IZ66355: CRON CORE DUMPS OR HANGS APPLIES TO AIX 5300-08

Obtain the fix for this APAR.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• cron has been observed to either core dump or hang. The
  cores can occur in a variety of functions: el_add,
  el_remove, readcron, rm_ctevents, and possibly others.
  The hangs will tend to happen in the el_add and
  el_remove functions, but could occur elsewhere.
  
  The particular instance where this was noticed was
  when there was an invalid entry in a user's crontab,
  and that user updated their crontab. It will not happen
  with every update of the crontab, and will not happen
  with all types of invalid entries.
  
  The code that causes the core/hang is in a function that
  cron uses to send mail to the user to notify them
  of the invalid entry; although this is the only situation
  the core/hang has currently been observed, it
  could potentially happen other times that cron sends
  mail to a user.
  

Local fix

• WORKAROUND: remove any invalid entries from all user's
   crontabs.
  

Problem summary

• CRON CORE DUMPS OR HANGS
  

Problem conclusion

• Avoid the cron core dump by correcting a scenario where a
  pointer could have still pointed to memory that was just freed
  

Temporary fix

Comments

• 5300-08 - use AIX APAR IZ66355
  5300-09 - use AIX APAR IZ69439
  5300-10 - use AIX APAR IZ69511
  5300-11 - use AIX APAR IZ66507
  5300-12 - use AIX APAR IZ66482
  6100-01 - use AIX APAR IZ75405
  6100-02 - use AIX APAR IZ71752
  6100-03 - use AIX APAR IZ71686
  6100-05 - use AIX APAR IZ66518
  6100-04 - use AIX APAR IZ66489
  6100-05 - use AIX APAR IZ66518
  6100-06 - use AIX APAR IZ67039
  7100-00 - use AIX APAR IZ86079
  

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

  IZ66482 IZ66489 IZ66507 IZ66518 IZ67039 IZ69439 IZ69511 IZ71686
  IZ71752 IZ75405 IZ86079

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  AIX 5.3

• Fixed component ID

  5765G0300

Applicable component levels

• R530 PSY U832220

     UP10/03/23 I 1000

PTF to Fileset Mapping

• U832220 bos.rte.cron 5.3.8.3