rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.17-1.2353.fc6.x86_64.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:kernel ########################################### [100%] dmesg shows ... audit(1152136489.347:11): avc: denied { write } for pid=3452 comm="modprobe" name="scsi_mod.ko" dev=dm-0 ino=11436647 scontext=user_u:system_r:bootloader_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:modules_object_t:s0 tclass=file audit(1152136489.347:12): avc: denied { write } for pid=3452 comm="modprobe" name="libata.ko" dev=dm-0 ino=11436626 scontext=user_u:system_r:bootloader_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:modules_object_t:s0 tclass=file audit(1152136489.351:13): avc: denied { write } for pid=3452 comm="modprobe" name="ahci.ko" dev=dm-0 ino=11436610 scontext=user_u:system_r:bootloader_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:modules_object_t:s0 tclass=file audit(1152136493.779:14): avc: denied { search } for pid=3791 comm="grubby" name="home" dev=dm-0 ino=27328513 scontext=user_u:system_r:bootloader_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:home_root_t:s0 tclass=dir I did a fixfiles relabel and retried - same thing. selinux-policy-targeted-2.2.47-3.fc5 selinux-policy-2.2.47-3.fc5
hmm, I noticed there's a bunch of stuff that didn't get updated, including the 2.3 version of policy. I'll yum update again, and see if that sorts out the policy.
was caused by an incomplete yum upgrade. works fine now.