Bug ID 485833: The mcpd process may leak memory when using tmsh to modify user attributes

Last Modified: Sep 13, 2023

Affected Product(s):
BIG-IP LTM(all modules)

Known Affected Versions:
11.5.1 HF1, 11.5.1 HF2, 11.5.1 HF3, 11.5.1 HF4, 11.5.1 HF5, 11.5.1 HF6, 11.5.1 HF7, 11.5.1 HF8, 11.5.1 HF9, 11.5.1 HF10, 11.5.1 HF11, 11.5.2 HF1, 11.5.3 HF1, 11.5.3 HF2, 11.5.4 HF1, 11.5.4 HF2, 11.5.4 HF3, 11.5.4 HF4, 11.2.1, 11.3.0, 11.4.0, 11.4.1, 11.5.0, 11.5.1, 11.6.0, 11.6.1, 11.6.2, 11.6.3, 11.6.3.1, 11.6.3.2, 11.6.3.3, 11.6.3.4, 11.6.4, 11.6.5, 11.6.5.1, 11.6.5.2, 11.6.5.3, 12.1.0 HF1, 12.1.0 HF2, 12.1.1 HF1, 12.1.1 HF2, 12.1.2 HF1, 12.1.2 HF2

Fixed In:
12.0.0, 11.6.0 HF5, 11.5.2, 11.4.1 HF6, 11.2.1 HF16

Opened: Oct 21, 2014

Severity: 3-Major

Related Article: K16754

Symptoms

The Master Control Program Daemon (mcpd) may leak memory when you use the Traffic Management Shell (tmsh) to modify user attributes. Note: The mcpd process is the messenger process that allows userland processes to communicate with the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), and the other way around. As a result of this issue, you may encounter one or more of the following symptoms: -- You are unable to configure the BIG-IP system. -- You are unable to obtain statistics, or statistics may not be accurate. -- In the /var/log/ltm file, you may observe an error message similar to the following example: 02001018:system library:fopen:Too many open files

Impact

-- You cannot obtain or update the system status. -- You cannot configure the BIG-IP system. -- Userland processes may not be functional.

Conditions

This issue occurs when the following condition is met: -- You are using the tmsh modify auth <user> command options to modify local user accounts. Some of the options include the following: description User description. partition-access The administrative partition which user has access. password Set or modify the user password. role Specifies the user role for the user account. shell Specifies the shell to which the user has access.

Workaround

There is no workaround for this issue. To restore mcpd functionality, you can restart mcpd from the command line. To do so, perform the following procedure: Impact of procedure: Restarting the mcpd process interrupts all traffic processing on the BIG-IP system. You should perform this procedure during a maintenance window. Log in to the Traffic Management Shell (tmsh) by typing the following command: tmsh To restart the mcpd process, type the following command: restart sys service mcpd

Fix Information

Ensure all user directory file descriptors are closed.

Behavior Change

Guides & references

K10134038: F5 Bug Tracker Filter Names and Tips