insertion state and become unresponsive
while requesting to wait for slot events.

To work around this problem, do not update the nss packages to version 3.34 and wait for the upstream
version 3.36. The smart cards work correctly with the previous NSS version. (BZ#1557015)

182
CHAPTER 62. SERVERS AND SERVICES

CHAPTER 62. SERVERS AND SERVICES


No clear indication of profile activation error in the Tuned service
Errors in the Tuned service configuration or errors occurring when loading Tuned profiles are in some
cases not shown in the output of the systemctl status tuned command. As a consequence, if
errors occur that prevent Tuned from loading, Tuned sometimes enters a state with no profile activated.
To view possible error messages, consult the output of the tuned-adm active command and check
the contents of the /var/log/tuned/tuned.log file. (BZ#1385838)

db_hotbackup -c should be used with caution


The db_hotbackup command with the -c option must be run by the user that owns the database. If the
user is different and the log file reaches its maximal size, a new log file is created with an ownership of
the user that ran the command, which consequently makes the database unusable for its owner. This
note has been added to the db_hotbackup(1) manual page. (BZ#1460077)

Setting ListenStream= options in rpcbind.socket causes systemd-logind to fail and


SSH connections to be delayed
Setting the ListenStream= options in the rpcbind.socket unit file currently causes a failure of the
systemd-logind service and a delay in SSH connections that import system users from a NIS
database. To work around the problem, remove lines with the ListenStream= option from
rpcbind.socket. (BZ#1425758)

ReaR recovery process fails on non-UEFI systems with the grub2-efi-x64 package
installed
Installing the grub2-efi-x64 package, which contains the GRUB2 boot loader for UEFI systems, changes
the file /boot/grub2/grubenv into a dead absolute symlink on systems which do not use UEFI
firmware. When attempting to recover such a system using the ReaR (Relax and Recover) recovery tool,
the process fails and the system is rendered unbootable. To work around this problem, do not install the
grub2-efi-x64 package on systems where it is not required (systems without UEFI firmware).
(BZ#1498748)

ISO images generated by ReaR with Linux TSM fail to work


The password store has changed in the Linux TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) client versions 8.1.2 and
above. This means ISO images generated by ReaR using TSM will not work, as the TSM node password
and encryption key will not be included in the ISO file. To fix this problem, add the following line into the
/etc/rear/local.conf or /etc/rear/site.conf configuration file:

COPY_AS_IS_TSM=( /etc/adsm /opt/tivoli/tsm/client /usr/local/ibm/gsk8* )

(BZ#1534646)

Unexpected problems with the dbus rebase


The dbus package rebase with its configuration changes can cause unexpected problems. Thus, it is
recommended to avoid the following actions:

updating only the dbus service

updating only parts of the system

updating from a graphical session

On the contrary, it is recommended to reboot after executing the yum update command as updating
several major components including dbus without reboot rarely works as expected. (BZ#1550582)

183
7.5 Release Notes

CHAPTER 63. STORAGE


The kexec -e command might cause storage errors with advanced storage
controllers
When using the kexec utility with the -e option, the system does not go through the standard Linux
shutdown sequence before booting the next kernel. This might cause problems for systems employing
advanced storage controllers, such as the Qlogic QMH2672 Fibre Channel adapter, because these
controllers rely on the shutdown sequence to assure the storage has settled at the time of a reboot.
When invoking the kexec -e command on such systems, storage related errors might occur as the
kexec operation progresses, and the newly loaded kernel might fail to discover some or all attached
storage.

If you see similar symptoms on your system when attempting kexec -e, use kexec without the -e
option instead. This has been observed to work reliably. (BZ#1303244)

LVM does not support event-based autoactivation of incomplete volume groups


If a volume group is not complete and physical volumes are missing, LVM does not support automatic
LVM event-based activation of that volume group. This implies a setting of --activationmode
complete whenever autoactivation takes place. For information on the --activationmode
complete option and automatic activation, see the vgchange(8) and pvscan(8) man pages.

Note that the event-driven autoactivation hooks are enabled when lvmetad is enabled with the
global/use_lvmetad=1 setting in the /etc/lvm/lvm.conf configuration file. Also note that without
autoactivation, there is a direct activation hook at the exact time during boot at which the volume groups
are activated with only the physical volumes that are available at that time. Any physical volumes that
appear later are not taken into account.

This issue does not affect early boot in initramfs (dracut) nor does this affect direct activation from
the command line using vgchange and lvchange calls, which default to degraded activation mode.
(BZ#1337220)

184
CHAPTER 64. VIRTUALIZATION

CHAPTER 64. VIRTUALIZATION


Guests reporting cmt, mbmt, or mbml perf events fail to boot
If a guest virtual machine is set to report cmt, mbmt, or mbml perf events, it is unable to boot after the
host is upgraded to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5.

To work around this problem, disable this setting by removing lines that contain event name='cmt',
event name='mbmt', or event name='mbml' from the <perf> section of the domain XML
configuration file. (BZ#1532553)

185
7.5 Release Notes

APPENDIX A. COMPONENT VERSIONS


This appendix provides a list of key components and their versions in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
release.

Table A.1. Component Versions

Component Version

kernel 3.10.0-862

kernel-alt 4.14.0-49

QLogic qla2xxx driver 9.00.00.00.07.5-k1

QLogic qla4xxx driver 5.04.00.00.07.02-k0

Emulex lpfc driver 0:11.4.0.4

iSCSI initiator utils (iscsi-initiator-utils) 6.2.0.874-7

DM-Multipath (device-mapper- 0.4.9-119


multipath)

LVM (lvm2) 2.02.177-4

qemu-kvm[a] 1.5.3-156

qemu-kvm-ma[b] 2.10.0-21

[a] The qemu-kvm packages provide KVM virtualization on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems.

[b] The qemu-kvm-ma packages provide KVM virtualization on IBM POWER8, IBM POWER9, and IBM z Systems. Note
that KVM virtualization on IBM POWER9 and IBM z Systems also requires using the kernel-alt packages.

186
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT


This appendix provides a list of all components and their related Bugzillas that are included in this book.

Table B.1. List of Bugzillas by Component

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

389-ds-base BZ#1274430, BZ#1434335, BZ#1517383,


BZ#1352121, BZ#1445188, BZ#1544477
BZ#1406351, BZ#1453155,
BZ#1458536, BZ#1459946,
BZ#1467777, BZ#1464463,
BZ#1470169 BZ#1464505,
BZ#1465600,
BZ#1476207,
BZ#1476322,
BZ#1483681,
BZ#1498980,
BZ#1501058,
BZ#1511462,
BZ#1517788,
BZ#1523183,
BZ#1533571

Doc-config-command-file- BZ#1479012
reference

ModemManager BZ#1483051

NetworkManager BZ#1350830,
BZ#1398925,
BZ#1436531

OVMF BZ#653382

OpenIPMI BZ#1457805

adcli BZ#1471021

anaconda BZ#1328576, BZ#1452873,


BZ#1448459, BZ#1465944,
BZ#1450922 BZ#1478970

ansible BZ#1313263

at BZ#1481355

audit BZ#1476406

187
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

binutils BZ#1385959, BZ#1465318,


BZ#1406430, BZ#1488889
BZ#1472955,
BZ#1485398

checkpolicy BZ#1494179

chrony BZ#1482565

clevis BZ#1475406, BZ#1500975 BZ#1538759


BZ#1475408,
BZ#1478888

clufter BZ#1509381

cockpit BZ#1470780

conman BZ#1435840

control-center BZ#1481407 BZ#1543631

corosync BZ#1413573

criu BZ#1400230

cups BZ#1434153,
BZ#1466497

curl BZ#1409208 BZ#1511523 BZ#1510247

custodia BZ#1403214

dbus BZ#1460262, BZ#1550582


BZ#1480264

device-mapper-multipath BZ#1452210, BZ#1459370


BZ#1456955

dhcp BZ#1394727,
BZ#1396985

ding-libs BZ#1480270

distribution BZ#1512020, BZ#1062656


BZ#1512021

188
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

dnsmasq BZ#1188259

emacs-php-mode BZ#1266953

exiv2 BZ#1420227

fence-agents BZ#1451776, BZ#1519370 BZ#1476401


BZ#1476009

firewalld BZ#1462977

freeipmi BZ#1435848

fwupd BZ#1420913

gcc BZ#1535655 BZ#1468546,


BZ#1469384,
BZ#1487434

gdb BZ#1228556,
BZ#1480498,
BZ#1493675,
BZ#1518243

genwqe-tools BZ#1456492

ghostscript BZ#1473337,
BZ#1479852

gimp BZ#1210840

gjs BZ#1523121

glibc BZ#677316, BZ#1443236,


BZ#1375235, BZ#1504969
BZ#1448822,
BZ#1498925

gnome-settings-daemon BZ#1481410

gnome-shell BZ#1481381 BZ#1481395 BZ#1497303,


BZ#1511454,
BZ#1539772,
BZ#1541021

189
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

gnome-shell-extensions BZ#1544840,
BZ#1550115

gnome-software BZ#1434477

grub2 BZ#1512493

gssproxy BZ#1462974,
BZ#1488629

httpd BZ#1274890

hwdata BZ#1489281

ima-evm-utils BZ#1384450

initscripts BZ#1357658, BZ#1364895, BZ#1444018


BZ#1478419 BZ#1380496,
BZ#1395391,
BZ#1455419

inkscape BZ#1480184

ipa BZ#1484683 BZ#1415162 BZ#1115294, BZ#1478366


BZ#1298286

ipa-server-docker BZ#1405325

iproute BZ#1435647,
BZ#1456539,
BZ#1468280

iptables BZ#1402021

190
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

kernel BZ#1102454, BZ#947004, BZ#916382, BZ#1303244,


BZ#1226051, BZ#1317099, BZ#1109348, BZ#1367444,
BZ#1272615, BZ#1373534, BZ#1111712, BZ#1470932,
BZ#1273769, BZ#1383691, BZ#1206277, BZ#1484047,
BZ#1308630, BZ#1432288, BZ#1230959, BZ#1486100,
BZ#1349668, BZ#1438695, BZ#1274459, BZ#1509444,
BZ#1361287, BZ#1442618, BZ#1299662, BZ#1528466,
BZ#1379551, BZ#1442784, BZ#1305092, BZ#1535168,
BZ#1400689, BZ#1445046, BZ#1348508, BZ#1539686,
BZ#1409365, BZ#1446684, BZ#1350553, BZ#1540061,
BZ#1421164, BZ#1448534, BZ#1387768, BZ#1540643,
BZ#1429710, BZ#1450529, BZ#1391561, BZ#1548055
BZ#1430637, BZ#1457046, BZ#1393375,
BZ#1451916, BZ#1460106, BZ#1414957,
BZ#1454745, BZ#1460213, BZ#1457533,
BZ#1454965, BZ#1460641, BZ#1460849
BZ#1456687, BZ#1462363,
BZ#1457561, BZ#1465711,
BZ#1457572, BZ#1467280,
BZ#1458278, BZ#1467521,
BZ#1465223, BZ#1467561,
BZ#1467288, BZ#1469200,
BZ#1467335, BZ#1469247,
BZ#1468286, BZ#1472892,
BZ#1469857, BZ#1476040,
BZ#1475409, BZ#1476709,
BZ#1481303, BZ#1479043,
BZ#1482253, BZ#1506338,
BZ#1491226, BZ#1507821
BZ#1494476,
BZ#1538911,
BZ#1626526

kernel-rt BZ#1401061, BZ#1297061


BZ#1462329

kexec-tools BZ#1431974 BZ#1448861, BZ#1549355


BZ#1476219

kmod BZ#1361857

krb5 BZ#1462982 BZ#1431198,


BZ#1460089

ksc BZ#1441455

libdb BZ#1349779 BZ#1460077

191
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

libguestfs BZ#1172425, BZ#1472719, BZ#1387213,


BZ#1438710, BZ#1506572 BZ#1441197,
BZ#1448739, BZ#1477912
BZ#1451665

libica BZ#1376836

libnftnl BZ#1332585

libpfm BZ#1474999

libreoffice BZ#1474303

libreswan BZ#1300763, BZ#1375750 BZ#1544463


BZ#1457904,
BZ#1463062,
BZ#1471763,
BZ#1475434

libsmbios BZ#1463329

libstoragemgmt BZ#1119909

libusnic_verbs BZ#916384

libva BZ#1456903

libvirt BZ#1289368, BZ#1283251 BZ#1532553


BZ#1292451,
BZ#1472263

libvncserver BZ#1314814

libyami BZ#1456906

linuxptp BZ#1002657

logrotate BZ#1465720

lorax BZ#1458937, BZ#1341280


BZ#1478448

lvm2 BZ#1113681, BZ#1337220


BZ#1278192

192
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

m17n-db BZ#1058510

mailx BZ#1474130

mod_nss BZ#1461580

mpg123 BZ#1481753

mutter BZ#1481386 BZ#1500397,


BZ#1537529

net-snmp BZ#1329338

netpbm BZ#1381122

nftables BZ#1472261 BZ#1451404

nmap BZ#1460249

nss BZ#1395803, BZ#1425514, BZ#1510156,


BZ#1457789 BZ#1431210, BZ#1557015
BZ#1432142

numpy BZ#1167156

opal-prd BZ#1456536

opencryptoki BZ#1456520

openldap BZ#1400578

opensc BZ#1473418

openscap BZ#1505517 BZ#1556988

openssh BZ#1478035 BZ#1488083, BZ#1493406,


BZ#1496808, BZ#1497680
BZ#1517226

openssl-ibmca BZ#1456516

oprofile BZ#1465354

oscap-anaconda-addon BZ#1547609

193
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

other BZ#1432080, BZ#1062759, BZ#1451876,


BZ#1499059, BZ#1072107, BZ#1512940,
BZ#1543995, BZ#1259547, BZ#1515833,
BZ#1578075 BZ#1464377, BZ#1515918,
BZ#1477977 BZ#1524193,
BZ#1532547,
BZ#1536004

pacemaker BZ#1427648, BZ#1394418,


BZ#1461976 BZ#1489728

pam BZ#1509338

parted BZ#1423357 BZ#1316239

pcp BZ#1472153

pcs BZ#1367808, BZ#1421702, BZ#1433016


BZ#1415197 BZ#1432283,
BZ#1508351

pcsc-lite-ccid BZ#1435668

perl-DBD-MySQL BZ#1311646

perl-DateTime-TimeZone BZ#1241818

perl-HTTP-Daemon BZ#1413065

perl-IO-Socket-SSL BZ#1402588

perl-version BZ#1378885

php BZ#1410010

194
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

pki-core BZ#1024558, BZ#1402280,


BZ#1400645, BZ#1404794,
BZ#1419761, BZ#1446579,
BZ#1445532, BZ#1461217,
BZ#1446786, BZ#1461524,
BZ#1452347, BZ#1465142,
BZ#1464549, BZ#1474658,
BZ#1469169, BZ#1479663,
BZ#1473452, BZ#1484359,
BZ#1523410, BZ#1486225,
BZ#1523443 BZ#1491052,
BZ#1498957,
BZ#1499054,
BZ#1500474,
BZ#1506819,
BZ#1518096,
BZ#1520277,
BZ#1532759,
BZ#1539125,
BZ#1541853

policycoreutils BZ#1471809

python BZ#1483438

python-blivet BZ#1527319

python-urllib3 BZ#1434114

python-virtualenv BZ#1461154

qemu-kvm BZ#1379822, BZ#1455451, BZ#1103193


BZ#1411490 BZ#1470244

qemu-kvm-ma BZ#1400070,
BZ#1465503,
BZ#1531672

qgnomeplatform BZ#1479351

qt5-qtbase BZ#1479097

quota BZ#1393849

195
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

rear BZ#1388653, BZ#1498748,


BZ#1479002, BZ#1534646
BZ#1492177,
BZ#1506231,
BZ#1532676

resource-agents BZ#1436189 BZ#1445628,


BZ#1457382,
BZ#1462802

rhn-client-tools BZ#1494389

rhnlib BZ#1503953

rhnsd BZ#1475039,
BZ#1480306,
BZ#1489989

rpcbind BZ#1425758

rpm BZ#1278924,
BZ#1406611

rsync BZ#1393543,
BZ#1432899

samba BZ#1470048

sane-backends BZ#1458903

sbd BZ#1462002, BZ#1468580,


BZ#1499864 BZ#1525981

scap-security-guide BZ#1404429,
BZ#1472499

scap-workbench BZ#1479036 BZ#1533108

selinux-policy BZ#1480518, BZ#1470735,


BZ#1494172 BZ#1472722

setup BZ#1344007 BZ#1433020

smartmontools BZ#1369731

sos BZ#1183243

196
APPENDIX B. LIST OF BUGZILLAS BY COMPONENT

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

spice-gtk BZ#1540056

squid BZ#1452200

sssd BZ#1327705, BZ#1068725


BZ#1400614,
BZ#1416150,
BZ#1472255

strace BZ#1466535

strongimcv BZ#755087

subscription-manager BZ#1319927, BZ#1476817,


BZ#1329349, BZ#1507158,
BZ#1463325, BZ#1519512
BZ#1466453,
BZ#1499977,
BZ#1526622

system-config-kdump BZ#1384943

system-config-kickstart BZ#1272068

systemd BZ#1384014 BZ#1455071 BZ#1284974

systemtap BZ#1473722

tang BZ#1478895

tboot BZ#1457529

tcpdump BZ#1464390,
BZ#1490842

tftp BZ#1328827

tpm2-abrmd BZ#1492466

tpm2-tss BZ#1463097

tss2 BZ#1384452

tuned BZ#1467576 BZ#1385838

197
7.5 Release Notes

Component New Features Notable Bug Technology Known Issues


Fixes Previews

unbound BZ#1251440

usbguard BZ#1480100

valgrind BZ#1473725

vdo BZ#1480047

vim BZ#1267826,
BZ#1319760

virt-manager BZ#1472271

virt-what BZ#1476878

virt-who BZ#1408556, BZ#1389729,


BZ#1436617 BZ#1461417,
BZ#1485865

wayland BZ#1481411

webkitgtk4 BZ#1476707

xorg-x11-drivers BZ#1516970

xorg-x11-drv-intel BZ#1545550

xorg-x11-server BZ#1478625,
BZ#1499129

yum BZ#1432319 BZ#1458841

yum-utils BZ#1437636, BZ#1428210,


BZ#1470647 BZ#1455318

198
APPENDIX C. REVISION HISTORY

APPENDIX C. REVISION HISTORY


Revision 0.1-8 Mon Feb 04 2019 Lenka Špačková
Improved structure of the book.

Revision 0.1-7 Thu Sep 13 2018 Lenka Špačková


Moved CephFS from Technology Previews to fully supported features (File Systems).

Revision 0.1-6 Tue Aug 28 2018 Lenka Špačková


Fixed a known issue related to performance loss caused by certain security patches (Kernel).

Revision 0.1-5 Tue Jul 31 2018 Lenka Špačková


Added a note regarding a change in behavior of the reposync command to New Features (System and Subscription
Management).

Revision 0.1-4 Tue Jul 17 2018 Lenka Špačková


Added a known issue related to LVM handling of incomplete volume groups (Storage).

Revision 0.1-3 Wed Jul 04 2018 Lenka Špačková


Fixed an option name in the DNS stub resolver improvements description (Networking).

Revision 0.1-2 Wed Jun 13 2018 Lenka Špačková


Fixed cross-reference links.

Revision 0.1-1 Fri May 18 2018 Lenka Špačková


Removed a duplicate description.
Updated GNOME Shell rebase description.

Revision 0.1-0 Tue May 15 2018 Lenka Špačková


Shenandoah garbage collector moved to fully supported features (Compiler and Tools).
Added a description of clufter rebase and of support for Sybase ASE failover to features (Clustering).
Added a known issue related to read-only system configuration (Installation and Booting).
Added several bug fix descriptions (Clustering, Storage).
Expanded Wayland Technology Preview description (Desktop).

Revision 0.0-9 Tue Apr 24 2018 Lenka Špačková


Moved the tpm2-* packages from Technology Previews to fully supported features (Hardware Enablement).
Added a new OpenSC feature related to CAC Alternate tokens (Security).
Added a known issue related to NSS and smart cards (Security).

Revision 0.0-8 Tue Apr 17 2018 Lenka Špačková


Updated a recommendation related to the sslwrap() deprecation.
Added a PTP device addition note (Virtualization).

Revision 0.0-7 Fri Apr 13 2018 Lenka Špačková


Updated a link to Intel® Omni-Path Architecture documentation.

Revision 0.0-6 Tue Apr 10 2018 Lenka Špačková


Release of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Release Notes.

Revision 0.0-1 Wed Jan 24 2018 Lenka Špačková


Release of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Beta Release Notes.

199

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