Upgraded rsyslog (5.8.6-1ubuntu8.3) no longer logs

[Jim Seymour]

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

$ uname -a
Linux www 3.2.0-45-generic-pae #70-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 29 20:31:05 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

This morning I upgraded the rsyslog package. The upgrade hung. After trying a number of things, none of which worked, I was led to bug 1187654, "Updating rsyslog hangs, waiting for rsyslogd process to die" ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rsyslog/+bug/1187654 ) That allowed me to apply the upgrade, but ever since the problem first occurred, this morning, rsyslogd is no longer logging anything. I even tried a --resinstall. No go.

If I start rsyslogd in debug mode I get

$ /usr/sbin/rsyslogd -d

3247.480953433:b77356c0: rsyslogd 5.8.6 startup, compatibility mode 0, module path '', cwd:/etc/init.d
3247.481468616:b77356c0: caller requested object 'net', not found (iRet -3003)
3247.481614930:b77356c0: Requested to load module 'lmnet'
3247.481737612:b77356c0: loading module '/usr/lib/rsyslog/lmnet.so'
3247.482229839:b77356c0: module of type 2 being loaded.
3247.482347522:b77356c0: entry point 'isCompatibleWithFeature' not present in module
3247.482434608:b77356c0: source file conf.c requested reference for module 'lmnet', reference count now 1
3247.482558376:b77356c0: rsyslog runtime initialized, version 5.8.6, current users 1
3247.482774669:b77356c0: source file syslogd.c requested reference for module 'lmnet', reference count now 2
*** glibc detected *** /usr/sbin/rsyslogd: malloc(): memory corruption: 0x08b02ad8 ***

Which seems like a Bad Thing.

Both starting and stopping rsyslog hang, tho "start rsyslog" actually does start it, whereas "stop rsyslog" does not stop it.

I'll not check the "security vulnerability" check-box, below, but lack of logging I would suggest *does* constitute a security vulnerability of a kind.

[Jim Seymour (jseymour+launchpad)]

FWIW: I replaced /usr/sbin/rsyslogd with one from rsyslog-5.8.6-1ubuntu8.2 on another system (which I thankfully did *not* "upgrade") and it's working again.

I've attached strace output of running the broken rsyslogd, in case anybody's interested.

[Sundeep (smedius)]

Affects me as well

Ubuntu 12.4

Linux 3.2.0-45-generic-pae #70-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 29 20:31:05 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Skipping profile in /etc/apparmor.d/disable: usr.sbin.rsyslogd
*** glibc detected *** rsyslogd: malloc(): memory corruption (fast): 0x09711460 ***

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Anders Kaseorg (andersk)]

Is this bug 1187808?

[Conti Remigio (remigio-conti)]

Resolved by version 5.8.6-1ubuntu8.4 available here (proposed package):

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+package/rsyslog

Thanks to Adam Conrad (adconrad) for package build!