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Chapter 6. New features and enhancements


Review new features and enhancements in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

6.1. Installer and image creation

Review new features and enhancements for installer and image creation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Anaconda supports automatic Flatpak installation from Red Hat Satellite

With this update, Anaconda can automatically install the Flatpak applications during RHEL system installation from Red Hat Satellite. When systems are deployed through Satellite, Anaconda uses the preinstall.d mechanism to install Flatpak packages based on the selected environment. For example, the "Server with GUI" environment includes Flatpak-based Mozilla Firefox, ensuring GUI-based systems have necessary applications available immediately after installation. This enables Satellite-managed environments to deliver containerized applications through Flatpak while maintaining existing deployment workflows.

This enhancement ensures Satellite deployments can support RHEL 10 systems with Flatpak-based applications by using familiar installation processes. It also eliminates manual post-installation configuration steps.

Jira:RHEL-95061[1]

Anaconda supports automatic Flatpak installation during system setup

With this update, Anaconda can automatically install Flatpak applications during the RHEL system installation based on the selected environment. This capability works with all installation sources, such as Content Delivery Network (CDN), offline DVD.iso media, and custom LAN servers.

Anaconda installs Flatpak packages by using the preinstall.d mechanism during the installation process when users select environments that require Flatpak applications. For example, the "Server with GUI" environment includes Flatpak-based Mozilla Firefox, ensuring GUI-based systems have necessary applications available immediately after installation.

This enhancement enables delivering containerized applications through Flatpak while maintaining a consistent installation experience across all RHEL installation methods. It also eliminates the need for manual Flatpak installation steps after system deployment. You can change the delivery method in Anaconda from Flatpaks back to RPM packages by following the process outlined in the Package selection in Kickstart section of RHEL documentation. For example, use the following configuration to preinstall the Firefox RPM package instead of the Flatpak:

%packages
@^graphical-server-environment
-redhat-flatpak-preinstall-firefox
firefox
%end

Jira:RHEL-95062[1]

New rdp Kickstart command for remote graphical installation

A new rdp Kickstart command was added to enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)-based graphical installations directly from a Kickstart configuration file. The command has the following syntax:

# rdp [--username <USERNAME>] [--password <PASSWORD>]

With this enhancement, you can configure and start a fully automated, headless RDP installation by using Kickstart commands. For complete information about the rdp command and its options, see the Kickstart commands reference in the Automatically installing RHEL guide.

Jira:RHEL-96216

Default size for the /boot partition increased to 2 GiB

Before this release, 1 GiB for the /boot was often insufficient for systems that require large firmware blobs in initramfs. With this update, the default size for the /boot partition has been increased from 1 GiB to 2 GiB. This change ensures that there is enough disk space for future kernel updates and associated initramfs images. You can manually reduce the partition size or reuse existing smaller partitions when necessary.

Jira:RHEL-151547

RHEL image builder GUI support for creating bootable images

You can create bootable containers and disk images by using the RHEL image builder app in the web console and by using image-builder-cli. On first boot, the images automatically subscribe to Red Hat services.

Jira:RHELDOCS-19587[1]

image-builder-cli supports creating PXE boot systems with stateless architecture

With this update, you can use the image-builder-cli utility to create stateless PXE images. As a result, you can quickly boot ephemeral nodes that run entirely in RAM over a network by using either an HTTP server or a combined image.

Jira:RHELDOCS-22010

RHEL image builder support for Anaconda network installer images

With this update, you can use RHEL image builder to create Anaconda network installer .iso images. By including activation keys directly into the installer, you can automate system registration during the installation process. As a result, instead of standard download pages, you can generate customized, pre-configured images for nightly builds or specific deployment environments.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21852[1]

Finalization locking is available for RHEL on image mode

With this update, you can download bootc system updates without automatically applying them on reboot. You can use the bootc upgrade --download-only command to stage updates. To apply the downloaded updates at a later time, use the bootc upgrade command. Alternatively, use the bootc upgrade --from-downloaded command to apply the staged update without checking the registry for newer versions. The notable enhancements are:

  • By staging updates in download-only mode, you can predownload security updates during business hours, validate staged deployments, and choose exactly when to apply them during planned maintenance windows.
  • With this feature, you can also ensure better control and security by preventing unintended system updates during routine reboots, and it enables administrators to coordinate controlled rollouts across multiple systems.
  • You can apply downloaded updates at any time using bootc upgrade, or you can use bootc upgrade --from-downloaded to apply the staged update without checking for newer versions from the registry, which is ideal for scheduled maintenance workflows where the exact downloaded version must be deployed.
  • You can apply downloaded updates at any time by using bootc upgrade. Alternatively, administrators can use bootc upgrade --from-downloaded to apply the staged update without checking the registry for newer versions. This approach is ideal for scheduled maintenance workflows where the exact downloaded version is required for deployment.

    As a result, operations teams can maintain better governance over production environments, ensuring compliance with strict change control processes, maximizing uptime, and separating network-intensive downloads from actual system changes.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21394[1]

Bootc Virtualization Kit support for bootc

With this update, you can run and convert boot container images into virtual machines. Use the bcvk utility to launch ephemeral virtual machines for rapid development and testing, or to generate persistent disk images for production deployments. As a result, your virtual machines run the exact same containerized bootable images used across your environment, maintaining consistency from development to production.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21383[1]

Support for creating stateless PXE images from container builds

You can create stateless PXE images from your container builds in image mode for high-performance computing (HPC) and diskless systems. The build process generates the necessary artifacts, such as kernel, initrd, and squashfs.

Jira:RHELDOCS-20631[1]

6.2. Security

Review new features and enhancements for security in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The system no longer hangs when fapolicyd receives SIGSTOP or ptrace()

This update of the fapolicyd-selinux package introduces an SELinux module to protect the fapolicyd service. The new SELinux module prevents users from sending the SIGSTOP signal to fapolicyd or tracing fapolicyd by using the ptrace() function, which might cause the system to crash. As a result, the system no longer hangs or requires manual reboots in the described scenarios.

Jira:RHEL-1368

GSSAPIDelegatedCredentials can be set to no in sshd_config

With this update, you can set the GSSAPIDelegatedCredentials option in the sshd_config configuration file to no. Although the default value yes ensures backward compatibility, you can use no for enhanced security control. As a result, an OpenSSH server with GSSAPIDelegatedCredentials set to no refuses to forward credentials.

Jira:RHEL-5281

New libreswan-minimal sub-package reduces container image size

Before this update, the libreswan package was a monolithic package with a dependency on systemd. This dependency increased the image size of containerized applications.

With this update, the package is modularized by introducing a new libreswan-minimal sub-package without dependencies on systemd and other optional external tools. As a result, you can create smaller container images for applications that do not use systemd. These provide faster startup times and reduced resource usage.

Jira:RHEL-5299

The SELinux policy confines the redfish-finder service

New rules in the SELinux policy provide specific confinement for the redfish-finder systemd service. This update helps comply with the CIS Server Level 2 benchmark for the restriction of unconfined daemons.

As a result, redfish-finder no longer uses the unconfined_service_t label and runs correctly in SELinux enforcing mode.

Jira:RHEL-50299[1]

OpenSSH adds support for hybrid ML-KEM NIST

With this update, the OpenSSH suite adds support for the mlkem768nistp256-sha256 and mlkem1024nistp384-sha384 key exchange algorithms. As a result, you can protect SSH connections by using the ML-KEM (Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism) post-quantum (PQ) key exchange combined with elliptic curves standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Jira:RHEL-70824

libssh supports hybrid key exchange with ML-KEM

With this update, the libssh library introduces support for post-quantum traditional (PQ/T) hybrid key exchange methods based on the quantum-resistant Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) standard and traditional Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange schemes. You can use the following methods defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft-ietf-sshm-mlkem-hybrid-kex document in the SSH protocol:

  • mlkem768nistp256-sha256
  • mlkem768x25519-sha256
  • mlkem1024nistp384-sha384

Note that mlkem768x25519-sha256 is the preferred key exchange method for SSH connections unless you change the configuration.

Jira:RHEL-70825

p11-kit-client.so separates to the p11-kit-client subpackage

The p11-kit-client.so module moves from the p11-kit-server subpackage to the new p11-kit-client subpackage. With the separated subpackages, you can install only the required parts and avoid redundant content on host systems or in containers.

Jira:RHEL-89706

OpenSSH relaxed GSSAPI key exchange restrictions in FIPS mode

With this update, the OpenSSH suite permits GSSAPI key exchange methods with the following Diffie-Hellman (DH) and Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) groups in FIPS mode:

  • gss-group14-sha256
  • gss-group16-sha512
  • gss-nistp256-sha256

Also, OpenSSH in FIPS mode allows a non-cryptographic use of the MD5 algorithm. As a result, you can use OpenSSH in FIPS mode to establish SSH connections by using GSSAPI key exchange.

Jira:RHEL-91181

New -c option for restorecon counts relabeled files

With this update, you can use the restorecon command with the -c option. The restorecon -c command performs relabeling, prints the number of relabeled files in its output, and sets the exit code to 0 only if at least one file is relabeled. This makes restorecon -c useful for verifying that remediations of labeling problems are successful.

Jira:RHEL-94827

CanonicalMatchUser in sshd_config prevents privilege escalation for capitalized AD usernames

This update of the openssh packages introduces the CanonicalMatchUser directive for the sshd_config configuration file. With the new directive, you can configure Match User blocks so that sshd first attempts to obtain the username from a password database instead of using an alias. As a result, Active Directory (AD) users can no longer bypass chroot restrictions when using capital letters in their usernames, which might lead to privilege escalation.

Jira:RHEL-101440[1]

The SELinux policy confines the systemd-oomd service

New rules in the SELinux policy provide specific confinement for the systemd-oomd service. This update helps comply with the CIS Server Level 2 benchmark for the restriction of unconfined daemons.

As a result, systemd-oomd no longer uses the unconfined_service_t label and runs correctly in SELinux enforcing mode.

Jira:RHEL-106998[1]

Several RHEL services transition from SELinux permissive to enforcing mode

With this update, the following SELinux domains move from permissive to enforcing mode:

  • anaconda_generator_t
  • ktlshd_t
  • switcheroo_control_t
  • systemd_pcrextend_t
  • systemd_user_runtimedir_t
  • tuned_ppd_t

These domains temporarily operated in permissive mode. This allowed the system to log additional access denials and gather data to complete the security policy without a service failure. The temporary observation phase is complete.

As a result, the system proactively prevents unauthorized access for these services.

Jira:RHEL-107038[1]

SELinux policy better fits the new OpenSSH structure

With this update, the SELinux policy defines specific security contexts and transitions for the new OpenSSH binary structure, including the /usr/libexec/openssh/sshd-session and /usr/libexec/openssh/sshd-auth binaries.

The change aligns with splitting the monolithic sshd daemon into specialized binaries to reduce the attack surface. By splitting the listener sshd, the per-session logic sshd-session, and the authentication phase sshd-auth into separate processes, the pre-authentication code is isolated in a disjoint address space. This architectural change requires explicit SELinux types to ensure each component maintains the necessary privileges while adhering to the principle of least privilege.

As a result, the OpenSSH server benefits from improved security through process isolation and reduced memory usage after the authentication phase completes. SELinux correctly confines these new binaries, ensuring that host keys and authentication sockets remain protected while allowing standard operations such as PAM authentication to function seamlessly in the new multi-binary environment.

Jira:RHEL-107732

New setfiles option reduces memory usage on large file systems

With this update, the setfiles utility includes a new -A option. Tracking conflicts between inodes with multiple hard links can consume significant memory, especially on large file systems. Use the -A option to disable tracking of these conflicts. This reduces memory consumption, allowing to run setfiles on memory-constrained systems without encountering high memory overhead.

Jira:RHEL-111505

capnproto is available in the CRB repository

RHEL 10.2 introduces the capnproto package, a high-performance data interchange and remote procedure call (RPC) system. This package serves as a shared dependency for rust-sequoia-sq and rust-sequoia-podman, both of which bundled this library internally before this update.

The rust-sequoia packages use the capnproto zero-copy serialization and RPC system to communicate with the Sequoia Keystore. This architecture isolates private keys in a separate process to enhance security and ensures the high-speed performance required for large-scale cryptographic tasks, such as container image signing.

The capnproto package is available for installation from the CodeReady Builder (CRB) repository. As a result, security updates and bug fixes for the library can be applied independently of the applications that depend on it.

Jira:RHEL-114452[1]

setools rebased to 4.6.0

The setools packages, which provide SELinux user-space analysis tools, are rebased to upstream version 4.6.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Added the --role_types option for the seinfo command to display roles allowed for a specified type
  • Added a new module to the sechecker tool for asserting kernel modules are read-only
  • Added support for the nlmsg extended permission
  • Improved code quality and unit testing
  • Dropped methods marked for deprecation

Jira:RHEL-115363

fapolicyd rebased to 1.4.3

The fapolicyd packages are rebased to upstream version 1.4.3 and provide many enhancements and bug fixes over the previous version. Most notably:

  • Added the --filter option for the fapolicyd-cli --file command
  • Added the --test-filter option for the fapolicy-cli command to help test filter rules
  • Added the fapolicyd-filter.conf(5) man page
  • Added the --check-ignore_mounts option for fapolicyd-cli
  • Added the --verbose flag for the fapolicyd-cli --check-ignore_mounts command
  • Increased the default value of the db_max_size parameter
  • Added support for the db_max_size = auto option, which enables automatic database size management by the fapolicyd daemon
  • Increased the default subject cache size
  • Moved the fapolicyd-rpm-loader program to the /bin directory
  • Optimized performance of the fapolicyd framework

Jira:RHEL-118362

crypto-policies enables ML-KEM for libssh

This update of the system-wide cryptographic policies crypto-policies adds support for the ML-KEM (Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism) post-quantum (PQ) key exchange in the libssh library. The mlkem768nistp256-sha256 and mlkem1024nistp384-sha384 algorithms are enabled by default in all predefined policies. This aligns with support for ML-KEM in OpenSSH, providing a quantum-resistant key exchange method for your SSH sessions.

Jira:RHEL-125889

Support for ML-KEM with NIST curves in FIPS mode added to OpenSSH

This release of the openssh packages introduces support for the ML-KEM (Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism) post-quantum (PQ) key exchange combined with elliptic curves standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in FIPS mode. You can establish SSH connections with a hybrid security provided by the combination of classical cryptography and a quantum-resistant key exchange mechanism.

Jira:RHEL-125929

podman-sequoia supports composite post-quantum signatures

The podman-sequoia library provides the ML-DSA-65+Ed25519 and ML-DSA-87+Ed448 algorithms to meet the Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite (CNSA) 2.0 guidelines for software signatures.

As a result, after you install podman and podman-sequoia, you can create and verify container image signatures with these post-quantum schemes.

Jira:RHEL-126677[1]

capnproto rebased to version 1.3

The capnproto package is rebased to version 1.3. This update provides security enhancements and bug fixes, and ensures compatibility with newer Sequoia versions.

Jira:RHEL-127899

/dev/papr-* devices have more specific SELinux labels

With this update of the selinux-policy packages, the following devices have more specific SELinux labels:

  • /dev/papr-indices
  • /dev/papr-physical-attestation
  • /dev/papr-platform-dump

This aligns with the addition of new character device interfaces to the kernel, providing user-space application binary interface (ABI) access to the Power Architecture Platform Reference (PAPR) system parameters, in addition to the existing kernel-internal API.

As a result, the SELinux policy assigns distinct labels to these devices so that different permissions can apply to various services accessing them.

Jira:RHEL-129839

libssh rebased to 0.12.0

The libssh packages have been upgraded to version 0.12.0. The new version provides many enhancements and bug fixes, notably:

  • Added support for hybrid post-quantum key exchange mechanisms, in particular the following:

    • sntrup761x25519-sha512
    • sntrup761x25519-sha512@openssh.com
    • mlkem768nistp256-sha256
    • mlkem768x25519-sha256
    • mlkem1024nistp384-sha384
  • Added support for GSSAPI key exchange as defined in the RFC 4462 and RFC 8732 documents
  • Added support for Ed25519 keys through PKCS #11
  • Added support for FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) keys, compatible with OpenSSH
  • Added new configuration options:

    • RequiredRsaSize
    • AddressFamily for clients
    • GSSAPIKeyExchange
    • GSSAPIKexAlgorithms
  • Added more OpenSSH-compatible percent expansion characters
  • Added API functions for signing arbitrary data with SSH keys
  • Increased the minimum RSA key size to 1024
  • Improved the stability and compatibility of the ProxyJump directive
  • Added functionality to obtain a list of configured identities
  • Added new PKI context structure for key operations

Jira:RHEL-133421

crypto-policies enable mlkem768x25519-sha256 for libssh

With this update, the system-wide cryptographic policies enable the mlkem768x25519-sha256 key exchange algorithm for the libssh library in all predefined policies. This aligns with recently added support for this ML-KEM curve hybrid in libssh. As a result, mlkem768x25519-sha256 is enabled by default and negotiated with the highest priority, protecting SSH connections with a combination of traditional and post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

Jira:RHEL-133522

p11-kit rebased to 0.26.1

The p11-kit packages have been upgraded to upstream version 0.26.1. The new version provides many enhancements and bug fixes, most notably:

  • PKCS #11 headers are updated to version 3.2, which supports post-quantum cryptography (PQC) definitions.
  • The trust module now correctly looks up the last DN (Distinguished Name) in the RDNSequence attribute as defined in the RFC 4514 document.
  • You can specify the server address with the new module configuration option for the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol.
  • Handling of an empty array attribute in RPC is fixed.
  • Dependency on the libsystemd library for server socket activation is removed.

Jira:RHEL-139074[1]

New package: clevis-pin-trustee

The clevis-pin-trustee package provides a new Clevis pin trustee that enables automated encryption and decryption of LUKS-encrypted volumes by using remote attestation through the Trustee Key Broker Service (KBS). The trustee pin integrates with the standard Clevis framework through the clevis-encrypt-trustee and clevis-decrypt-trustee commands, and it includes a Dracut module 60clevis-pin-trustee for automated root volume unlocking during early boot.

In scenarios such as confidential clusters for OpenShift and confidential virtual machines with OpenShift Virtualization, the Trustee server acts as the policy enforcement point, releasing the disk encryption key only when the requesting platform’s attestation evidence validates against a set of reference values.

As a result, you can bind LUKS-encrypted volumes to one or more Trustee servers by using a clevis luks bind -d <device> trustee '<config>' command. You can also combine the trustee pin with other Clevis pins, such as tang and tpm2, for multi-factor or multi-policy unlock configurations.

Jira:RHEL-139808[1]

Keylime rebased to 7.14.1

The Keylime packages are rebased to upstream version 7.14.1. The most notable bug fixes and enhancements include the following:

Resource management
Resolves a file descriptor leak in the keylime-policy tool when processing remote RPM repositories.
Policy tooling
Fixes an issue where the keylime-policy --ima-measurement-list option incorrectly handled its default values.
New agent-driven push model
Introduces a new communication mode where agents proactively push attestation data to the verifier. This enhances compatibility with edge computing and environments behind restrictive firewalls or network address translation (NAT).
Expanded hardware cryptography support
Adds support for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) keys using the P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384, and P-521 NIST curves directly from the Trusted Platform Module (TPM).

Jira:RHEL-140896

keylime-agent rebased to 0.2.9

The keylime-agent package is rebased to upstream version 0.2.9, which includes the following enhancements:

New agent-driven push attestation model
The agent supports a push model for attestation. In this model, the agent proactively initiates communication with the verifier rather than waiting for an inbound request. This is particularly beneficial for systems operating behind restrictive firewalls or network address translation (NAT), because it eliminates the need for open inbound ports on the monitored node.
Expanded hardware cryptography support
The agent supports Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) keys generated within the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Supported NIST curves include P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384, and P-521 to provide more efficient, modern cryptographic operations.
Flexible TPM RSA support
In addition to standard 2048-bit keys, the agent supports alternative RSA key sizes of 1024, 3072, and 4096 bits directly from the TPM. This provides administrators with greater flexibility when aligning with specific organizational security policies or hardware limitations.
ECC-signed TLS certificates
The agent supports using certificates signed with ECC keys for securing TLS communications. This ensures that the entire communication chain between the agent and other Keylime components can utilize high-performance, modern encryption.

Jira:RHEL-140897

crypto-policies enable ML-KEM NIST curves for OpenSSH in FIPS mode

With this update, the system-wide cryptographic policies enable the mlkem768nistp256-sha256 and mlkem1024nistp384-sha384 key exchange algorithms for OpenSSH in FIPS mode. This aligns with recently added support for these ML-KEM NIST curve hybrids in OpenSSH. As a result, RHEL 10.2 hosts running in FIPS mode and with the FIPS system-wide cryptographic policy active perform SSH key exchanges by using mlkem768nistp256-sha256 or mlkem1024nistp384-sha384 as long as the other peer also supports and prefers them.

Jira:RHEL-148560

OpenSCAP rebased to 1.4.3

The OpenSCAP packages have been rebased to upstream version 1.4.3. This version provides bug fixes and various enhancements. For additional information, see the OpenSCAP release notes.

Jira:RHEL-133978

SCAP Security Guide rebased to 0.1.80

For additional information, see the SCAP Security Guide release notes.

Jira:RHEL-152059

6.3. RHEL for Edge

Review new features and enhancements for RHEL for Edge in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The FDO client and servers are fully supported

RHEL 10.2 introduces a new implementation of the FIDO Device Onboarding (FDO) client and servers. These components, which were not available in previous releases, are fully supported and available as the following RPMs:

  • go-fdo-client-1.0.0-1.el10.x86_64.rpm
  • go-fdo-server-1.0.0-1.el10.x86_64.rpm
  • go-fdo-server-manufacturer-1.0.0-1.el10.noarch.rpm
  • go-fdo-server-owner-1.0.0-1.el10.noarch.rpm
  • go-fdo-server-rendezvous-1.0.0-1.el10.noarch.rpm

    Warning

    These new Go-based implementations are not compatible with the original FDO RPMs and container images that remain in Technology Preview. Using the go-fdo-* packages in conjunction with the fdo-* packages or containers is not supported.

Jira:RHELDOCS-18977[1]

The greenboot-rs package is available

The greenboot health check framework was enhanced as greenboot-rs, a reimplementation designed for improved maintainability and supportability. The new version is fully compatible with existing greenboot functionality and custom health checks. As a result, this version ensures more robust system roll backs during system upgrades.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21813[1]

6.4. Software management

Review new features and enhancements for software management in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

libsolv rebased to 0.7.33

The libsolv packages are rebased to upstream version 0.7.33. This version provides the following important fixes and enhancements:

  • Removed dependency on the external find utility in the repo2solv tool.
  • Added a new SOLVER_FLAG_FOCUS_NEW flag.
  • Fixed the return value of the repodata.add_solv() function.

Jira:RHEL-86940

librepo rebased to 1.19.0

The librepo packages are rebased to upstream version 1.19.0. This version provides the following important fixes and enhancements:

  • Fixed a SELinux warning if SELinux runs in a container where /sys/fs/selinux is not mounted.
  • Fixed caching package checksums on file systems that do not support extended attribute names with uppercase characters.
  • When selecting the fastest mirror, mirrors with latency up to twice that of the fastest mirror are randomly shuffled to spread the load.

Jira:RHEL-126292[1]

6.5. Shells and command-line tools

Review new features and enhancements for shells and command-line tools in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Security and TLS improvements in openwsman 2.8.1

The openwsman package has been updated to version 2.8.1 with the following improvements:

  • Improved TLS 1.3 support.
  • Improved compatibility with OpenSSL 3.0.
  • Improved SSL/TLS error reporting.
  • Improved security by clearing passwords from memory after use and enhancing buffer safety.

Jira:RHEL-99191[1]

opencryptoki rebased to version 3.26.0

The opencryptoki packages are rebased to upstream version 3.26.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • RSA keys up to 16K bits are supported in the Soft token and the p11sak tool.
  • RSA keys up to 8K bits are supported in the CCA token. This requires CCA version 8.4 or version 7.6 or later.
  • The CKM_SHA512_224_KEY_DERIVATION and CKM_SHA512_256_KEY_DERIVATION key derivation mechanisms are supported in the Soft and ICA tokens.
  • The CKK_SHAxxx_HMAC key types and CKM_SHAxxx_KEY_GEN key generation mechanisms are supported in the Soft, ICA, CCA, and EP11 tokens, as well as the p11sak tool.
  • Key wrap and unwrap commands to export and import private and secret keys by using various key wrapping mechanisms are supported in the p11sak tool.
  • Using a hardware security module (HSM)-protected TLS client key through a PKCS #11 provider is supported in p11kmip.
  • Exporting non-sensitive private keys to password-protected PEM files is supported in the p11sak tool.
  • Canceling an operation by using a NULL mechanism pointer at the C_XxxInit() call is supported as an alternative to C_SessionCancel() for PKCS#11 version 3.0.
  • Pairing the friendly BLS12-381 elliptic curve (EC) for sign and verify operations by using CKM_IBM_ECDSA_OTHER and signature and public key aggregation by using CKM_IBM_EC_AGGREGATE is supported in the EP11 token.
  • Generating BLS12-381 EC keys is supported in p11sak.
  • IBM-specific ML-DSA and ML-KEM key types and mechanisms are supported in the EP11, CCA, and Soft tokens, and p11sak. Before you use these key types and mechanisms, note the following requirements:

    • The EP11 token requires an EP11 host library version 4.2 or later, and a CEX8P cryptographic card with firmware version 9.6 or later on IBM z17 or version 8.39 or later on IBM z16.
    • The CCA token requires CCA version 8.4 or later.
    • The Soft token requires OpenSSL 3.5 or later, or a configured OQS-provider.

Jira:RHEL-100058[1]

Overriding the systemd-logind session class for cron-initiated sessions

With this update, you can override the systemd-logind session class for sessions that cron scripts start. To start a session without triggering the systemd --user manager, set the XDG_SESSION_CLASS=background-light environment variable in the crontab. This configuration reduces the number of log messages that cron executions generate.

Jira:RHEL-109832[1]

Environment modules rebased to v5.6.1

Environment modules is rebased to upstream version 5.6.1. This release introduces key new features, enhancements, documentation and community updates, and few bug fixes. Here is the list for reference:

  • New features and enhancements:

    • Recursive module searching with spider command: With this update, you can use the spider sub-command to find available modules in enabled modulepaths and recursively within modulepaths enabled by those modules. You can control the output depth and content by using the --indepth switch or the spider_output configuration option.
    • Module aliases with provide command: This enhancement introduces the provide modulefile command, which defines an alias for the currently evaluated module and communicates when a module offers additional components or functionality.
    • Automated conflict handling: With this update, the conflict_unload configuration option automatically unloads conflicting modules and their dependents when you load a new module. You must enable both auto_handling and conflict_unload to activate this automated behavior.
    • Integrated information logging: This update adds logging capabilities through the logger and logged_events configuration options. You can now track module commands and evaluations in the system log.
    • Module help and warning commands: This release introduces the module-help command to define help text for modules and the module-warn command to issue warnings when a module is evaluated.
  • Bug fixes

    • Path resolution in modulefile commands: Before this update, the behavior of path resolution was unclear. This release clarifies that no automatic path resolution is performed on prepend-path, append-path, or remove-path commands. For detailed information about changes, refer to the Environment Modules upstream documentation.

Jira:RHEL-132336

6.6. Infrastructure services

Review new features and enhancements for infrastructure services in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

foomatic-rip filter rejects unrecognized PPD values

The foomatic-rip filter rejects PostScript Printer Description (PPD) values not in an approved list of hashes. Before this update, certain PPD options were vulnerable to security exploits. This update implements an allowlist mechanism to ensure secure printing.

For new installations, use the foomatic-hash tool to scan the PPD file and move approved hashes to the /etc/foomatic/hashes.d/ directory. For existing installations, review auto-allowed values in the /var/tmp/foomatic.* file.

Jira:RHEL-93944[1]

PHP 8.4 available

RHEL 10.2 provides PHP in version 8.4. This version provides many enhancements and bug fixes over version 8.3, most notably:

  • Property hooks provide support for computed properties natively understood by IDEs and static analysis tools.
  • Asymmetric visibility controls the scope to write to a property independently from the scope to read the property.
  • The #[\Deprecated] attribute makes the existing deprecation mechanism available to user-defined functions, methods, and class constants.
  • A new DOM API is available within the Dom namespace, which includes standards-compliant support for parsing HTML5 documents.
  • The BcMath\Number object enables object-oriented usage and standard mathematical operators when working with arbitrary precision numbers.
  • The array_find(), array_find_key(), array_any(), and array_all() functions are available.
  • You can access properties and methods of a newly instantiated object without wrapping the new expression in parentheses.

Jira:RHEL-105827[1]

chrony rebased to version 4.8

The chrony packages are rebased to upstream version 4.8, which includes the following notable enhancements and bug fixes:

  • The maxunreach option is added to limit the selection of unreachable sources.
  • The -u option is added to the chronyc command to drop root privileges.
  • The opencommands directive is added to select remote monitoring commands.
  • The waitsynced and waitunsynced options are added to the local directive.
  • The RTC refclock driver is added.
  • You can specify the PHC refclock driver with a network interface name.
  • Detection of clock interference from other processes is added.
  • The chronyc socket is hidden to mitigate unsafe permissions changes.
  • The refclock samples are validated for reachability updates.

Jira:RHEL-112593

valgrind rebased to upstream version 3.26.0

The upgrade to the upstream version 3.26.0 provides the following notable enhancements:

  • valgrind recognizes the following Linux kernel system calls: cachestat, futex_waitv, listmount, mount_setattr, mseal, quotactl_fd, remap_file_pages, setdomainname, statmount, swapoff, swapon, sysfs, and ustat.
  • A new option, --modify-fds=yes, has been added. This option behaves like --modify-fds=high, returning the highest available file descriptor first. However, if file descriptors 0, 1, or 2 (stdin, stdout, stderr) are available, they are returned before higher-numbered file descriptors.
  • When --xml=yes is used, log output protocol version 6 is always enabled. Protocol version 6 includes error summaries in the XML output.
  • A new value, bad, has been added for the --track-fds option. When --track-fds=bad is specified, valgrind reports only invalid file descriptor usage, such as double close or use of an invalid file descriptor. It does not report unclosed file descriptors at program exit.
  • DWARF inlined subroutine handling has been rewritten to work across compilation units. This update removes backtraces that previously displayed UnknownInlinedFun in warnings or error messages.
  • A new utility script, vgstack, has been added. Use vgstack <PID> to attach to a running valgrind process and display backtraces of the target executable. The script provides the following options:

    • -h - Displays minimal help.
    • -v - Displays version information.

Jira:RHEL-120966

SystemTap is rebased to version 5.4

SystemTap is rebased to version 5.4. The notable changes in this update include:

  • Implicit Header Discovery: The @cast() operator now automatically searches the Linux Userspace API (UAPI) <vmlinux.h> header for type declarations. This reduces the requirement for manual header file inclusion in many common tracing scenarios.
  • Enhanced Type Validation: Improvements to type checking and autocast processing provide more rigorous analysis during the translation phase, identifying potential type mismatches earlier in the development cycle.

Jira:RHEL-121663

elfutils rebased to 0.194

The upgrade to the upstream version 0.194 provides the following notable enhancements:

  • debuginfod-find: Fixed a caching issue that prevented re-downloading files after a user-cancelled download.
  • elfclassify: Added the following new options:

    • --has-debug-sections
    • --any-ar-member
  • elflint: Vendor and application-specific ELF note types no longer trigger compliance errors.
  • libdwfl_stacktrace: Added a new function, dwflst_sample_getframes.
  • libelf: Added manual pages for many library functions.
  • readelf: Improved performance by up to 13% when using the -N option.

Jira:RHEL-121665

sscg rebased to version 4.0.3

The sscg packages are rebased to upstream version 4.0.3. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) key generation is supported to provide post-quantum cryptography capabilities.
  • Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) key generation is supported.
  • The command-line interface help output is reorganized into logical groups.

Jira:RHEL-123675

Apache’s ErrorLogFormat supports millisecond timestamps

With this update, Apache’s ErrorLogFormat supports millisecond timestamps. Millisecond-level timestamps in error logs improve log filtering, troubleshooting efficiency, and cross-system traceability. You can configure this, for example, by using the %{m}t format specifier. As a result, you can correlate and filter logs across systems with millisecond precision.

Jira:RHEL-145713[1]

6.7. Networking

Review new features and enhancements for networking in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Nmstate can configure Libreswan and use its default values

By default, the NMstate API uses NetworkManager to send configurations to Libreswan service. In this case, NetworkManager defines default values, which are different from Libreswan’s defaults. With this enhancement, you can set nm-auto-defaults: false in the YAML file and Nmstate does not inject any extra settings. In this case, Libreswan uses this configuration and also its own default values.

For backward compatibility, the default value of nm-auto-defaults is true.

Jira:RHEL-26350

The NetworkManager Libreswan plugin and Nmstate support using a single tunnel for multiple subnets

This update enhances the NetworkManager Libreswan client plugin and Nmstate to configure multiple subnets in IPsec policies. This corresponds to the use of multiple subnets in the leftsubnets and rightsubnets parameters in the Libreswan configuration. As a result, users can connect to multiple subnets by using a single IPsec tunnel.

Jira:RHEL-33712

NetworkManager-libreswan supports on-demand IPsec connections

With this enhancement, you can use the NetworkManager-libreswan plugin to start Libreswan IPsec connections in listening mode. Previously, NetworkManager failed to activate a connection if the remote endpoint was unreachable. By setting the new nm-connect-mode property to ondemand in the connection profile, the tunnel remains active in a listening state after an initial failure. This ensures the system can still accept incoming connection requests even if it could not initiate the primary tunnel.

Jira:RHEL-67307

The epoll kernel API supports IRQ suspension for improved network efficiency

This enhancement adds IRQ suspension support to the epoll kernel API. This improves network processing efficiency within the kernel stack. This mechanism bridges the gap between throughput and latency by providing a way to dynamically optimize the networking stack for high-load efficiency and low-load responsiveness simultaneously. Applications that use epoll with this new mechanism can reduce CPU cycle consumption during high traffic loads and decrease tail latency during low traffic periods.

Note that you must modify your application to support this IRQ suspending.

Jira:RHEL-77189[1]

Nmstate can set alternative names on network interfaces

With this enhancement, you can use the Nmstate API to set alternative names on network interfaces to simplify configuration management and support processes. For example, to assign LAN as an alternative name to enp1s0 and remove the name internal-LAN, use:

interfaces:
  - name: enp1s0
    alt-names:
      - name: LAN
      - name: internal-LAN
        state: absent

Jira:RHEL-90096

iproute rebased to version 6.17.0

The iproute package has been updated to upstream version 6.17.0.

Notable enhancements:

  • The tc utility supports 64-bit hardware packet counters.
  • The ip utility displays the netns-immutable property.
  • The ip utility supports the IFLA_VXLAN_MC_ROUTE configuration attribute.
  • The ip neigh command supports the extern_valid flag.
  • The ip rule command supports port and Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) mask.
  • The ip stats command supports bridge VLAN statistics.
  • The bridge fdb command supports the forward database (FDB) activity notification control.
  • The bridge mdb command supports the offload failed flag.
  • The color output handling was improved.

Jira:RHEL-98263

NetworkManager supports specifying an HSR interlink interface

With this update, RHEL users can configure an interlink interface for High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) connections. Users can now use the hsr.interlink property to specify the interlink interface name. As a result, you can configure RHEL as a Redundancy Box (RedBox).

Jira:RHEL-100768

The PRP and HSR protocols are fully supported

The hsr kernel module provides the following protocols:

  • Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP)
  • High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR)

    The IEC 62439-3 standard defines these protocols, and you can use this feature to configure redundancy with zero-time recovery in Ethernet networks.

    The protocols were previously available as a Technology Preview. Starting with RHEL 10.2, Red Hat fully supports this module.

Jira:RHEL-100942[1]

Setting the DHCP client ID is now possible through a kernel argument

With this update, users can now set the DHCP client ID as a kernel argument. Certain DHCP servers require this ID to identify a client correctly. By setting the rd.net.dhcp.client-id kernel argument, the client ID is already available during early boot operations.

Jira:RHEL-108454

The nftables framework supports name-based netdev hooks with wildcards

This enhancement introduces name-based netdev hooks with wildcard support to the nftables kernel component. This ensures defined rule sets remain stable regardless of interface presence. Previously, nftables would bind to each specified interface immediately upon adding a flowtable or netdev-family chain. Consequently, the transaction failed due to a non-existing interface, and removing an interface deleted the matching interface specifications or entire bound chains.

With this update, hooks for non-existing interfaces are accepted in an inactive state and bind to matching interfaces at the time they appear in the system. This dynamic registration also provides the possibility to accept simple interface (suffix) wildcards to bind a flowtable or netdev-family chain to any matching interface. You can inspect currently active hooks by using the nft list hooks command.

Jira:RHEL-108861

RHEL supports WiFi7 hardware

RHEL 9.8 added support for WiFi7 hardware. You can use use it to connect your host to wireless networks that use this standard.

Jira:RHEL-111098[1]

The kernel supports setting a lower TCP maximum retransmission timeout value

With this enhancement, you can set a lower maximum TCP retransmission timeout value than the default 120000 ms to reduce network latency. Note that changing this setting can require tuning other kernel settings as well.

You can configure this limit either through the tcp_rto_max_ms kernel sysctl setting or the TCP_RTO_MAX_MS socket option. If you set both, the socket option has a higher priority.

Jira:RHEL-115393[1]

FRR rebased to version 10.4.1

The FRR is now rebased to version 10.4.1. This version fixes several issues affecting stability, correctness, and reliability. Notable changes include:

  • BGP (bgpd):

    • Resolved addpath handling issues that could incorrectly withdraw selected routes.
    • Fixed link-local next-hop capability handling.
    • Corrected a compilation issue in the bgpd module.
    • Improved graceful restart behavior by fixing the selectionDeferralTimer display.
    • Addressed initialization issues with local variables.
    • Reversed changes related to EVPN testing that caused instability in non-default EVPN backbone configurations.
  • OSPF (ospfd):

    • Fixed a use-after-free issue related to LSA handling, improving daemon stability. EIGRP (eigrpd):
    • Improved validation of hello packets and TLVs to enhance protocol robustness.
  • Zebra and core libraries:

    • Fixed buffer overflow issues identified through fuzz testing.
    • Improved handling of singleton nexthops during link state changes for weighted ECMP (WCMP).
    • Corrected computation of link-state ZAPI message sizes.
  • VTYSH:

    • Fixed an issue where copying configuration from a file did not correctly apply settings.
  • Testing improvements:

    • Enhanced reliability of embedded route processor (RP) topotests.

      These updates improve overall routing stability, correctness, and resilience, particularly in dynamic or large-scale network environments.

Jira:RHEL-118620

nftables rebased to version 1.1.5

The nftables package has been updated to upstream version 1.1.5.

Notable enhancements:

  • The memory consumption with sets and maps was reduced.
  • You can use protocol dependency values in sets.
  • The auto-merge feature skips elements with timeout and expiration.
  • You can use the queue keyword in set type definitions by using the typeof keyword.
  • The nft monitor command can monitor flowtable events.
  • For consistency with other commands, the nft list sets inet <table_name> command works without the table keyword.
  • The nftables framework internally uses a range expression to represent a range instead of two comparisons.
  • A symbol table for Multipath TCP subtypes was added. With this feature, you no longer need to look up actual subtype values in the respective RFC.
  • Support for mangling bitfield headers was added.
  • Set elements with multi-word descriptions are now displayed in a single line.
  • The layer 4 protocol dependency when listing raw expressions is no longer removed.
  • The JSON format supports the typeof keyword.
  • The bytecode generation for Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Priority Code Point (PCP) mangling in netdev-family chains was fixed.
  • An issue causing bogus elements in large concatenated set ranges was fixed.
  • A new check result was added to the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) expression to verify routes.
  • The total number of elements is now displayed when listing sets.
  • You can delete maps by using their unique handle.
  • The JSON parser was hardened.

Notable bug fixes:

  • Error messages for set or map re-declarations with conflicting types were improved.
  • The optimize parameter was fixed and improved.
  • Extended error reporting with large set elements was fixed.
  • nftables avoids the incorrect removal of meta nfproto matches in listings.
  • The get and reset commands with interval sets and maps were fixed.
  • Device names in basechain and flowtable declarations are quoted.
  • A misleading No buffer space available error message was corrected.

Jira:RHEL-121194

VLAN segmentation support for HSR and PRP interfaces

With this enhancement, you can create VLAN interfaces on top of High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) and Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) interfaces to enable network traffic segmentation. When configured, the kernel adds a VLAN tag to all packets transmitted through the VLAN interface. This provides greater control over traffic isolation. Note that supervision frames remain unaffected by this configuration and are always transmitted without a VLAN tag.

Jira:RHEL-130475[1]

Threaded NAPI busy polling support added

With this enhancement, you can enable threaded NAPI busy polling on RHEL to significantly reduce the network latency. This feature uses dedicated kernel threads to continuously check for incoming packets, rather than waiting for hardware interrupts.

By design, threaded NAPI busy polling consumes more CPU cycles to achieve higher performance and lower latency, as the CPU remains active to process data immediately. Threaded NAPI busy polling is beneficial for high-performance, low latency applications, for example applications that use the AF_XDP socket. Use this enhancement for workloads where predictable, sub-microsecond response times are critical.

Jira:RHEL-130765[1]

The dpll utility can manage and monitor DPLL devices

With this update, the iproute package includes the dpll utility which you can use to manage and monitor digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) devices. The utility uses libmnl to communicate with the kernel through the netlink interface, providing a configuration tool for DPLL devices and pins.

Jira:RHEL-131660

The K1 power state flag can be disabled on e1000e NICs

The K1 state reduces power consumption on ICH-family network interface controllers (NIC) during idle periods. However, on Intel Meteor Lake and later platforms, enabling K1 state on NICs that use the e1000e driver can cause packet loss due to firmware misconfiguration, interoperability with certain link partners, and other conditions.

Default:

  • The K1 state is disabled on Intel Meteor Lake and later platforms.
  • The K1 state is enabled on platforms earlier than Intel Meteor Lake.

    If you experience problems related to the K1 power state, disable K1 for the affected device:

    1. Display the current status:

      # ethtool --show-priv-flags <device>
      ...
      disable-k1: off
    2. Disable the K1 state:

      # ethtool --set-priv-flags <device> disable-k1 on

Jira:RHEL-134991[1]

Qualcomm wireless cards work correctly if passed through to a VM

Due to missing upstream support for passing Qualcomm wireless cards to VMs by using the PCI pass through feature, these cards do not work correctly in VMs. With this update, the ath11k and ath12k drivers use certain kernel parameters to work around the problem. As a result, Qualcomm wireless cards that use these drivers work if you pass the devices to VMs. Note that the solution is only an unsupported workaround.

Jira:RHEL-141347[1]

The FOU and GUE protocols added to the kernel

This update adds the fou and fou6 modules to the kernel-modules-extra package. With these modules, you can configure connections that use the following protocols:

  • Foo-over-UDP (FOU), which encapsulates IP protocols directly within UDP packages, without adding extra headers. For example, you can use this protocol for tunneling protocols, such as Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) or IP-in-IP (IPIP).
  • Generic UDP Encapsulation (GUE), which adds a small header inside the UDP payload to carry metadata, such as the inner protocol. With GUE, you can use multiple protocols on the same UDP port, which makes GUE more flexible than FOU.

    Red Hat does not support the fou and fou6 kernel modules.

Jira:RHEL-142435[1]

The firewalld service supports policy sets

This enhancements adds support for policy sets to the firewalld service. Policy sets are collections of pre-defined policies that you can use as a starting point for certain configurations. For example, the gateway policy set is a set of configurations that enable masquerading, connection tracking helpers, and forwarding between zones.

For further details, see Using firewalld policy sets to configure a router.

Jira:RHEL-70357[1]

6.8. Kernel

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2 is distributed with the kernel version 6.12.0-211.7.1. Review new features and enhancements for kernel in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The perf command supports Monaka CPU for performance monitoring

With this update, the perf command supports Monaka CPU to enable performance monitoring in the system. As a result, you can use this feature to analyze performance and power for high-performance computing (HPC) and datacenter applications. This feature is integrated into the Linux kernel version 6.12.0 and later.

Jira:RHEL-23107[1]

LUKS volume key for secure vmcore data saving on RHEL systems

With this update, you can pass the LUKS volume key to the kdump kernel, to save vmcore data to a LUKS-encrypted disk volume. This enhancement secures vmcore data on RHEL systems, as sensitive data remains protected in the event of system crashes. To activate this optional feature, you must use the 'kdumpctl setup-crypttab' command. This update is available for the x86_64 architecture in RHEL 10.2.

Jira:RHEL-29037

PerfMon support added for Clearwater Forest on CentOS Stream kernel

With this update, PerfMon support is added for Clearwater Forest, a hardware or software platform, on the CentOS Stream kernel. This enhancement enables performance monitoring for the Clearwater Forest platform, improving overall system efficiency and stability.

Jira:RHEL-45066[1]

EDAC Driver Adds Intel Clearwater Forest Server Support

The EDAC driver is updated to add platform support for Intel Clearwater Forest (CWF) servers, enhancing RAS capabilities for this hardware. This change improves error detection and correction functionality specific to the Intel platform.

Jira:RHEL-45084[1]

Perf tool rebased to upstream version 6.17

The perf tool and its kernel backend are rebased to align with upstream version 6.17. This update introduces several enhancements and bug fixes. Most notably, the following:

  • Addressed memory leaks in perf trace.
  • Supports the RDPMC metrics in clear mode.
  • Added RAPL energy events support in the perf tool for the ARL-U platform. These changes improve performance analysis and resolve known issues in the perf tool.

Jira:RHEL-78200[1]

bpf is rebased to version 6.17
  • The eBPF subsystem is rebased to the Linux kernel upstream version v6.17. This update includes the following changes and enhancements:
  • New eBPF kernel functions (kfuncs):

    • bpf_cpumask_populate() for populating CPU mask bits
    • bpf_copy_from_user_task_str() for reading strings from another process address space
    • bpf_dynptr_copy() for copying dynamic eBPF pointers
    • bpf_set_dentry_xattr() and bpf_remove_dentry_xattr() to set and remove xattrs with the security.bpf. prefix
    • bpf_rbtree_left(), bpf_rbtree_right(), and bpf_rbtree_root() for traversing the eBPF rbtree data structure
    • functions for reading memory into eBPF dynamic pointers
    • functions for read-only string operations
    • bpf_cgroup_read_xattr() to read xattr of a cgroup node
  • Improved verification of eBPF programs with loops
  • Referenced pointers (kptrs) can now be passed into struct_ops callbacks
  • Reduced bpf_cgrp_storage_busy() false positives when accessing cgroup local storage
  • New mechanisms for ordering of cgroup eBPF programs
  • The eBPF Token can now delegate the privilege to read BTF data to user-space applications
  • It is no longer possible to attach eBPF programs to noreturn functions
  • New locking mechanism, Resilient Queued Spinlock, which makes BPF programs and map operations less likely to deadlock the running kernel
  • Support for up to 12 arguments in BPF trampoline on arm64, enabling eBPF trampolines for kernel functions with more than 7 parameters
  • Support for mmap of vmlinux BTF data
  • New eBPF iterator for traversing the list of all DMA buffers
  • eBPF streams for error reporting of various conditions detected by the eBPF runtime
  • Improved precision for BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB operations in the verifier
  • Support for calls to bpf_rdonly_cast(v, 0) that logically correspond to casts to void *
  • Support for new eBPF instructions: load_acquire, store_release, and timed may_goto
  • Support for atomic update of eBPF maps that contain a hash table of eBPF maps
  • Method for retrieving file descriptor information for eBPF links

Jira:RHEL-78204[1]

Perf tool rebased to upstream v6.18

The perf tool and its kernel backend are rebased to align with upstream version v6.18. This update introduces several enhancements and bug fixes. Most notably, the following:

  • Addressed memory leaks in perf trace.
  • Supports the RDPMC metrics in clear mode.
  • Added RAPL energy events support in the perf tool for the ARL-U platform. These changes improve performance analysis and resolve known issues in the perf tool

Jira:RHEL-78292[1]

cpupower Python bindings are now in RHEL 10 kernel-tools-libs-devel

With this update, the cpupower Python bindings are integrated in RHEL 10. This enhancement places the bindings in the kernel-tools-libs-devel package for easier access.

Jira:RHEL-83442[1]

Userspace action triggers for rtla

With this update, the rtla tool now supports triggering userspace actions either when a latency threshold is reached or tracing concludes. With rtla, you can execute diagnostic commands or extract trace data before the instance is removed, regardless of whether a threshold violation occurred.

Jira:RHEL-89807[1]

Intel QAT GEN6 device driver support

The Intel QAT crypto device driver is updated to support QAT GEN6 devices through the new qat_6xxx driver. GEN6 devices enable concurrent use of symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, and data compression. This was not available in earlier generations.

Jira:RHEL-94928[1]

tpm2-tools rebased for TPM 2.0 improvements

The tpm2-tools package is updated to ensure compatibility with modern TPM 2.0 hardware and improve security tooling support. This update enables enhanced TPM-based operations and aligns with upstream security and feature developments.

Jira:RHEL-94930[1]

Device IDs are added for the In-memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA) on the Wildcat Lake platform

With this update, the IAA is now moved from a Technology Preview to the supported state and the device IDs are added for In-memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA). As a result, devices on the Wildcat Lake platform are now supported.

Jira:RHEL-95628[1]

Enhanced kernel issue debugging with the function_graph tracer on RHEL

With this update, you can trace and debug kernel issues more effectively on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). This feature displays return values of functions within the function graph by using the function_graph tracer in ftrace. As a result, debugging experience improves for developers and system administrators.

Jira:RHEL-105766[1]

View CVEs patched by live kernel updates

kpatch reports which kernel CVEs are patched by live patches for the currently running base kernel. This enhancement helps administrators verify that specific CVEs are already remediated through live patching even when the on-disk kernel version appears vulnerable.

By listing CVEs that are patched only by kpatch, this enhancement improves security reporting and enables integration with compliance workflows and external scanners that must account for live-patched vulnerabilities.

Jira:RHEL-106283[1]

Updating kernel CCP crypto driver support for Venice PCI device

This update adds support for the AMD Venice CCP crypto device with PCI device ID 0x17D8 (PCIID 1002:17D8) in the kernel CCP driver. This enables systems with the Venice CCP hardware to use the updated cryptographic offload capabilities provided by the device.

Jira:RHEL-106909[1]

crash rebased to 9.0.1

The crash package, which provides a kernel analysis utility for live systems and various types of dump files, is rebased to upstream version 9.0.1. This version provides a number of fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Internal gdb is updated to version 16.2.
  • Added gdb multi-stack unwind support on 64-bit architectures (x86-64-v3), aarch64, and ppc64.
  • Added Rust support.

Jira:RHEL-114659

You can select cyclictest or timerlat as the measurement modules in rteval

With this update, you can select the measurement module for the rteval utility. This overrides the default setting in the rteval.conf file. This new feature, 'measurement-module', provides greater flexibility and control over performance testing, which enhances the precision and customization.

Jira:RHEL-114927[1]

Optimize CPU usage with Tuna 10.2’s libcpupower functionality

With this update, you can manage CPU idle states more effectively in Tuna 10.2. The libcpupower functionality has been re-enabled, which allows disabling, enabling, or checking the status of idle states on selected CPUs. By using the tuna cpu_power command, you can optimize your CPU usage.

Jira:RHEL-116084

6.9. Boot loader

Review new features and enhancements for boot loader in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Support for Dynamic Key Management in PowerVM LPAR Secure Boot (GRUB2) on IBM Power Systems

With this release, PowerVM LPAR guest operating systems on IBM Power Systems support dynamic key management for secure boot verification. This enhancement allows you to enroll and manage your own keys in the Platform Key Store, transitioning from a static key model.

During boot, the partition firmware authenticates grub2 using the enrolled verification key. Then grub2 verifies the kernel image integrity before loading. This improves flexibility and control over boot integrity and strengthens the security posture for IBM Power Systems environments.

Jira:RHEL-24510[1]

BLS snippets support the efi keyword for UKI

You can create Boot Loader Specification (BLS) snippets for kernel unified kernel images (UKIs) and use the efi keyword to specify the path to the UKI, similar to how the linux keyword specifies the path to the kernel. For example:

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2 (6.12.0-197.el10)
version 6.12.0-197.el10.x86_64
efi /EFI/Linux/kernel-6.12.0-197.el10-UKI.efi

In this configuration, BLS snippets reside in /boot/efi/loader/entries, and the UKIs reside in /boot/efi/EFI/Linux.

Jira:RHEL-119685

shim signed with Microsoft 2011 and 2023 UEFI certificates

The shim bootloader package is signed with both the Microsoft Windows UEFI Driver Publisher (MS 2011) certificate and the Microsoft UEFI CA 2023 certificate for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2. This update helps maintain compatibility with systems that rely on either of these Microsoft UEFI trust anchors while preserving the existing Red Hat UEFI Publisher 2024 signature.

With this change, both shimx64.efi and shimaa64.efi binaries are correctly signed, enabling secure boot environments to validate the updated bootloader components on supported hardware platforms.

Jira:RHEL-144033

6.10. File systems and storage

Review new features and enhancements for file systems and storage in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

A new watchdog for fanotify permission events is now available

With this update, an optional watchdog for fanotify permission events has been introduced. If a system hang occurs due to fanotify permission events, the watchdog logs the process ID and name of the task responsible for the hang to the system log. This enhancement simplifies and accelerates the diagnosis of fanotify related hangs without requiring kernel crash dump analysis.

Note that the watchdog is disabled by default. To enable it, write a timeout value to /proc/sys/fs/fanotify/watchdog_timeout. When enabled, the watchdog incurs negligible performance overhead.

Jira:RHEL-44601[1]

LVM now supports Persistent Reservations on volume groups

With this update, the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) has been enhanced to manage persistent reservations on a volume group (VG). With this feature, LVM controls access and ownership of shared storage resources used by Volume Groups. This can be useful in clustered environments that use shared block storage. For more information, see the lvmpersist(8) man page on your system.

Jira:RHEL-60931

io_uring interface added for asynchronous I/O

The io_uring interface supports asynchronous I/O operations. With this update, applications use this interface to submit multiple I/O requests without blocking the calling process. io_uring uses shared ring buffers between user space and kernel space to reduce system call overhead and avoid buffer copying. This interface is more efficient and supports more asynchronous system calls than Linux AIO.

Jira:RHEL-120700[1]

Stratis now maintains volume keys in the process keyring for encrypted pools

With the release of stratisd 3.8.6 and stratis-cli 3.8.3, the Stratis storage management system can now automatically maintain the volume keys of encrypted pools.

Previously, if stratisd needed to extend an encrypted pool automatically, the operation could fail if the encryption information was not available. With this update, stratisd maintains the volume key in its own process keyring. The key is automatically loaded when the pool is unlocked or when the service starts with an existing encrypted pool. To ensure security, the key is removed from the keyring when the stratisd process exits or when the pool is stopped or destroyed. If the pool is a V2 encrypted pool and the volume key is not present in the stratisd process keyring, stratis-cli displays an alert in its pool listing.

Jira:RHEL-125937[1]

snapm rebased to 0.7.0

The snapm package has been rebased to upstream version 0.7.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • The new Mount Manager mounts and unmounts entire snapshots. You can run commands or interactive shells inside mounted snapshot sets by using the snapset {mount, umount, exec, shell} subcommands.
  • The Difference Engine was added to compare snapshot sets or to compare against the running system. You can specify output formats, such as paths, full, short, json, diff, summary, and tree.
  • The performance of the Stratis plugin was improved. With this update, the plugin queries the D-Bus every 5 seconds and caches the results internally. This improvement significantly reduces the time to discover Stratis snapshots.

Jira:RHEL-137376[1]

Multipath automatically removes unmapped LUNs

Before this update, multipath devices remained in the system if you did not remove SCSI devices before disconnecting a LUN. This sometimes resulted in queued I/O or incorrect writes if the LUN was repurposed.

With this update, the purge_disconnected option is available in the defaults, devices, and multipaths sections of the multipath.conf file. When you set this option to yes, the multipathd daemon automatically removes disconnected SCSI devices from the system.

Jira:RHEL-141287

6.11. High availability and clusters

Review new features and enhancements for high availability and clusters in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Ability to add descriptions to cluster resources and elements

Previously, there was no built-in method in pcs to add supplemental text descriptions directly to resources and other cluster elements. This limited the ability of administrators to document, provide context, or aid in troubleshooting elements within the Pacemaker cluster.

With this enhancement, a new command, pcs cib element description, is available.

As a result, you can add brief text descriptions to a wide range of CIB elements that support the description attribute, including primitive resources, groups, clones, bundles, ACL permissions, ACL roles, alerts, alert recipients, and nodes. For a more intuitive experience, two new aliases are also available: pcs resource description and pcs stonith description.

Jira:RHEL-7670[1]

Validation added for resource and stonith meta attribute names

Previously, when configuring resource or stonith devices, a user could set meta attributes that were not recognized by the cluster. This led to silent configuration errors where the invalid attributes were accepted without warning but had no effect on cluster resource handling.

With this enhancement, meta attribute names for primitive and stonith resources are validated against the provided cluster meta attributes definition.

As a result, a warning is printed when invalid meta attributes are used with the following commands:

  • pcs resource|stonith create
  • pcs resource|stonith meta
  • pcs resource|stonith defaults set create
  • pcs resource|stonith defaults set update

Jira:RHEL-7673

Warning added when disabling cluster fencing

Before this update, users could disable the cluster’s fencing mechanism by setting the cluster property stonith-enabled to false without receiving any warning. This could inadvertently leave the cluster in an unsupported and unsafe state.

With this enhancement, the cluster management utility includes a safety check.

As a result, when you attempt to disable fencing using stonith-enabled=false the utility displays a warning message informing you that the cluster fencing mechanism will be lost.

Jira:RHEL-84120

The portblock resource agent now supports nftables

Previously, the portblock resource agent relied on iptables for managing port access. Since iptables is now primarily a wrapper for nftables and is slated for removal in future releases, a transition to native nftables support was necessary.

With this enhancement, the portblock resource agent now supports nftables natively.

As a result, nftables is used by default for port blocking operations. For environments that still require the legacy behavior, you can manually switch back to iptables by setting the firewall resource parameter to iptables.

Jira:RHEL-116152

6.12. Dynamic programming languages, web and database servers

Review new features and enhancements for dynamic programming languages, web and database servers in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

MariaDB 11.8 was added

MariaDB 11.8 packages are available in RHEL 10.2.

Notable changes over the previously available version 10.11 include:

  • By default, MariaDB 11.8 uses the utf8mb4 character set instead of latin1 and legacy utf8 to ensure full Unicode support.
  • Vector support was added to support machine learning. This includes the VECTOR(N) data type and the following functions:

    • VEC_DISTANCE()
    • VEC_DISTANCE_EUCLIDEAN()
    • VEC_DISTANCE_COSINE()
    • Vec_FromText(json_array)
    • Vec_ToText(vector_column)
  • The mariadb-dump and mariadb-import utilities natively support parallel operations. Specify the --dir and --parallel options to dump or load multiple databases simultaneously.
  • The upper limit of the TIMESTAMP data type was increased from 2038-01-19 to 2106-02-07 while still using 4 bytes of storage.
  • The UUID_v4() and UUID_v7() functions were added.
  • The JSON handling was improved. This includes new functions, such as JSON_SCHEMA_VALID().
  • The following system variables were added to define the maximum storage for temporary tables and other internally created temporary files:

    • max_tmp_session_space_usage limits the disk space used per session
    • max_tmp_total_space_usage limits the total disk space used by the MariaDB server instance
  • The des_encrypt and des_decrypt configuration file parameters are deprecated and will be removed in a future MariaDB release.

Notable breaking differences:

  • The following utilities were renamed but symbolic links were created for backward compatibility:

    • mysql > mariadb
    • mysqldump > mariadb-dump
    • mysqladmin > mariadb-admin

    If you still use the previous names of these utilities, they display deprecation warnings.

  • The innodb_defragment configuration parameter is no longer supported. Remove it from your configuration files.

For more information about MariaDB, see Using MariaDB.

To install the new packages, enter:

# dnf install mariadb11.8-server

If you want to upgrade from MariaDB 10.11, see Upgrading from a RHEL 9 version of MariaDB 10.11 to MariaDB 11.8.

For information about the length of support for the mariadb module streams, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Application Streams Life Cycle.

Jira:RHEL-115468[1]

PostgreSQL 18 was added

PostgreSQL 18 packages are available.

Notable changes:

  • The new Asynchronous I/O (AIO) subsystem provides up to three times faster data reads. You can enable this subsystem by setting the io_method variable.
  • The MD5 authentication method is deprecated and will be removed in a future major PostgreSQL release.
  • By default, data page checksums are enabled in PostgreSQL 18. If you upgrade from a previous version with data page checksums disabled, you must either enable the feature before the update or disable it during the upgrade. For further details, see Upgrading from a RHEL 9 version of PostgreSQL 16 to PostgreSQL 18.
  • PostgreSQL 18 supports native OAUth 2.0 single sign-on authentication.
  • The database service supports Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) mode validation for regulated environments.
  • The pg_upgrade utility preserves statistics during major release upgrades and significantly faster reaches full performance after an upgrade.

Jira:RHEL-116546[1]

New ruby4.0 runtime with database connectors

The ruby4.0 runtime provides a Ruby 4.0 stack with database connector support. As a result, you can select the ruby4.0 runtime alongside the existing Ruby stack to develop and run Ruby applications with supported database connectivity.

Jira:RHEL-133550[1]

New Python 3.14 stack is available

The python3.14 stack with essential packages is available in RHEL 10.2. This new alternative stack provides Python 3.14 to develop and run applications while staying on the RHEL 10 minor release.

Jira:RHEL-120788[1]

6.13. Compilers and development tools

Review new features and enhancements for compilers and development tools in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

glibc memstream documentation updated for SEEK_END behavior

The glibc memstream documentation explains how open_memstream handles seeking and the current position when using SEEK_END. The updated text clarifies how writing at the end of the buffer behaves, in line with the implementation-defined behavior introduced in POSIX Issue 8.

Jira:RHEL-65838

New OpenTelemetry PMDA enables OTLP metric ingestion into PCP

A new Performance Metrics Domain Agent, pmdaopentelemetry, is available to ingest OpenTelemetry metrics into Performance Co-Pilot (PCP). This enhancement bridges the OpenTelemetry ecosystem with PCP by dynamically creating PCP metrics from configured endpoints that export data in OTLP JSON format. The PMDA replaces the legacy pmdajson for OpenTelemetry use cases.

Features include:

  • Support for HTTP/HTTPS endpoints, local files, and executable script data sources.
  • Dynamic metric namespace with automatic addition and removal of metrics without requiring a restart.
  • Regex-based INCLUDE, EXCLUDE, and OPTIONAL rules for filtering metrics and labels.
  • Configurable metadata overrides for PCP types, semantics, and units.
  • Support for OpenTelemetry metric types such as sum, gauge, histogram, and summary.
  • Concurrent multi-source data collection using a thread pool.
  • Persistent metric and instance identifiers across restarts.
  • Built-in control metrics for per-source monitoring and diagnostics.

Jira:RHEL-83866

PCP REST API supports exporting metrics in OpenTelemetry JSON format

The pmproxy service supports exporting Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) metrics in OpenTelemetry JSON format through the existing /metrics REST API endpoint. When a client includes the Accept: application/json header in the HTTP request, pmproxy returns metrics in the OpenTelemetry resourceMetrics JSON structure instead of the default OpenMetrics text format.

This enhancement enables direct integration of PCP metrics with OpenTelemetry-based monitoring solutions without requiring additional format conversion. The existing OpenMetrics text format remains the default when the Accept: application/json header is not specified. Features include:

  • Support for exporting PCP metrics in OpenTelemetry resourceMetrics JSON format through the /metrics endpoint.
  • Content negotiation using the Accept: application/json HTTP header.
  • Automatic conversion of PCP metric semantics, types, and labels to OpenTelemetry equivalents.
  • Conversion of PCP units to the Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) format.
  • Compatibility with existing OpenMetrics text format as the default response format.

Jira:RHEL-85456

New tool pcp2opentelemetry introduces OpenTelemetry data export

With this update, a new tool, pcp2opentelemetry, is introduced for exporting both real-time and archived Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) data in the OpenTelemetry format. This tool extends OpenTelemetry support within PCP, similar to pcp2openmetrics, and is part of the ongoing support for OpenTelemetry in PCP v7. By using this tool, you can export PCP data in the OpenTelemetry format. It boosts compatibility with other tools within the OpenTelemetry ecosystem and offers a more adaptable and integrated method for managing performance data.

Jira:RHEL-85457

New PMDA for SAP HANA database metrics

With the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP), a new Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) is available for monitoring SAP HANA databases. You can now use PCP to collect and analyze metrics from SAP HANA, enabling improved visibility into database performance and behavior. This enhancement helps administrators monitor the SAP HANA workloads by using standard PCP tools and workflows.

Jira:RHEL-85725

Rebase llvm toolset to version 21

The llvm toolset has been rebased to version 21 in RHEL 10.2. This rebase provides updated compiler and tooling features for building and optimizing applications that depend on llvm.

As part of this change, dependent packages in RHEL 10 have been rebuilt against llvm 21 to ensure compatibility with the updated toolset.

The notable changes are:

  • The nocapture function attribute is replaced by the more expressive captures(none) attribute in LLVM IR, clarifying pointer capture semantics.
  • Constant expression forms of several arithmetic instructions, including mul, are removed in favor of using regular instructions, simplifying IR and optimizations.
  • Inline assembly calls no longer accept label operands. The callbr instruction must be used instead, which clarifies semantics for indirect labels.
  • New fmaximum and fminimum operations are supported in the atomicrmw instruction, aligning atomic floating-point operations with llvm.maximum and llvm.minimum behavior.
  • Multiple back ends, including AArch64, AMDGPU, RISC-V, PowerPC, and others, receive code generation improvements, new ISA extensions, and bug fixes that can result in better performance and broader hardware support.

Jira:RHEL-100887

PCP supports PUSH model for pmlogger

PCP supports a push model for pmlogger that enables remote archival of performance metrics data by using an HTTP REST API. Previously, centralized logging required administrators to reconfigure the central system to pull data from each newly added host. With the push model, each host streams archived data directly to a centralized pmproxy server in real time. This approach simplifies scaling and removes the need to store archives locally on remote systems. Additional key features include the following:

  • Centralized Storage: Configure multiple remote systems identically to store all archives on a single pmproxy server, simplifying configuration, management, and backup.
  • No Local Storage Required: Remote hosts log metrics without requiring local disk space for archives.
  • Real-Time Streaming: Archive data is transmitted immediately as it is collected, enabling near real-time analysis.
  • Network Resilience: Built-in error handling and retry mechanisms during network interruptions.

Jira:RHEL-104669[1]

Enhanced gcov function coverage summaries in gcc

Before this update, gcov function summaries only reported the number of lines executed and did not include details about branch or call coverage within the function.

With this enhancement, requesting function summaries using the -f option now includes data on branches taken and function calls made within the profiled function. This provides a more comprehensive view of function-level test coverage.

Jira:RHEL-105464[1]

glibc fortification support for inet_ntop and inet_pton

Previously, the glibc APIs inet_ntop and inet_pton did not include Source Fortification support, so the compiler was unable to detect some buffer errors before running the program.

With this update, attribute access annotations is added to inet_ntop and inet_pton, enabling the compiler to warn about potential buffer misuse at compile time. As a result, these APIs are now covered by Source Fortification, which improves their security and reliability.

Jira:RHEL-111115[1]

Rust Toolset is rebased to versions 1.92.0

RHEL 10.2 rebases the rust-toolset Application Stream to version 1.92.0, providing an updated Rust compiler and associated tooling for developing and running Rust applications. This rebase continues the rolling Application Stream model, where only the latest rust-toolset version is supported.

Notable enhancements include:

  • Reliable debugging through default emission of unwind tables on Linux, even when compiling with -Cpanic=abort, which enables more accurate backtraces.
  • Expanded systems programming support, including full i128 and u128 support in extern "C" functions and the ability to create raw pointers to union fields using &raw in safe code.
  • Enhanced code safety with the new dangling_pointers_from_locals lint, which warns about returning dangling raw pointers derived from local variables.
  • Improved code clarity with the mismatched_lifetime_syntaxes lint, which highlights potentially confusing lifetime relationships that are hidden by lifetime elision rules.
  • Workflow improvements in Cargo, which supports workspace-level publishing with cargo publish --workspace and automatically handles dependency ordering for multi-crate projects.

    Rust Toolset is delivered as a rolling Application Stream, and only the latest rust-toolset version is supported. For more information about Rust Toolset life cycle and support, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Application Streams Life Cycle.

Jira:RHEL-111845

glibc freopen behavior fixes and test improvements

The freopen function behaves more reliably and correctly under various usage scenarios. The function no longer leaks memory on failure, preserves and applies file descriptor flags such as O_CLOEXEC correctly, and sets the stream orientation properly when a character set is specified.

Jira:RHEL-115823[1]

Improved vectorized math performance in glibc

The glibc vectorized math library (libmvec) was upgraded to the upstream 2.40 version. The upstream glibc 2.40 release adds 55 additional vectorized math routines that were previously not available in the RHEL glibc based on version 2.39.

As a result, vectorized code compiled with the -ffast-math build option on AArch64 now benefits from these functions and might use symbols with the glibc version 2.40.

Jira:RHEL-118273[1]

Boost URL library available through boost in CRB

The boost-url shared library is available as part of the main boost package in the CodeReady Builder (CRB) repository. This change resolves the missing boost-url subpackage that blocked some dependent builds in earlier releases.

Because boost-url is a dependency of the boost metapackage, it is shipped with boost instead of as a separate repository entry. In RHEL 10.2, the boost-1.83.0-7.el10 build ensures that boost-url is included in the product listing, and installing boost-devel also provides the headers and libraries needed to build applications that rely on Boost.URL.

Jira:RHEL-124169

Performance Co-Pilot 7.0.3 enhancements

pcp-7.0.3-1.el10 in RHEL 10.2 introduces enhancements to monitoring capabilities, including new metric sources and improved sample resolution.

The update adds new Performance Metrics Domain Agents (PMDAs), expands dstat plugin coverage, and improves timestamp granularity for collected samples. The following enhancements are included in this update:

  • Added a new PMDA to collect SAP HANA database metrics.
  • Added a new PMDA for RoCE devices.
  • Added a new PMDA to collect OpenTelemetry metrics and a native PCP to OpenTelemetry exporter utility.
  • Enhanced the pmproxy REST API with a pmlogger push mode to send data to a centralized location. This simplifies configuration by allowing you to use the same setup on multiple machines that collect performance data.
  • Added new dstat plugins to monitor AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.
  • Added a new dstat plugin to monitor vLLM cache utilization.
  • Enabled nanosecond timestamp resolution on collected samples.

Jira:RHEL-124897

The Red Hat Build of OpenJDK 25 integrates with the crypto-policies package for secure system property handling

With this update, the Red Hat Build of OpenJDK 25 for RHEL integrates with the RHEL crypto-policies package. This enhancement ensures secure system property handling and improves the security of Java applications running on RHEL by loading additional configuration files based on Red Hat system properties. This change also adds FIPS support using NSS.

Jira:RHEL-128409[1]

glibc updates the bg_BG locale for Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro

The glibc package uses the euro currency symbol for the bg_BG locale to reflect Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro as of 1 January 2026.

As a result, applications that use the bg_BG locale display currency values with the updated euro symbol.

Jira:RHEL-137184

Croatia locale uses the euro currency symbol in glibc

The glibc package now uses the euro currency symbol for the hr_HR locale in RHEL. This change aligns Croatian locale data with the country’s current official currency.

As a result, applications that rely on glibc locale information for the hr_HR locale now display the up-to-date euro currency symbol instead of the former Croatian kuna.

Jira:RHEL-140103

Improved trylock performance in glibc for heavily contended multi-core workloads

With this enhancement, the glibc package optimizes the trylock implementation for workloads with high thread counts on multi-core systems, improving trylock throughput under heavy contention.

Jira:RHEL-139419

glibc adds RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH to prevent buffer overflows

The RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH dlinfo request type in glibc accepts the size of the destination buffer when retrieving the shared object origin path. This request type helps avoid buffer overflows when obtaining the shared object origin path.

The behavior of the existing RTLD_DI_ORIGIN request type remains unchanged.

Jira:RHEL-146428[1]

6.14. Identity Management

Review new features and enhancements for Identity Management (IdM) in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The entry and DN cache auto-sizing considers the number and size of DS databases

With this update, the auto-sizing feature for entry and DN caches adapts its tuning when a Directory Server instance uses multiple databases of different sizes. The cache size matches the database size, allocating more physical resources to larger databases.

Jira:RHEL-18041

You can pin large groups in the Directory Server entry cache to prevent groups eviction

With this update, Directory Server introduces a new configuration attribute, nsslapd-cache-pinned-entries, in backend configuration entries to pin the largest groups in the entry cache. You can set the number of entries that you want to pin by using the nsslapd-cache-pinned-entries attribute. These group entries are only evicted when modifying the group or when bringing the backend down. The default value is 0 meaning no group entries are pinned.

Jira:RHEL-58682

The ipa-client-automount utility now supports the --domain option

Before this update, the ipa-client-automount utility relied on the host’s current DNS domain for service discovery. This caused issues in cross-domain environments where the client host resided in a different DNS domain than the Identity Management (IdM) server, often requiring administrators to manually configure numerous server settings in multiple locations.

With this update, ipa-client-automount introduces the --domain option. This allows users to explicitly define the IdM domain to be used for DNS discovery during the automount configuration.

As a result, installation efficiency and reliability are improved for complex network topologies.

Jira:RHEL-86030[1]

Directory Server supports online TLS certificate refresh without the server restart

With this update, you can update server certificates on a running instance and trigger a certificate refresh without stopping the dirsrv service. After deploying new certificates, you can use the dsconf <instance_name> config refresh-certs command to activate them for new incoming TLS connections, enabling smoother, more automated certificate renewal processes with less downtime. Existing LDAP connections are not explicitly closed. However, if the CA certificate has changed, some existing LDAPS connections might be terminated by clients with SERVER_DOWN errors. This occurs when the clients expect the previous certificate while the server renegotiates encryption with the new one.

Jira:RHEL-86320

Directory Server supports dynamic groups

With this update, you can define group membership based on LDAP search filters, similar to OpenLDAP, instead of managing static member lists. Using search filters to define group membership provides more flexible and scalable access control. Membership is automatically calculated from LDAP search URLs when you configure a dedicated object class, URL attribute, and list attribute. As a result, Directory Server introduces the following configuration attributes under cn=config,cn=ldbm database,cn=plugins,cn=config:

  • nsslapd-dynamic-lists-enabled enables dynamic groups. Defaults to off.
  • nsslapd-dynamic-lists-oc defines which object classes an entry must have to be considered a dynamic entry. Defaults to groupOfURLs.
  • nsslapd-dynamic-lists-url-attr specifies which attribute inside a group entry contains the LDAP URL used to define the dynamic membership. Defaults to memberUrl. The attribute can be multi-valued if your schema allows it.
  • nsslapd-dynamic-lists-attr specifies the attribute that contains the distinguished name (DN) of the entries that match the LDAP URI set in nsslapd-dynamic-lists-url-attr. Defaults to member.

Jira:RHEL-86534

Delete all replication conflict entries at once with dsconf

With this update, you can use the dsconf <instance_name> repl-conflict delete-all "<suffix_name>" command to delete all replication conflicts in bulk. Before this update, each conflict had to be deleted individually by using dsconf <instance_name> repl-conflict delete. Now, you can delete all replication conflicts in a single operation by using dsconf.

Alternatively, you can try to resolve conflicts instead of deleting them. For details, see Solving common replication problems.

Jira:RHEL-99331[1]

Directory Server validates LDIF files before erasing backend data during import

Before this update, importing the wrong LDIF file would erase the backend first and only report errors after processing the entire file, potentially causing data loss.

With this update, the server performs early validation when importing LDIF files to detect mismatched or incorrect files before erasing the existing backend database. If the LDIF does not contain the expected suffix entry, the import terminates immediately with a clear error message, leaving the existing backend data intact.

Jira:RHEL-106849

dsctl dbverify provides clearer output when a specified backend does not exist

The dsctl dbverify command, used to verify the integrity of a Directory Server database, provides explicit feedback depending on the database backend type. For Lightning Memory-Mapped Database (LMDB) backends, the command displays a warning that the verification is always reported as successful because LMDB has built-in integrity protection. As a result, administrators can distinguish between a missing backend and a genuinely successful verification when running dsctl dbverify.

Jira:RHEL-107003

MemberOf plugin supports scoping for specific groups

With this update, you can configure the MemberOf plugin to monitor only selected groups for membership evaluation. Previously, MemberOf plugin processing was controlled at the suffix level, which included all groups under a configured suffix. By defining a group scope, you can target list of groups or create exceptions for specific groups. This improves performance by avoiding unnecessary plugin operations on irrelevant entries.

MemberOf plugin introduces the following multi-valued configuration attributes under cn=MemberOf Plugin,cn=plugins,cn=config:

  • memberOfSpecificGroupFilter sets an LDAP search filter to select the group entries the plugin should process.
  • memberOfExcludeSpecificGroupFilter sets an LDAP search filter to select the group entries to be excluded from plugin processing.
  • memberOfSpecificGroupOC sets the object class of the group entries the plugin should process.

Jira:RHEL-109113[1]

Directory Server supports post-quantum cryptography (PQC) keys

With this update, Directory Server supports TLS certificates that use ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65, and ML-DSA-87 keys. This enables adoption of post-quantum cryptography standards to help protect your directory against potential quantum computing attacks.

Jira:RHEL-110192

You can configure external password reset agents in IdM

When integrating Identity Management (IdM) with a third-party application that does not support Kerberos authentication, you can define a dedicated system account for the application to securely reset user passwords. Notably, these resets do not trigger the "password change required" flag, ensuring a seamless login experience for the end user. The system account authenticates by using LDAP.

As a result, organizations can integrate their own secure password management solutions directly with IdM.

Jira:RHEL-110204

You can specify an IdM server from which to update the local CA trust store

With this update, the ipa-certupdate tool includes a new --force-server <server_fqdn> option. Before this update, an Identity Management (IdM) client only connected to its default IdM server, specified in the /etc/ipa/default.conf file, when updating the local CA trust store. If this default server was down or unreachable, the ipa-certupdate command failed. As a result, administrators can ensure successful trust store updates and maintain service continuity, even if the primary server is unavailable.

Jira:RHEL-113778

samba rebased to 4.23.0

The samba packages, which provide file and print services using the SMB protocol, have been rebased to upstream version 4.23.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • SMB3 UNIX Extensions are enabled by default to provide support for POSIX semantics, such as proper POSIX permissions and symlink handling, for UNIX and Linux clients.
  • Experimental support for SMB3 connections over Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) is introduced. Configurable through client smb transports and server smb transports, this allows for secure SMB traffic over UDP port 443, which is ideal for remote access.
  • The new smb_prometheus_endpoint utility exports Samba server metrics in a Prometheus-compatible format to facilitate performance and status monitoring.
  • The samba-tool domain backup --no-secrets command explicitly removes confidential attributes, such as BitLocker recovery data and KDS root keys, from backups.

    For a complete list of changes, see Samba 4.23.0 Available for Download.

Jira:RHEL-114545

IdM password policies support libpwquality character credit options

Identity Management (IdM) password policies support four new options (--dcredit, --ucredit, --lcredit, and --ocredit) based on the libpwquality credit system. A negative value sets the minimum number of characters of that type required in a password; a positive value provides a credit toward the minimum password length. These options are mutually exclusive with --minclasses and offer a more granular way to enforce per-class character requirements. As a result, administrators can configure specific character type minimums in IdM password policies, for example, to satisfy DISA STIG compliance requirements.

For more information, see Additional password policy options in IdM.

Jira:RHEL-119481[1]

ipa rebased to 4.13.0

The ipa packages have been rebased to upstream version 4.13.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • A new responsive and intuitive beta interface is available as a Technology Preview. You can experiment with it and provide feedback.
  • You can use the ipa-idrange-fix tool to identify users and groups outside current ID ranges and propose new ranges to include them.
  • The requirement for unique Certificate Authority (CA) subject names is relaxed, which enables duplicates under specific trust and nickname conditions.
  • Random serial numbers (RSNv3) are enabled by default, and the system automatically removes certificates 30 days after they expire.
  • To modernize new deployments, Network Information Service (NIS) server emulation in Identity Management (IdM) is removed. Note that NIS client support was removed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9. Additionally, the Schema Compatibility Tree plugin is deprecated and might be removed in a future major release.
  • The platform supports the full 32-bit ID range space.
  • This release resolves over 170 bugs and improves overall system performance and stability.

Jira:RHEL-120956[1]

nsslapd-haproxy-trusted-ip now supports CIDR notation

With this update, you can use Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation to define ranges of trusted IP addresses instead of manually listing each address. You can now specify multiple CIDR ranges, as well as a mix of individual IPs and ranges. Example multi-valued configuration:

nsslapd-haproxy-trusted-ip: 2001:db8::/32
nsslapd-haproxy-trusted-ip: 192.168.1.0/24
nsslapd-haproxy-trusted-ip: 192.168.2.50

RHEL-121208

Jira:RHEL-121208

cepces rebased to 0.3.12

The cepces package, which provides a certificate enrollment client for Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS), has been rebased to upstream version 0.3.12. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Support for GSSAPI channel bindings to bind Kerberos authentication to the TLS (HTTPS) tunnel is available. This is required for compatibility with Windows Server 2025, which enforces stricter security requirements for SOAP-based certificate enrollment web services (CEP/CES) by default.
  • Authentication handshake failures when connecting to modern Windows environments that have TLS channel binding and Kerberos security policies enabled are fixed.
  • Updates to the cepces-submit helper ensure smoother communication with the certmonger service during automated certificate renewal cycles.

Jira:RHEL-121729

Support for generating LWCA certificates and private keys on an HSM

For installations using a hardware security module (HSM), Lightweight CA (LWCA) certificates and private keys are now generated on the HSM. This provides the same hardware-level security for the private keys as the root CA private key. The LWCA private key is generated on the HSM with the HSM token name as the prefix, for example mytoken:lwca.

Jira:RHEL-126761

Automated services no longer reset account lockout counters

This update ensures that automated services like crond and systemd-user are prevented from unlocking accounts locked by faillock. Previously, these services would automatically clear the "failed login" counter when they ran, which could allow a malicious actor to keep guessing passwords without being permanently locked out. With this release, once an account is locked by a security policy, it remains locked until the timeout expires or an administrator intervenes, regardless of any background system activity.

Jira:RHEL-130871[1]

ansible-freeipa rebased to 1.16.0

The ansible-freeipa packages, which provide Ansible modules and roles for Identity Management (IdM), have been rebased to upstream version 1.16.0. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

The sysaccount module (ipasysaccount) creates and manages system accounts in IdM. The role module (iparole) supports system accounts as role members, so you can assign privileges such as user password management to those accounts in playbooks. You can, for example, use system accounts to integrate IdM with an external password reset management solution. For more information, refer to the sysaccount and role module READMEs.

The ipapasskeyconfig module is available in the ansible-freeipa collection. You can use this module to configure whether passkey authentication in IdM requires user verification, such as a PIN, when users authenticate with a passkey device. Additionally, the ipauser module supports passkey as a user authentication type, and the ipaservice and ipahost modules support passkey as an authentication indicator.

Jira:RHEL-139147

ansible-freeipa adds support for the passkey authentication type in management modules

With this update, the ipaconfig, ipahost, ipaservice, and ipauser modules support the passkey authentication type for IdM resources. This enables you to manage Passkey device authentication directly through your Ansible playbooks by setting the authentication type to passkey.

Jira:RHEL-139258

389-ds-base rebased to 3.2.0

The 389-ds-base package, which provides an enterprise-class LDAP server, has been rebased to upstream version 3.2.0.

Jira:RHEL-139826

The Certificate System now supports ML-DSA keys and signatures

You can now install a Certificate System (CS) that uses Module-Lattice-based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) for both key types and signatures. Because ML-DSA is standardized by NIST to withstand future quantum computing threats, the CS can now generate and manage quantum-resistant certificates. This release supports ML-DSA at three NIST-defined security levels: ML-DSA-44, 65, and 87.

Jira:RHEL-143038

pki rebased to 11.9

The pki packages have been rebased to upstream version 11.9. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Support for ML-DSA (Module-Lattice-based Digital Signature Algorithm) profiles is available. This enables the PKI to issue and manage certificates using post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, preparing the environment for future security requirements.
  • The Jackson JSON processing libraries are updated to improve performance and security during metadata serialization.
  • The pki-server and associated CLI tools include stability updates to better handle service state transitions and improve the reliability of trust store synchronization in complex topologies.
  • A race condition that caused ipa ca-add to fail with a "500 Internal Server Error" when adding multiple Sub-CAs in rapid succession is resolved. With this update, the CA engine correctly synchronizes authority initialization with signing certificate availability, which prevents API timeouts during high-volume operations.
  • A regression where enabling the nuxwdog watchdog prevented the PKI service from starting is fixed. The pki-server-nuxwdog utility correctly interfaces with systemd-ask-password, enabling users to provide required credentials at startup when a password file is missing.
  • An issue where the PKI server failed to issue certificates when a Sub-CA was specified is resolved. This fix ensures the certificate request pipeline correctly identifies and utilizes Sub-CA signing keys, which restores full functionality to multi-tier CA environments.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21885[1]

6.15. SSSD

Review new features and enhancements for SSSD in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Recursive deletion for computer objects added to adcli

The adcli delete-computer command supports the --recursive option to delete computer objects from Active Directory, including their child objects. Previously, attempting to delete a computer object that contained child objects, such as metadata for BitLocker drive recovery, failed with a CANT_ON_NON_LEAF error in AD. With this update, users can cleanly delete computer objects that contain child objects using adcli.

Jira:RHEL-16141

sudo rebased to sudo-1.9.17p2

The sudo packages have been rebased to upstream version 1.9.17p2, which includes the following notable bug fixes and enhancements:

  • The sudoers file supports regular expressions.
  • The log_subcmds and intercept options are supported.
  • The json_compact logging is supported.
  • Privilege listing is enhanced.
  • Added the cmddenial_message sudoers option.
  • The sudoers LDAP schema now allows sudoUser, sudoRunasUser, and sudoRunasGroup to include UTF-8 characters.
  • Added a new -N (no-update) command-line option to sudo.
  • The following sudoers settings can be used to support more fine-grained I/O logging:

    • log_stdin
    • log_stdout
    • log_stderr
    • log_ttyin
    • log_ttyout

Jira:RHEL-112100

6.16. Desktop

Review new features and enhancements for desktop in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The display time for login error messages is extended

Before this update, some short error messages on the login screen disappeared too quickly to be read. As a consequence, users missed important login feedback. With this update, the display time for short error messages is extended. As a result, these messages remain visible for a longer period of time.

Jira:RHEL-11918

papers rebased to 48.4

The papers document viewer is rebased to version 48.4. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Support for the libspelling library is added.
  • Stability of papers is improved.
  • Various UI improvements are in place.
  • Support for the PostScript and XPS document formats is removed.
  • The bookmarks sidebar is removed.
  • Translations are updated.

Jira:RHEL-86193

fwupd package is rebased to 2.0.19

The fwupd package, which updates firmware on your system, has been rebased to upstream version 2.0.19. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Applied important fixes to the various firmware loaders, such as PE/COFF and MTD.
  • Fixed issues affecting Intel GPUs and docks from USI, Lenovo, Dell, and HP.
  • Improved deployments for UEFI KEK, db, and dbx updates.
  • Added support for client-side phased update deployment, post-quantum cryptography (PQC) signatures, and additional devices including NVIDIA ConnectX, Jabra Evolve2, Framework QMK, Copilot devices, Huddly C1, and SteelSeries Arctis Nova.

Jira:RHEL-110760[1]

libinput rebased to version 1.30

The libinput package is rebased to upstream version 1.30. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • 3-finger dragging for touchpads and a new sticky drag-lock feature for the tap-and-drag setting are supported.
  • Configuration for mapping an eraser button for tablet tools with a hardcoded eraser button is supported. This behavior applies to most Microsoft-compatible tablets other than Wacom tablets.
  • Tablets without physical LEDs to indicate the tablet pad mode are handled correctly.
  • Configuration of the accessible tablet area on external tablets is supported. As a result, you can reduce the available physical area to better match it to the intended use case.
  • Many device-specific updates are added to accommodate custom behavior required by specific devices.

    For any new configuration option, libinput provides the option, but it must be set by the respective compositor. Depending on the compositor, some configuration options might not be available directly to the user.

Jira:RHEL-136390

Flatpaks are the default delivery method for Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird

With this update, the default delivery method for Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird is changed from RPM packages to Flatpaks. Anaconda, the RHEL installer, preinstalls these Flatpaks by default.

If your system is subscribed to Red Hat, you do not need to provide your Red Hat credentials when accessing the Red Hat Flatpak Registry. If you use the Red Hat Flatpak Registry on an unsubscribed system, follow the official guidelines.

Because there might be use cases where Flatpaks do not fit well, Red Hat will continue to provide and support firefox and thunderbird RPM packages in the AppStream repository for the lifetime of RHEL 10. If you identify any of these use cases, contact Red Hat Support. Alternatively, you can provide your feedback in the RHEL-160615 Jira ticket.

You can change the delivery method in Anaconda from Flatpaks back to RPM packages by following the process outlined in the documentation. For example, use the following configuration to preinstall the firefox RPM package instead of the Flatpak:

%packages
@^graphical-server-environment
-redhat-flatpak-preinstall-firefox
firefox
%end

Jira:RHEL-139533

6.17. The web console

Review new features and enhancements for the web console in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

cockpit rebased to version 356

The cockpit packages have been rebased to version 356, which provides many improvements and fixes compared to version 344 in RHEL 10.1, most notably:

  • Timers created by the RHEL web console are executed directly by the /bin/sh system shell, and you can edit them.
  • The health dashboard shows a warning if the last shutdown or reboot was unclean.
  • You can override the RHEL web console branding with a custom configuration in the /etc/cockpit/branding.css file.
  • Support for the pam_cockpit_cert PAM module in the /etc/pam.d/cockpit file, which is redundant since version 248, is removed. If you still use the module in your configuration, you must remove it manually.
  • The web console lists additional ports in a firewall zone, each in its own row, and you can delete them individually.
  • Support for TLS is removed from the cockpit-ws subpackage. Instead, containers run the cockpit-tls program and directly connect to the cockpit-ws server.
  • You can detach the VNC console viewer of a virtual machine into its own window.
  • The web console no longer adds both SPICE and VNC graphics when creating new virtual machines, but only VNC.
  • You can shut down and restart virtual machines with a single action from the web console.
  • The cockpit-podman plug-in supports the quadlet lifecycle and shows inactive quadlets.
  • You can create empty files in the web console file manager.

Jira:RHEL-112867

6.18. Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles

Review new features and enhancements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux system roles in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

The ha_cluster RHEL System Role now exports cluster constraint variables

Previously, the ha_cluster RHEL System Role did not include detailed constraint information in its exported data.

With this enhancement, the ha_cluster role now includes variables for location, colocation, order, and ticket constraints.

As a result, the following variables are now available in the module output, facilitating better configuration management and role-based automation:

  • ha_cluster_constraints_location
  • ha_cluster_constraints_colocation
  • ha_cluster_constraints_order
  • ha_cluster_constraints_ticket

Jira:RHEL-46226

The ha_cluster RHEL System Role now exports additional cluster configuration variables

Previously, the ha_cluster RHEL System Role provided limited visibility into the current cluster configuration.

With this update, the ha_cluster role has been expanded to include cluster properties and resource defaults.

As a result, the following variables are now exported, allowing for easier auditing and configuration mirroring:

  • ha_cluster_cluster_properties
  • ha_cluster_resource_defaults
  • ha_cluster_resource_operation_defaults

Jira:RHEL-46227

Disk partition management available to the storage role

With this update, you can manage disk partitions by using the storage role, streamlining storage management. With this unified approach you can add, remove, resize, and format partitions, ensuring consistent and repeatable results.

Jira:RHEL-66738[1]

Support for bootable snapshots with snapm

With this update, you can create bootable snapshot sets on platforms that support snapm, such as RHEL 9.6 and Fedora 41 or later. You can now set a bootable flag when requesting snapshots and boot the system directly from a snapshot.

Jira:RHEL-104931

The firewall RHEL system role supports IPv6 addresses within the ipset_entries

With this enhancement, you can now use IPv6 addresses within the ipset_entries variable when utilizing hash:ip or hash:net types in playbooks that use the firewall RHEL system role. You can also specify additional <key>:<value> pairs of options for ipset by using the ipset_options variable. pairs

Due to a limitation of the underlying firewalld implementation, you cannot mix IPv4, IPv6, and MAC addresses in the same ipset_entries list.

Jira:RHEL-114467[1]

The sshd system role supports the CanonicalMatchUser option

To provide more granular control over conditional configurations, the sshd system role supports the sshd_CanonicalMatchUser variable. You can specify whether to evaluate OpenSSH Match blocks against a user’s initial login name or their final canonical username after the server rewrites it.

As a result, you can consistently apply security policies in environments where external identity providers or local configuration rules modify usernames. This ensures that Match blocks accurately reflect the user’s identity once the server determines the final canonical username.

Jira:RHEL-127971

Support added for the fencing-watchdog-timeout cluster property

Before this update, the high-availability stack primarily supported the stonith-watchdog-timeout property for managing watchdog-based fencing. However, future Pacemaker versions replace this property with fencing-watchdog-timeout.

With this update, the role handles both the legacy and new property names consistently.

As a result, the role supports future Pacemaker versions and ensures that watchdog-related cluster properties remain functional regardless of which property name you use. The role preserves both stonith-watchdog-timeout and fencing-watchdog-timeout when creating or pushing CIB configurations.

Jira:RHEL-136597

The metrics RHEL system role supports configuring TLS-encrypted connections

With this enhancement, you can use the metrics RHEL system role to configure TLS-encrypted connections to Grafana. To use this feature, specify the following variables in your playbook:

  • metrics_grafana_certificates to use the certificate RHEL system role to generate new certificates on the managed nodes
  • metrics_grafana_cert and metrics_grafana_private_key to specify the path to an existing certificate and private key on the managed nodes
  • metrics_grafana_cert_src and metrics_grafana_private_key_src to copy an existing certificate and private key from the control node to the managed nodes

Jira:RHEL-136607[1]

The VersionAddendum option is available in SSH configuration

With this update, you can configure the VersionAddendum option in SSH settings for match blocks, host blocks, and global client configurations. This enhancement ensures compatibility with the latest OpenSSH versions and provides granular control over your SSH connections.

Jira:RHEL-138277

The sshd system role supports GSSAPIDelegateCredentials

The new GSSAPIDelegateCredentials parameter provides Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSSAPI) credential delegation in Kerberos environments and enables a seamless single sign-on experience.

As a result, you can automate the configuration of GSSAPI credential delegation to simplify network authentication.

Jira:RHEL-144495

The postgresql RHEL system role now supports PostgreSQL 18

The postgresql RHEL system role, which installs, configures, manages, and starts the PostgreSQL server, now supports PostgreSQL 18.

For more information about this system role, see Installing and configuring PostgreSQL by using the postgresql RHEL system role.

Jira:RHEL-144914[1]

SELinux supports the DCCP and SCTP protocols

With this update, you can manage SELinux port types for Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) and Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). By configuring SELinux port labels for these protocols, you can apply granular access controls and improve system security.

Jira:RHEL-145214

RHEL System Roles support for immutable systems (ostree)

You can use RHEL system roles to build and manage immutable operating systems. This provides a consistent management interface across different backend technologies, including ostree.

As a result, you can deploy and configure immutable systems using the same roles used for traditional systems, ensuring environment consistency. Note: This feature is currently not compatible with the nbde_client role.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21216

In-place upgrade phases automation with the analysis, remediate, and upgrade Ansible roles

With this release, you can use the analysis, remediate, and upgrade Ansible roles to automate the pre-upgrade and upgrade phases of the in-place upgrade. By using these Ansible roles, you can quickly and efficiently upgrade large numbers of systems, saving you time.

For more information, see Upgrading large deployments by using Ansible roles.

Jira:RHEL-141757

6.19. Virtualization

Review new features and enhancements for virtualization in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

VMs on IBM Z can now use multiple network boot entries

With this update, virtual machines (VMs) on RHEL 10 hosts that use IBM Z hardware can have multiple kernel entries for the virtio-net device. As a result, you can use multiple VM kernel boot entries available over PXE if the primary boot device is not bootable.

Jira:RHEL-71834

Faster updates for cryptographic coprocessors on IBM Z

After using the virsh nodedev-update command to update a cryptograpic coprocessor (vfio-ap) device on an IBM Z host, the new configuration now takes effect significantly faster.

Jira:RHEL-73000[1]

CPI for virtual machines on IBM Z

Virtual machines (VMs) on RHEL 10 hosts that use IBM Z hardware can now use the Control Program Identification (CPI) feature. By using CPI, you can obtain system information about VMs without accessing them. For more information about CPI, see IBM documentation.

Note that on VMs that use IBM Secure Execution, CPI is disabled by default to ensure confidentiality, and must be enabled manually. For instructions, see Setting up IBM Secure Execution on IBM Z.

Jira:RHEL-73008[1]

Configure hostname and FQDN options in libvirt XML configuration

The libvirt virtualization API supports setting hostname and Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) options for virtual machines on network interfaces that use the passt backend. This feature integrates passt DHCP and DHCPv6 capabilities to simplify network identity assignment. As a result, you can configure hostname and FQDN directly in the domain XML. For example:

<backend type='passt' hostname='vm1' fqdn='vm1.kubevirt.org.'/>

Both attributes are optional.

Jira:RHEL-79806

Backup jobs now keep VMs active during guest OS shutdown

Backup jobs initiated through tools such as virsh backup-begin now keep the virtual machine (VM) process active even if the guest operating system (OS) shuts down during the operation. Previously, a guest OS shutdown caused libvirt to terminate the VM process, which failed the backup and required a manual restart. This enhancement ensures that backup jobs complete successfully regardless of the guest OS state, providing greater reliability and eliminating manual intervention.

Jira:RHEL-80679

The virtio-win package introduces the viosock driver for Windows virtual machines

Virtual Socket (vsock) is a communication interface for direct socket-based communication between a host and virtual machines (VMs) running on the host. With this update, the virtio-win package includes the viosock driver, which implements vsock support in Windows VMs running on a KVM host. The driver enables use cases such as running commands in a Windows VM directly from the host.

The virtio-win package also includes the VsockTcpBridge service, which provides a vsock-to-TCP bridge. This bridge allows existing TCP-based applications in the Windows VM to communicate over the vsock interface without modification.

The viosock driver is available in the virtio-win ISO and installer. When you install the driver, the VsockTcpBridge service and the vsock provider are configured automatically.

Jira:RHEL-91040

New s390-ccw-virtio-rhel10.2.0 machine type available for IBM Z VMs

The updated qemu-kvm package provides a new s390-ccw-virtio-rhel10.2.0 machine type for IBM Z virtual machines (VMs). This machine type enables Control Program Identification (CPI) and performance-enhanced PCI translation for passthrough PCI devices by default. As a result, IBM Z VMs that use the s390-ccw-virtio-rhel10.2.0 machine type benefit from improved performance with passthrough PCI devices and CPI without additional configuration.

Jira:RHEL-104009[1]

Block device I/O limits included in libvirt domstats

The virsh domstats --block command displays block device I/O limits for virtual machine (VM) block nodes. The limits include:

  • Maximum I/O request size
  • Maximum I/O vector count
  • Memory alignment values

    By using this feature you can inspect the I/O limits that QEMU uses for storage back ends and determine whether your VM configuration is optimal. As a result, you can better debug performance issues and detect incorrect storage configurations.

Jira:RHEL-118671

PCCS for Intel TDX

This update introduces the Provisioning Caching Certification Service (PCCS) for Intel Trust Domain Extensions (TDX). This provides the local caching required to use Intel hosted Provisioning Certification Services (PCS) at scale, and also makes it possible to perform TDX attestation on host systems that are isolated from the public internet.

Jira:RHEL-121612

libvirt introduces a host-model mode for Hyper-V Enlightenments

The libvirt package provides a new host-model mode for Hyper-V Enlightenments, which automatically enables all Hyper-V enlightenments supported on the host. This mode eliminates the need for separate configuration templates for Intel and AMD hosts. As a result, you can configure <hyperv mode='host-model'/> in the XML definition of a virtual machine to automatically apply all host-supported Hyper-V Enlightenments without maintaining separate configurations for each vendor.

Jira:RHEL-122932[1]

Encryption for libvirt secrets

This update introduces the virt-secrets-init-encryption service, which encrypts libvirt secrets, such as keys for the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM). By default, this encryption uses systemd credentials sealing. However, you can use the new /etc/libvirt/secret.conf file to specify a custom key for encrypting secrets, as well as to disable automatic encryption of secrets. As a result, critical vTPM metadata is protected from unauthorized access on the host file system. This also hardens the overall security of the virtualization environment.

Jira:RHEL-7125[1]

Native FUA support for QEMU

With this update, the QEMU emulator no longer needs to emulate the Forced Unit Access (FUA) I/O method, and instead can use FUA natively. This can improve the overall performance of virtual storage, particularly in database workloads.

Jira:RHEL-66064[1]

6.20. Supportability

Review new features and enhancements for supportability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Ceph mon sessions added to sos report

In the latest version of the sos tool, system administrators can effortlessly retrieve a list of active mon sessions from a Ceph cluster. This was accomplished by connecting to the admin socket and executing the ceph tell mon sessions command. This feature was implemented to enhance the efficiency of troubleshooting Ceph related problems.

As a result, users can now investigate issues related to Ceph sessions with the data included in a SOS archive.

Jira:RHEL-103783

The new aws plugin in sos collects metadata information

With this update, sos includes a plugin that collects metadata information from AWS instances. This update introduces the following notable enhancements:

  • Enhances metadata collection from AWS instances by using an sos plugin.
  • Improves the data gathering process in the sos RPM package across RHEL versions.
  • Provides an accurate and detailed analysis of AWS instances within the sos report.

Jira:RHEL-114887

Improved AAP plugins for more useful diagnostics

Before this update, the sos report was collected on AAP. With this update, the notable enhancements to the following AAP plugins are:

  • aap_containerized: Resolved an issue that incorrectly enabled aap_containerized on the RPM-based Private Automation Hub servers.
  • aap_controller: Expanded the set of gathered command outputs and conditionally collect run_wsbroadcast or run_wsrelay depending on the AWX release version.
  • aap_eda: Collected service output details based on the installed EDA version. Starting from AAP 2.5, specific commands are used to obtain service status information.
  • aap_gateway: Added additional command outputs for improved troubleshooting on Gateway servers.
  • aap_hub: Centralized the collection of service information for PAH servers under a single location within the plugin directory.

Jira:RHEL-121524

SSL certificate control in SOS clean process is available

With this update, you can manage SSL/TLS certificates that contain sensitive data during the SOS clean process. The new --treat-certificates option provides the option to remove, obfuscate, or maintain the original binary format of these certificates ensuring that no sensitive data persists.

As a result, you can enhance data security and privacy by selecting the treatment for SSL/TLS certificates during the SOS clean process.

Jira:RHEL-142619

Automatic user detection for AAP container runners in SOS reports

With this update, the sos utility automatically detects the user running containers for Ansible Application Platform (AAP) deployments. This eliminates the need for manual specification, ensuring the collection of all necessary AAP data.

Jira:RHEL-140738

6.21. Containers

Review new features and enhancements for containers in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Podman switches to Sequoia-PGP for OpenPGP signatures in RHEL 10

With this update, Podman supports a Sequoia-PGP-based back end for OpenPGP image signatures. Previously, Podman used GnuPG (through gpgme/pgpme bindings) for OpenPGP operations. This update includes the following enhancements:

  • Verification: The back end is switched from GnuPG to Sequoia-PGP.
  • Signing: The current GnuPG workflows continue to exist. With the new --sign-by-sq-fingerprint option you can use Sequoia and Sequoia-available keys. The current GnuPG workflows remain supported.
  • Algorithm support: Supports modern and post-quantum capable algorithms such as ML-DSA-87+Ed448.
  • Improved Skopeo compatibility with FIPS certification.

Jira:RHEL-56365[1]

container-selinux rebased to version 2.244.0-1

The container-selinux package, which provides necessary SELinux policies, types, and rules to confine and secure container runtimes, has been rebased to version 2.244.0-1. This version provides important bug fixes and enhancements, most notably:

  • Enhanced data protection ensures confidentiality in deployments, while reducing potential security risks associated with public storage endpoints.
  • Errors in package NVR no longer cause reproducible crashes, improving system stability.

Jira:RHEL-111947

gvisor-tap-vsock rebased to 0.8.7-1

The gvisor-tap-vsock package, which provides a user space networking stack for virtual machines, particularly those used with Podman, is rebased to upstream version 0.8.7-1. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably, users can integrate a private image registry within a private Microsoft Azure cluster, enhancing security and efficiency of image management.

As a result, the ability to create customizable, secure storage endpoints within the deployment, streamlining storage resource management and reducing potential security risks.

Jira:RHEL-111948

buildah rebased to 1.41.8-1

The buildah package, which provides a daemonless command-line tool for building Open Container Initiative (OCI-compliant), is rebased to upstream version 1.41.8-1. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably, you can integrate a private image registry within a private Microsoft Azure cluster, enhancing the management and deployment of container images in a secure and scalable environment.

As a result, a more secure storage solution is available because you can now secure the storage endpoints privately on Azure, protecting their data from unauthorized access. Simplified management of storage endpoints also makes it easier for you to maintain their storage infrastructure.

Jira:RHEL-114411

crun is rebased to 1.25.1-1

The crun package provides a fast, lightweight, and low memory Open Container Initiative (OCI) runtime acting as the default, high-performance alternative to runc for executing containers. The crun is rebased to upstream version 1.25.1-1. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Users can create and manage their own private container registries within a secure Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. This enhancement streamlines navigation, increases efficiency, and ensures data security.
  • Users can deploy and manage their containerized applications with improved security and scalability, enabling seamless integration of third party applications and expanding the functionality of the platform.
  • By automating routine tasks, it saves valuable time and effort, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks, improving overall efficiency and productivity.

Jira:RHEL-114419

python-podman rebased to 5.7.0-1

The python-podman package is rebased to upstream version 5.7.0-1. With python-podman, you can manage Podman containers, images, volumes, and pods. The new version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably, you can integrate a private image registry within a secure Azure cluster. The private registry installation ensures a more secure deployment of applications, as it offers enhanced protection for sensitive images.

Jira:RHEL-114423

Unified configuration available for rootless Podman

With this update, rootless Podman introduces a unified system-wide configuration file that enables centralized policy management, a consistent security baseline, and operational standardization across all users.

As a result, you can inherit sensible defaults without manual configuration while maintaining the flexibility to override system defaults through personal configuration files. Additionally, this update ensures backward compatibility, so existing workflows and configurations remain unchanged.

Jira:RHEL-126644

The Container Tools packages have been updated

The updated Container Tools RPM meta-package, which includes the Podman, Buildah, Skopeo, crun, and runc tools, is available. The Buildah package has been updated to version 1.43.1, and Skopeo has been updated to version 1.22.2. Podman release 5.8.2 contains the following notable bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version:

  • The podman machine init --image command can run PowerShell-escaped commands from the user-specified image path in a PowerShell session on the host when you use it on Windows with the Hyper-V backend ( CVE-2026-33414).
  • Automatic migration from BoltDB to SQLite after a reboot no longer performs a partial migration, leaving some containers in SQLite and others in BoltDB, when Quadlets are in use.
  • The podman quadlet install command installs files that contain multiple separate Quadlet files. You must separate the files with a --- delimiter on a new line and begin each section with a # FileName=<name> line to name the new Quadlet.
  • The Quadlet .container files include the AppArmor key to configure a container’s AppArmor profile.
  • Podman automatically attempts to migrate earlier BoltDB databases to SQLite when the system reboots. This is necessary because the Podman 6.0 release removes support for BoltDB. If automatic migration is not possible, you can manually force a migration with the new podman system migrate --migrate-db option.
  • Podman loads the path from the VM’s filesystem when you run the podman artifact add command against a Podman machine VM. This improves performance if you share the path you load or build into the VM instead of streaming the data through the REST API.
  • The podman update command has a new option, --ulimit, to update container ulimits.
  • You can use the new --no-session option with the podman exec command to disable tracking of the exec session, which improves performance and startup time.
  • Containers with the unless-stopped restart policy restart after a reboot when you enable the podman-restart.service service.
  • In the Quadlet.container file:

    • You can set Entrypoint="" to clear the container’s entrypoint.
    • A HealthCmd supports commands with double-quotes and ensures a functional health check.
    • The RequiresMountsFor field correctly handles bind-mount paths that contain spaces.
  • Inspecting containers in host network mode no longer causes FreeBSD systems to panic.
  • The Libpod System Check endpoint no longer performs operations with bad data after it returns a 400 error.
  • The remote attach API for containers (Libpod & Compat) no longer panics due to a rare race condition.
  • The system no longer improperly adds options from the default driver, which previously prevented the Secret Create API from creating functional secrets using the shell driver. You can enter the secret directly at the terminal with the podman secret create command instead of providing it through a pipe.
  • Added new APIs for interacting with Quadlets:

    • GET/libpod/quadlets/{name}/file`: Print the contents of a Quadlet file.
    • GET/libpod/quadlets/{name}/exists`: Check if the given Quadlet exists.
    • POST /libpod/quadlets: Install one or more Quadlets.
    • DELETE /libpod/quadlets: Remove one or more Quadlets.
    • DELETE /libpod/quadlets/{name}: Remove a single Quadlet.
  • Containers created by the podman play kube command no longer run health checks before the initialDelaySeconds option expires, and the podman kube play command correctly handles precedence between environment variables set by both the envFrom and env fields.
  • The podman build command’s --pull=newer option functions correctly.
  • The podman artifact push and podman artifact pull commands no longer ignore authentication credentials given by the --authfile option.
  • The podman run --pod-id-file option is properly validated, preventing the creation of containers in pods with improper user namespace configuration.

    For more information about notable changes, see Upstream release notes.

Jira:RHEL-127903

The fuse-overlayfs rebased to 1.16-1

The fuse-overlayfs package, a user space implementation of the OverlayFS file system provides rootless containers, which Podman or Buildah run, is rebased to upstream version 1.16-1. This version provides important fixes and enhancements, most notably the following:

  • Updated database connection settings resolve intermittent connection errors, making error logging functional, and ensuring smooth operation and reduced downtime for users.

Jira:RHEL-128521

Support for updates in air-gapped and disconnected environments

This update introduces air-gapped and disconnected updates for RHEL deployments, enabling edge deployments to perform updates without internet connectivity. As a result, you can benefit from greater flexibility and reliability for offline updates, improving deployment management in remote or secure environments.

Jira:RHELDOCS-20708[1]

Signing container images by using Sequoia-PGP is available

With this update, Podman supports a Sequoia-PGP-based backend for OpenPGP image signatures. Previously, Podman used GnuPG ( gpgme/pgpme bindings) for OpenPGP operations. This update includes the following enhancements:

  • Verification: the backend is switched from GnuPG to Sequoia-PGP.
  • Signing: the current GnuPG workflows continue to exist. New --sign-by-sq-fingerprint option allow you to use Sequoia and Sequoia-available keys. Current GnuPG workflows remain supported.
  • Algorithm support: Supports modern and post-quantum capable algorithms such as ML-DSA-87+Ed448.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21869[1]

New container images are available

The rhel10/ruby-40, rhel10/postgresql-18, rhel10/python-314-minimal, rhel10/mariadb-118 and rhel10/php-84 container images are now available in the Red Hat Container Registry. The notable enhancements for each image are:

  • rhel10/ruby-40: You use the Ruby 4.0 container as your base platform to build and run diverse Ruby 4.0 applications and frameworks. This container image includes the npm utility, so you can install JavaScript modules for your web applications.
  • rhel10/postgresql-18: You can use this container image to package the PostgreSQL postgres daemon and client application in a container. The postgres server daemon accepts your connections from clients and provides you access to content from PostgreSQL databases.
  • rhel10/python-314-minimal: You use the full container image as a universal base image to build your containerized applications. However, this universal nature means that the resulting containers consume a lot of disk space. This happens mainly because the image contains npm, compilers, header files, and other packages you might need to install and deploy your applications.
  • rhel10/mariadb-118: You use this container image to package the MariaDB mysqld daemon and client application into a container. The mysqld server daemon accepts your client connections and provides you with access to content from MySQL databases.
  • rhel10/php-84: You can use this container image as a base platform for building and running various PHP 8.4 applications and frameworks. You can also install JavaScript modules for the web applications. This container image includes an npm utility.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21963

6.22. RHEL Lightspeed

Review new features and enhancements for RHEL Lightspeed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.2.

Color support for the command-line assistant

With this update, the command-line assistant supports color output by default, aligning its appearance with other RHEL command-line tools. This update improves output readability through increased visual contrast.

You can disable color output by using the --plain option or by setting the NO_COLOR=1 environment variable.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21814[1]

SAP Solutions documentation added to RHEL Lightspeed

With this enhancement, RHEL Lightspeed includes the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions documentation set in its knowledge base. You can now ask RHEL Lightspeed technical questions specific to SAP deployments on RHEL. This update provides more accurate and context-aware responses for SAP-related administrative and configuration tasks.

Jira:RHELDOCS-21815[1]

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