🟡 Medium   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 20 May 2026
Affected versions: CentOS Stream 10

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents
  1. Symptom & Impact
  2. Environment & Reproduction
  3. Root Cause Analysis
  4. Quick Triage
  5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
  6. Solution – Primary Fix
  7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
  8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
  9. Rollback Plan
  10. Prevention & Hardening
  11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
  12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

`dnf-automatic.timer` is active yet no security updates are installed.

Environment & Reproduction

Caused by default conf having `apply_updates = no` in /etc/dnf/automatic.conf.

Root Cause Analysis

Default config downloads but does not apply security updates.

Quick Triage

Inspect /etc/dnf/automatic.conf and timer status.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Confirm `apply_updates` setting and timer last-run via `systemctl list-timers`.

Illustrative mockup for centos-stream-10 — terminal_or_shell
dnf-automatic enabled but updates not applied diagnostics in terminal — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Set `apply_updates = yes` and restart `dnf-automatic.timer`.

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Illustrative mockup for centos-stream-10 — logs_or_journal
journal and log evidence for dnf-automatic enabled but updates not applied — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Run `dnf-automatic.service` manually to validate before relying on the timer.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Security updates install on schedule and journal logs success.

Rollback Plan

Revert `apply_updates` to `no` if reboots become disruptive.

Prevention & Hardening

Schedule reboot policy when applying kernel updates.

Linked to crash-only services that require restart after library updates.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for centos-stream-10.

View all centos-stream-10 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

dnf-automatic manual for CentOS Stream 10.

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