Bug 1164767 - System fails to mount LUKS encrypted volume at boot after kernel upgrade
Summary: System fails to mount LUKS encrypted volume at boot after kernel upgrade
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: systemd
Version: 20
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
urgent
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: systemd-maint
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2014-11-17 11:40 UTC by George B. Magklaras
Modified: 2015-06-29 23:20 UTC (History)
16 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2015-06-29 23:20:16 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description George B. Magklaras 2014-11-17 11:40:40 UTC
Description of problem:
A fedora 20 system fails to mount encrypted volume (/home) at boot after performing a kernel upgrade.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
The faulty behavior occurs after upgrading from kernel 3.16.6-203.fc20.x86_64 to kernel 3.16.7-200.fc20.x86_64. All subsequent kernel upgrades do not mount the encrypted volume. Booting the system back on 3.16.6-203.fc20.x86_64 mounts the encrypted volume properly.

How reproducible:
Very reproducible

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Make a new Fedora install. Encrypt /home (or any other partition/volume) and choose a passphrase that contains certain symbols (#%&) and not just ordinary characters and numbers.
2. Check that the passphrase works and that the partition is mounted at boot time.
3. yum -y update the system
4. Attempt to boot on the new kernel. 

Actual results:
The system fails to mount the encrypted /home volume after typing correctly the passphrase at boot with the console error (ftp://ftp.no.embnet.org/cryptsetup-luks/DSC_1117.JPG)
Dependency Failed for Encrypted Volumes ...

Expected results:
It should mount the encrypted volume at boot.

Additional info:
It is clear that the error might be due to the new kernel boot environment switching the keymap to a default (i.e. US English). I assume this because if one: 
(QUICK WORKAROUND TO BOOT INTO THE UPDATED KERNEL AND SOLVE THE PROBLEM:)
1. Boots back to the 'good' old kernel.
2. Changes the cryptsetup-luks passphrase to one that does NOT contain symbols (#%&) with only letters and numbers (aka keymap independent string)
3. Boots back to the updated kernel(s)

then the encrypted volume mounts properly. However, this should be investigated further as it can hinder non technical users that encrypt important system volumes/partitions, thus Severity-> urgent

GM

Comment 1 Milan Broz 2014-11-17 13:28:37 UTC
I do not think the kernel is the problem, kernel update just probably triggered initramdisk update and forced to use some buggy component here.

Systemd provides password query - so either systemd or plymouth is the component responsible for it.

I would not be surprised that this is also problem with keyboard setting on boot (IOW some magic changed default keyboard layout on upgrade).

Cryptsetup is just receiving passphrase (and it did not changed its processing in the last years). If you are able to workaround it by using non-special characters in passwords also missing kernel modules is not the issue.

(BTW someone should finally remove orphaned cryptsetup-luks component from bugzilla, it is cryptsetup since 2010 or so:-)

Comment 2 Alasdair Kergon 2014-11-17 13:49:10 UTC
(In reply to Milan Broz from comment #1)
> (BTW someone should finally remove orphaned cryptsetup-luks component from
> bugzilla, it is cryptsetup since 2010 or so:-)

Done.

Comment 3 George B. Magklaras 2014-11-17 14:14:06 UTC
(In reply to Milan Broz from comment #1)
> I do not think the kernel is the problem, kernel update just probably
> triggered initramdisk update and forced to use some buggy component here.
> 
> Systemd provides password query - so either systemd or plymouth is the
> component responsible for it.
> 

Yes, I said kernel boot environment referring to a number of things, not the kernel itself. Will look at this further to see what is the culprit.

GM

Comment 4 dsp3 2015-01-10 10:15:29 UTC
I have just experienced the exact same behaviour with kernel-3.17.8-300.fc21.x86_64. Reverting back to kernel-3.17.7-300.fc21.x86_64 works with special characters.

Comment 5 Fedora End Of Life 2015-05-29 13:19:03 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 20 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
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Comment 6 Fedora End Of Life 2015-06-29 23:20:16 UTC
Fedora 20 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2015-06-23. Fedora 20 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
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