Applying security updates in-place - Amazon Linux 2023
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Applying security updates in-place

For an overview of applying updates, see Applying security updates using DNF and repository versions. The --security option to dnf update will restrict package updates to only those which have an Advisory. The remainder of this section will cover how to install only specific security updates.

Note

It is recommended to apply all updates available in a new AL2023 release. Picking just security updates, or only specific updates should be the exception rather than rule.

Applying updates mentioned in an Advisory

The advisory identifiers in the first column of the output of dnf updateinfo can be used to apply updates for the packages mentioned in the advisory. The dnf package manager can be instructed to update the packages in the advisory to either the latest available, or only up to the versions mentioned in the advisory. If the updates are already installed, the update command is a no-op.

To apply the updates for affected packages only up to the version mention in the advisory, use the dnf update-minimal command while using the --advisory option to specify the advisory. The following example is running dnf update-minimal in an AL2023 version 2023.0.20230315 container.

$ dnf update-minimal -y --releasever=2023.1.20230628 --advisory ALAS2023-2023-193 Amazon Linux 2023 repository 46 MB/s | 15 MB 00:00 Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:03 ago on Mon Jul 22 20:36:13 2024. Dependencies resolved. ================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================ Upgrading: curl-minimal x86_64 8.0.1-1.amzn2023 amazonlinux 150 k libcurl-minimal x86_64 8.0.1-1.amzn2023 amazonlinux 249 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================ Upgrade 2 Packages Total download size: 399 k Downloading Packages: (1/2): curl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64.rpm 2.7 MB/s | 150 kB 00:00 (2/2): libcurl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64. 3.8 MB/s | 249 kB 00:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 2.5 MB/s | 399 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Upgrading : libcurl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 1/4 Upgrading : curl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 2/4 Cleanup : curl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 3/4 Cleanup : libcurl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 4/4 Running scriptlet: libcurl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 4/4 Verifying : libcurl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 1/4 Verifying : libcurl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 2/4 Verifying : curl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 3/4 Verifying : curl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 4/4 Upgraded: curl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 libcurl-minimal-8.0.1-1.amzn2023.x86_64 Complete!

The same package versions are updated even if --releasever=latest is used as the request is for dnf to do the minimal update required to address the advisory.

Using the regular dnf update command with the --advisory option will update the relevant packages mentioned in the advisory to the latest version available, which may be newer than the version mentioned in the advisory.

Note

Unless the system-release package is updated, the version of the AL2023 repositories which dnf is locked to does not change.

Warning

When installing updates from a different release of AL2023 without changing the version of the repository that dnf is locked to, care must be taken on any subsequent mutating dnf operations. For example, when installing or updating packages, since package dependencies may have changed in the newer release, the older release that you remain on may not be able to satisfy these new dependencies.

The following example is run in an AL2023 version 2023.0.20230315 container referring to the latest release of AL2023 which the time of writing was 2023.5.20240708. Note that both the version of curl being updated to is newer than the version update-minimal updated to, but that this newer version brings in new dependencies.

$ dnf update -y --releasever=latest --advisory ALAS2023-2023-193 Amazon Linux 2023 repository 80 MB/s | 25 MB 00:00 Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:04 ago on Mon Jul 22 20:48:38 2024. Dependencies resolved. ================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================ Upgrading: curl-minimal x86_64 8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4 amazonlinux 160 k libcurl-minimal x86_64 8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4 amazonlinux 275 k libnghttp2 x86_64 1.59.0-3.amzn2023.0.1 amazonlinux 79 k Installing dependencies: libpsl x86_64 0.21.1-3.amzn2023.0.2 amazonlinux 61 k publicsuffix-list-dafsa noarch 20240212-61.amzn2023 amazonlinux 59 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================ Install 2 Packages Upgrade 3 Packages Total download size: 634 k Downloading Packages: (1/5): publicsuffix-list-dafsa-20240212-61.amzn 1.1 MB/s | 59 kB 00:00 (2/5): curl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 2.6 MB/s | 160 kB 00:00 (3/5): libpsl-0.21.1-3.amzn2023.0.2.x86_64.rpm 949 kB/s | 61 kB 00:00 (4/5): libnghttp2-1.59.0-3.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64. 3.7 MB/s | 79 kB 00:00 (5/5): libcurl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86 6.7 MB/s | 275 kB 00:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 3.5 MB/s | 634 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Upgrading : libnghttp2-1.59.0-3.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 1/8 Installing : publicsuffix-list-dafsa-20240212-61.amzn2023.noarch 2/8 Installing : libpsl-0.21.1-3.amzn2023.0.2.x86_64 3/8 Upgrading : libcurl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 4/8 Upgrading : curl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 5/8 Cleanup : curl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 6/8 Cleanup : libcurl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 7/8 Cleanup : libnghttp2-1.51.0-1.amzn2023.x86_64 8/8 Running scriptlet: libnghttp2-1.51.0-1.amzn2023.x86_64 8/8 Verifying : libpsl-0.21.1-3.amzn2023.0.2.x86_64 1/8 Verifying : publicsuffix-list-dafsa-20240212-61.amzn2023.noarch 2/8 Verifying : curl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 3/8 Verifying : curl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 4/8 Verifying : libcurl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 5/8 Verifying : libcurl-minimal-7.88.1-1.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 6/8 Verifying : libnghttp2-1.59.0-3.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 7/8 Verifying : libnghttp2-1.51.0-1.amzn2023.x86_64 8/8 Upgraded: curl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 libcurl-minimal-8.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64 libnghttp2-1.59.0-3.amzn2023.0.1.x86_64 Installed: libpsl-0.21.1-3.amzn2023.0.2.x86_64 publicsuffix-list-dafsa-20240212-61.amzn2023.noarch Complete!