Bug 2228450

Summary: [RHEL-8] Anaconda rewrites /var/log/anaconda logs and changes selinux context on files when running in rescue mode
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Reporter: Jan Stodola <jstodola>
Component: anacondaAssignee: anaconda-maint
Status: NEW --- QA Contact: Release Test Team <release-test-team>
Severity: unspecified Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 8.8Keywords: Triaged
Target Milestone: rc   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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: 2228480 (view as bug list) Environment:
Last Closed: Type: Bug
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Bug Blocks: 2180394    
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anaconda logs none

Description Jan Stodola 2023-08-02 12:11:41 UTC
Description of problem:
When the installer is executed in rescue mode and the existing system is mounted by anaconda in read-write mode, the logs stored in /mnt/sysroot/var/log/anaconda are rewritten and SELinux context of some files may be changed. This happens right after anaconda mounts the detected system.

In other words, %post scripts from https://github.com/rhinstaller/anaconda/tree/rhel-8/data/post-scripts are executed even in rescue mode, which is not expected.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
RHEL-8.8 GA

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install a RHEL system
2. Create a file in /root with an unexpected SELinux context:
# touch /root/my_file
# chcon -t httpd_sys_content_t /root/my_file
3. Start the installer in rescue mode ("inst.rescue" on the kernel command line)
4. Let anaconda find and mount the existing partitions
5. Check logs in /mnt/sysroot/var/log/anaconda and SELinux context of /mnt/sysroot/root/my_file

Actual results:
/mnt/sysroot/var/log/anaconda contains logs from the current rescue mode
The SELinux context of /mnt/sysroot/root/my_file is reset to the default

Expected results:
No changes made in the system being rescued.

Additional info:
A workaround to avoid rewriting /var/log/anaconda is to append "inst.nosave=all" on the kernel command line when starting rescue mode.

Comment 1 Jan Stodola 2023-08-02 12:13:15 UTC
Created attachment 1981306 [details]
anaconda logs

Comment 2 Jan Stodola 2023-08-02 12:39:25 UTC
rhel-9 clone: bug 2228480