December 4, 2023 at 11:24AM
OpenZFS 2.2.0’s file copy data corruption bug, present for years but recently revealed, has been fixed in versions 2.2.2 and 2.1.14 for Linux and FreeBSD systems. The fix also applies to Illumos-based distributions. Optimizations from newer Coreutils versions, backported by Red Hat, inadvertently exposed the issue, complicating version tracking for affected systems. The ZFS bug’s origins are still under investigation, potentially dating back to 2006.
Meeting Summary:
1. The data corruption bug in OpenZFS 2.2.0 has been identified and resolved.
2. New releases of OpenZFS have been issued to address the bug: version 2.2.2 for the latest version and version 2.1.14 for the previous version.
3. These updates are relevant for both Linux and FreeBSD operating systems, including Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 23.10 and FreeBSD versions down to 12.
4. The bug was inadvertently exposed by a new, faster copy function in OpenZFS 2.2.0, though it has been present for years.
5. Fixes for the bug have been made available for FreeBSD versions 12, 13, and 14, with an errata notice published.
6. The bug was also found in Illumos, the open-source fork of OpenSolaris.
7. A misunderstanding was clarified regarding the Linux coreutils package version’s role in the bug: the issue affects versions of coreutils that include a backported feature from 9.x, found even in coreutils 8.x due to Red Hat’s engineering practices.
8. Red Hat’s practice of backporting updates to features can create complexities when determining affected versions across various distributions and bespoke systems.
9. RHEL and distributions based on it (e.g., Oracle Linux), which do not include OpenZFS, are not affected by this data-loss issue.
10. The bug could have originated as far back as 2006 and remained undetected for 17 years.
11. Two bug fixes are highlighted: #15571 corrects the problem in the new OpenZFS releases and #15615 represents a newer, cleaner attempt under investigation.
Actions to Take:
– Ensure systems running OpenZFS are updated to versions 2.2.2 or 2.1.14 to avoid the data corruption bug.
– Monitor ongoing investigations for simpler, cleaner fixes for the issue (e.g., bug fix #15615).
– Stay updated with the Github overview and continue tracking the extent of the bug’s presence in various systems and software distributions.