SLES 10 SP4 openssh 5.1p1-41.12.12 patch breaks X forwarding

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4

Situation

After patching a SLES 10 SP 4 system including the openssh patch to version 5.1p1-41.12.12, X forwarding, or the ability to see remote X-based applications on a local workstation via SSH, no longer works. Error messages can include "Error: Can't open display:" or "X11 forwarding request failed on channel 0". The SSH configuration is set properly to allow forwarding and it worked prior to the patch's application and SSH service's restart.

Resolution

The following command creates a symlink in /usr/bin to point to the actual xauth binary and resolves the issue after logging back into the remote system.

ln -sf /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth /usr/bin/

This has been resolved in an updated OpenSSH released in September 2012

Cause

The SPEC file used to build OpenSSH was misconfigured to look for 'xauth' in /usr/bin instead of in /usr/X11R6/bin as before.

Disclaimer

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