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Bug 1885143 - Services configured with ProtectSystem=strict don't start when NFS mounts are unreachable
Summary: Services configured with ProtectSystem=strict don't start when NFS mounts are...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Classification: Red Hat
Component: systemd
Version: 8.2
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
high
Target Milestone: rc
: 8.0
Assignee: David Tardon
QA Contact: Petr Matyáš
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 2014528 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2020-10-05 08:55 UTC by Renaud Métrich
Modified: 2021-11-10 09:48 UTC (History)
6 users (show)

Fixed In Version: systemd-239-48.el8
Doc Type: If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2021-11-09 19:54:49 UTC
Type: Bug
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Github systemd-rhel rhel-8 pull 141 0 None open (#1885143) (#1885143) bind_remount: avoid calling statvfs 2021-02-15 14:29:15 UTC
Github systemd systemd pull 12852 0 None closed mount-util: bind_remount: don't call statvfs 2021-02-15 14:29:15 UTC
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2021:4469 0 None None None 2021-11-09 19:55:24 UTC

Description Renaud Métrich 2020-10-05 08:55:51 UTC 
Description of problem:

When NFS mounts are unreachable, no service configured with ProtectSystem=strict (or full) can start.

This affects the following services:
- systemd-localed
- systemd-hostnamed
- systemd-timedated
- systemd-coredump@

The result is affected commands hang:
- localectl
- hostnamectl

Similarly, services configured with InaccessiblePaths= properties cannot start either.

The reason is due to systemd's child (service starter) remounting all paths, including NFS mounts that are not reachable, hence hanging.
Then, due to timeouts in service startup, errors happen.

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

systemd-219+

How reproducible:

ALWAYS

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set up a NFS server exporting /mnt

2. On the RHEL8.2 client system, mount the directory

  # mount vm-nfs-server:/mnt /mnt

3. On the NFS server, drop all outgoing packets to the RHEL8.2 client

  # iptables -I OUTPUT -d 192.168.122.86/32 -j DROP

4. On the RHEL8.2 client system, execute "localectl"

  # localectl
  

Actual results:

Hang of command + journal shows systemd-localed cannot start:
-------- 8< ---------------- 8< ---------------- 8< ---------------- 8< --------
dbus-daemon[973]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.locale1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.locale1.service' requested by ':1.1117' (uid=0 pid=111619 comm="localectl " label="unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023")
systemd[1]: Starting Locale Service...
dbus-daemon[973]: [system] Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.locale1': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)
-------- 8< ---------------- 8< ---------------- 8< ---------------- 8< --------

Expected results:

No hang

Additional info:

We need hardening of this.
The only solution I can think of is providing a new property to only mount local file systems.
Comment 2 Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek 2020-10-27 10:39:30 UTC 
Can you check if the issue is reproducible with a recent released version (but no later than v246)?
We used to always call statvfs, but now we go through a libmount path by default, and this should
avoid the issue.
Comment 3 Pierre Ossman 2020-10-27 10:46:11 UTC 
How recent? Our RHEL 8 system which exhibits this is currently on 239, which I guess is not recent enough then.
Comment 4 Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek 2020-10-27 11:58:31 UTC 
The important commit is v242-1437-gd34a40082d. So anything between 243 and 246.
Comment 5 Pierre Ossman 2020-10-28 10:10:46 UTC 
Can I get a package for RHEL 8 somewhere to test that? Or will I have to test it on Fedora instead?
Comment 6 David Tardon 2020-12-01 09:14:27 UTC 
(In reply to Pierre Ossman from comment #5)
> Can I get a package for RHEL 8 somewhere to test that? Or will I have to
> test it on Fedora instead?

Here: http://people.redhat.com/dtardon/systemd/bz1885143-unreachable-nfs/
Comment 7 Pierre Ossman 2020-12-03 13:49:19 UTC 
Thanks. I can confirm that with the updated packages I no longer get any issues starting systemd-localed with a wedged NFS mount.
Comment 8 Lukáš Nykrýn 2021-06-22 12:34:48 UTC 
fix merged to github master branch -> https://github.com/redhat-plumbers/systemd-rhel8/pull/141
Comment 12 Petr Matyáš 2021-08-18 12:10:09 UTC 
Verified on systemd-239-49.el8.x86_64
Comment 13 David Tardon 2021-10-18 10:37:16 UTC 
*** Bug 2014528 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 15 errata-xmlrpc 2021-11-09 19:54:49 UTC 
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory (systemd bug fix and enhancement update), and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2021:4469
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