File "dhclient.conf" cannot be read.

[John Sloan]

Release info:
:/etc# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Release: 10.04

Package info:
:/etc# dhclient -v
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.3
Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.

What I expected to happen:
Logged in as root, use "less" or "cat" to review the contents of the "/etc/dhclient.conf" file.

What actually happened:
Logged in as root, I could not directly see the /etc/dhclient.conf file in an "ls" listing and I could not view the contents of the file.

The file "/etc/dhclient.conf" will appear in a listing "ls -al /etc/dh*" as follows (all commands run as root):

:/etc# ls -al dh*
total 28
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2010-04-30 15:47 .
drwxr-xr-x 156 root root 12288 2010-05-23 12:05 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1716 2009-10-08 18:51 dhclient.conf
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-04-30 15:48 dhclient-enter-hooks.d
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-04-30 15:48 dhclient-exit-hooks.d

However, this file will NOT appear in a listing "ls -al /etc/dhclient.conf":

:/etc# ls -al /etc/dhclient.conf
ls: cannot access /etc/dhclient.conf: No such file or directory

Any attempt to cat or less the file /etc/dhclient.conf results in failure:

:/etc# cat /etc/dhclient.conf
cat: /etc/dhclient.conf: No such file or directory
:/etc# less /etc/dhclient.conf
/etc/dhclient.conf: No such file or directory

This behaviour was noticed on a Lucid Lynx system, and a rootkit was suspected. However, this was repeated on a Lucid Lynx "live cd session" so it is clearly not a result of an intrusion.

Looking for "dhclient" in lsof output produced the following which includes no listing for the dhclient.conf file:

:/etc# lsof | grep "dhclient"
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/john/.gvfs
      Output information may be incomplete.
dhclient 1130 root cwd DIR 8,2 4096 2 /
dhclient 1130 root rtd DIR 8,2 4096 2 /
dhclient 1130 root txt REG 8,2 415516 4285 /sbin/dhclient3
dhclient 1130 root mem REG 8,2 42572 3014915 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.11.1.so
dhclient 1130 root mem REG 8,2 1405508 3014894 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc-2.11.1.so
dhclient 1130 root mem REG 8,2 113964 2224 /lib/ld-2.11.1.so
dhclient 1130 root 0u CHR 1,3 0t0 1081 /dev/null
dhclient 1130 root 1u CHR 1,3 0t0 1081 /dev/null
dhclient 1130 root 2u CHR 1,3 0t0 1081 /dev/null
dhclient 1130 root 3u unix 0xf09c8600 0t0 5514 socket
dhclient 1130 root 4r REG 8,2 852 596 /var/lib/dhcp3/dhclient-03d7fb69-4cb9-4bc5-925e-da357142a9ae-eth0.lease
dhclient 1130 root 5w IPv4 5536 0t0 UDP *:bootpc
dhclient 1130 root 6u pack 5530 0t0 ALL type=SOCK_PACKET

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic-pae 2.6.32-22.33
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic-pae 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: vmnet vsock vmci vmmon nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: john 2083 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xf7ff4000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC887'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0887,10ec0887,00100202'
   Controls : 35
   Simple ctrls : 20
Date: Sun May 23 12:15:19 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=7c97cabc-b3c2-4571-b56e-d976f29f23ef
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic-pae root=UUID=f554316f-139e-43dd-a4a0-08ba4dae118c ro acpi_enforce_resources=lax quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_CA.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 09/14/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1214
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: M4A78 PLUS
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1214:bd09/14/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnM4A78PLUS:rvrRevX.0x:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi John,

If you could also please test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu development release http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]