BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 00000040 apparmor_bprm_set_creds

[David Coggins]

I am running Karmic Alpha 5 with latest distribution upgrades on an Asus EEE PC 701. I noticed the apport icon and clicked on it but otherwise my system still seems to be running OK. I was using apt-cache search at the time.

ProblemType: KernelOops
Annotation: Your system might become unstable now and might need to be restarted.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: david_coggins 1585 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf7eb8000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC662 rev1'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0662,104382a1,00100101'
   Controls : 14
   Simple ctrls : 9
Date: Thu Oct 8 09:46:40 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Failure: oops
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=4a715ae2-3908-45e6-a9c0-594ebbdf985d
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 701
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-11-generic 2.6.31-11.38
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=70491b8c-04d0-43ec-bf4b-f18ba0a2fdfd ro quiet splash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.38-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-11-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.20
SourcePackage: linux
Tags: kernel-oops ubuntu-unr
Title: BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 00000040
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 05/04/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1001
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 701
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTek Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: x.x
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1001:bd05/04/2008:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn701:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn701:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTekComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
dmi.product.name: 701
dmi.product.version: x.x
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi David,

I notice you were running Alpha5 (kernel 2.6.31-11.38) at the time this kernel Oops happened. Can you comment if this is still occurs with the lastest 2.6.31-13.44 Karmic kernel? I do see some apparmor patches have gone in since the Alpha5 kernel, although they're not likely related to this issue you've reported. However, it would be good to know how often this kernel oops appears or if you're able to readily reproduce the issue. Thanks!

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

Hi David,

There were some fixes to profile loading/replacement/removal that went in that may be related to this bug but I haven't been able to confirm or deny that, nor replicate this bug. It would be good to now if you have seen an oops recently even if you can't readily reproduce.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Just pasting a reply from David that I received:

"I have been running update manager every day for the last 3 weeks. I have been using Ubuntu Netbook remix on my Asus EEE PC 701 only since September 2009. A similar problem may have occurred earlier in September with an earlier alpha but I don't think apport collected any data. Prior to September I was running the Xandros Linux that Asus shipped with the EEE PC in January 2007.

The problem does not seem to be reproducible - it hasn't happened again. I am thinking it might be hardware related? Is it possible to tell from the apport files if there is faulty hardware in my eee pc? Perhaps I could cause the problem to happen again if I knew which hardware circuitry was responsible."

David, unfortunately with the rarity of this appearing, it'll be hard to debug. Lets make sure you've updated to the latest as John pointed out there may have been some fixes relating to your issue. If this doesn't reappear after a given amount of time (say a month?) lets then consider closing the bug. Thanks!

[John Dong (jdong)]

This still happens and is readily reproducible in Karmic final...

http://www.epsxe.com/download.php

Unzip the Linux binary distribution and run ./epsxe, you'll see Killed on the terminal, and the backtrace looks like

[18118.395977] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000068
[18118.395987] IP: [<ffffffff8141c9a0>] apparmor_bprm_set_creds+0x340/0x430
[18118.396291] PGD 259c4067 PUD 5f5fe067 PMD 0
[18118.396296] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
[18118.396302] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/block/dm-0/uevent
[18118.396354] CPU 1
[18118.396379] Modules linked in: ecb vmblock vsock vmmemctl vmhgfs pvscsi acpiphp binfmt_misc sha256_generic cryptd aes_x86_64 aes_generic cbc snd_ens1371 gameport dm_crypt snd_ac97_codec ac97_bus snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_timer iptable_filter lp snd_seq_device ip_tables ppdev snd psmouse soundcore x_tables i2c_piix4 serio_raw snd_page_alloc parport_pc shpchp parport vmci vmxnet btrfs zlib_deflate crc32c libcrc32c floppy e1000 mptspi mptscsih mptbase scsi_transport_spi intel_agp
[18118.396536] Pid: 5813, comm: epsxe Not tainted 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu VMware Virtual Platform
[18118.396539] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff8141c9a0>] [<ffffffff8141c9a0>] apparmor_bprm_set_creds+0x340/0x430
[18118.396543] RSP: 0018:ffff88001b40bdc8 EFLAGS: 00010246
[18118.396545] RAX: 00000000fffffffe RBX: ffff88005bd6cd00 RCX: ffff88001b40bdf8
[18118.396547] RDX: ffff88003d8f9fe2 RSI: ffffffff81798480 RDI: 0000000000000004
[18118.396549] RBP: ffff88001b40be78 R08: ffffffff816e6154 R09: 00000000000000e2
[18118.396551] R10: 00000000000000f5 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88002ed43ee0
[18118.396553] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88001b40bdd8 R15: ffff88001b40be28
[18118.396569] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff880001a12000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[18118.396571] CS: 0010 DS: 002b ES: 002b CR0: 000000008005003b
[18118.396573] CR2: 0000000000000068 CR3: 0000000031882000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
[18118.396618] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[18118.396644] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[18118.396646] Process epsxe (pid: 5813, threadinfo ffff88001b40a000, task ffff880025840000)
[18118.396648] Stack:
[18118.396649] 0000000000000000 ffff880062c07000 0000000000000000 fffffffe000000d0
[18118.396653] <0> ffffffff81723992 0000000000000000 ffff88003d8f9fe2 0000000000000000
[18118.396656] <0> 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000100000000 ffff88001b40be28
[18118.396660] Call Trace:
[18118.396842] [<ffffffff8107cf19>] ? up_write+0x9/0x10
[18118.396996] [<ffffffff812201be>] security_bprm_set_creds+0xe/0x10
[18118.397091] [<ffffffff81125045>] prepare_binprm+0xb5/0x110
[18118.397165] [<ffffffff8116030c>] compat_do_execve+0x28c/0x400
[18118.397238] [<ffffffff81042ee5>] sys32_execve+0x45/0x70
[18118.397242] [<ffffffff81042cc5>] ia32_ptregs_common+0x25/0x50
[18118.397243] Code: 0f 1f 00 4c 89 fe 65 48 8b 3c 25 c0 c6 00 00 e8 d7 f6 ff ff 85 c0 89 85 6c ff ff ff 0f 85 15 fe ff ff e9 de fe ff ff 0f 1f 40 00 <41> f6 45 68 08 0f 84 eb fd ff ff 0f 1f 44 00 00 e9 d7 fd...

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

John,

  thanks for the test unfortunately I haven't managed to get epsxe to run on my test machine.
 could you run it again and do an

 apport-collect -p linux 446164

thanks

[John Dong (jdong)]

Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1371/1 [ES1371 DAC2/ADC]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/dsp', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1p', '/dev/snd/midiC0D0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer', '/dev/sequencer', '/dev/sequencer2'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'AudioPCI'/'Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1371 at 0x2040, irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Cirrus Logic CS4297A rev 3'
   Components : 'AC97a:43525913'
   Controls : 24
   Simple ctrls : 13
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Alpha amd64 (20091016)
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
 LC_CTYPE=C
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-14-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.24
RfKill:

Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 09/18/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00
dmi.board.name: 440BX Desktop Reference Platform
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.board.version: None
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvr6.00:bd09/18/2009:svnVMware,Inc.:pnVMwareVirtualPlatform:pvrNone:rvnIntelCorporation:rn440BXDesktopReferencePlatform:rvrNone:cvnNoEnclosure:ct1:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VMware Virtual Platform
dmi.product.version: None
dmi.sys.vendor: VMware, Inc.

[Mike (mwielgosz)]

I posted the following link as well, but while I was searching for a fix to this error, I also discovered this thread and figured I might as well post it here too:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/437258

You must install the package 'upx-ucl'
'sudo apt-get install upx-ucl'
Navigate to the epsxe binary [/usr/local/bin/epsxe] and run:
'sudo upx -d epsxe'

The kernel will not crash upon running epsxe.

With the Karmic release, libgtk1.2 has been removed and it is not in the package manager. You must manually install it. I did this through the Ubuntu Package Website:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libgtk1.2

Dependencies:
dpkg http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/dpkg
libc6 http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libc6
libglib1.2 http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libglib1.2
libgtk1.2-common http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libgtk1.2-common
libx11-6 http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libx11-6
libxext6 http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libxext6
libxi6 http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/libxi6

Personally, I had to install libglib1.2 and libgtk1.2-common in order to satisfy the libgtk1.2 dependencies.

The kernel problem was solved after completing this process.
I did have one other problem. The link to 'epsxe' that was located in '/usr/local/bin/epsxe' would not load the plugins or configurations. I ended up navigating to '/usr/local/games/epsxe/' where all my plugins and configurations are located and ran:
'sudo upx -d epsxe'
I then created a launcher pointing at '/usr/local/games/epsxe/epsxe' Now my configurations load and the emulator is playable once again.

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

Mike,
  can you clarify when/how you saw this bug? Where you getting it before installing the dependencies or after? Do you still experience the bug if you run epsxe directly instead of through doing sudo upx -d epsxe?

thanks

[John Dong (jdong)]

I was getting it on a stock Karmic with no glib packages hackishly taken from Dapper. The bug seems to have something to do with UPX packed executables, as after unpacking with UPX, the oops no longer occurs.

Interesting to note, I tried UPX packing a copy of everything in /usr/bin and nothing else seems to trigger this oops.

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

John,

  Indeed I suspect this is linked with UPX packed executables, but that still shouldn't be able to oops the kernel. Just to verify what you did, you downloaded the linux binary distribution from http://www.epsxe.com/download.php, unpacked it and the then just tried to run .epsxe, correct? No extra libs, install, etc. I ask because I still haven't been able to reproduce yet.

[Mike (mwielgosz)]

I saw this bug after I upgraded from 9.04 to 9.10 and tried to run 'epsxe'. Once I ran 'sudo upx -d epsxe' it fixed the problem...once you run it once on the executable file, you don't have to run it again. It would seem that the new kernel has a problem with executables packaged with UPX-ULC and that manually unpacking them solves the problem. Once I ran upx, the bug stopped happening, and the kernel ceased to crash. I then ran epsxe and it started complaining about missing dependencies, so I went through and installed libgtk1.2, which is not in the current package manager list for some reason.

I currently have one problem with epsxe now. If I run 'epsxe' directly through the terminal, it will not load any plugins or configurations. I have to run the executable directly as the symbolic link does not want to work.

[Mike (mwielgosz)]

Let me clarify that I had epsxe installed before the upgrade and it was working fine. When I upgraded to 9.10 is when the problem occurred. The dependencies for epsxe had nothing to do with the crash.

It seems like people are semi aware of the problem as browsing through the Ubuntu epsxe install forum, they talk about installing UPX-UCL. I am not sure if this is related to this bug as it was written before the upgrade. I did not have UPX-UCL installed before 9.10.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=612021

I am running:
Linux version 2.6.31-14-generic (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8) ) #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:04:26 UTC 2009 (Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic)

[John Dong (jdong)]

John, I am in total agreement with you that AA shouldn't be oopsing like this :) I will confirm that exactly what I did was on a stock AMD64 Karmic install, I unzippled that .zip into /tmp and ran ./epsxe.

[JuanCML (juancruz-mluquez)]

Hi from Argentina.
I've made an upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 on an Intel x86 and the kernel is 2.6.31-14-generic.
I'm experimenting this problem but I don't use the epsxe emulator.
Any help? should i wait untill the update arrives to fix this bug?

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

JuanCML,

  after you experience the bug, from a terminal can you run

   apport-collect -p linux 446164

[JuanCML (juancruz-mluquez)]

Hi John,
I can't collect any info because yesterday an update seems to solve the bug because today it didn't happend again.
I will collect any information if it happens again.
Many thanks!
Regards,

Juan

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

John, Mike,

  do either of you still see this with the most recent update?

[David Coggins (david-coggins-sydney)]

I am having some serious problems with the released Karmic. Every day for the last week my system freezes when I click on the X on the top right of the window to exit either firefox, eclipse or google picasa. This happens several times a day. It does not happen every time I click to exit. I have just run checkbox but it reports my system as healthy. Also I have checked the SMART data for my WD passport USB disk in the system disk utility and no errors are reported there. I don't think it is hardware related because the EEE PC lcd is showing a black screen with a cursor in the top left similar to what is seen while booting while the Samsung LD220G 1920x1080 LCD attached to the VGA port still shows the X windows unchanged. I have ordered a 2GB SODIMM as I have noticed a lot of disk accesses in the performance panel applet when using eclipse and firefox at the same time. I am hoping increasing the ram from 512 to 2000 may fix the freeze also.

[John Johansen (jjohansen)]

David,
  is there any reason you believe your freezes are related to this bug? I ask because it is important to open another bug if it turns out your problems aren't this bug, so that it can be properly tracked.

  After you experience the freeze can you run
    apport-collect -p linux 446164

  Also there is a test kernel which may fix this bug at
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~jj/linux-image-2.6.31-15-generic_2.6.31-15.50~jj_amd64.deb

[David Coggins (david-coggins-sydney)]

AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: david_coggins 1867 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf7eb8000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC662 rev1'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0662,104382a1,00100101'
   Controls : 14
   Simple ctrls : 9
CheckboxSubmission: d62d8fd242f3db43099237193d779429
CheckboxSystem: b62ae224500b03a9fc2c9b6caf3feb14
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=4a715ae2-3908-45e6-a9c0-594ebbdf985d
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 701
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=70491b8c-04d0-43ec-bf4b-f18ba0a2fdfd ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-14-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.24
Tags: ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2129): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:2258): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:2305): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
dmi.bios.date: 05/04/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1001
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 701
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTek Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: x.x
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1001:bd05/04/2008:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn701:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn701:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTekComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
dmi.product.name: 701
dmi.product.version: x.x
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

[David Coggins (david-coggins-sydney)]

John, This time the freeze happened while update manager was running. Can you create a new bug for this and move my recent comment over or do you want me to put my comment in a new bug and do a second collection when a new freeze happens? I tried pinging the EEE PC after the freeze from my Nokia 770 but got no response so it seems the kernel is stopped. I received my 2GB ram today. Is it OK to put to this extra RAM in or are there other experiments I can do with 512MB?

[David Coggins (david-coggins-sydney)]

Sorry, my recent November comments about system freezes are caused by hardware. My Western Digital Passport disk must be connected by a USB cable of length less than 18 inches as described here http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=197