Fix gob encoding of system/package struct data

CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc

@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ field. You can revert this change by configuring tags for the module and omittin
 - system/socket: Fixed compatibility issue with kernel 5.x. {pull}15771[15771]
 - system/package: Fix parsing of Installed-Size field of DEB packages. {issue}16661[16661] {pull}17188[17188]
 - system module: Fix panic during initialisation when /proc/stat can't be read. {pull}17569[17569]
+- system/package: Fix an error that can occur while trying to persist package metadata. {issue}18536[18536] {pull}18887[18887]
 
 *Filebeat*
 

x-pack/auditbeat/module/system/package/package.go

@@ -121,8 +121,9 @@ type Package struct {
 	Size        uint64
 	Summary     string
 	URL         string
-	Error       error
 	Type        string
+
+	error error
 }
 
 // Hash creates a hash for Package.
@@ -389,8 +390,8 @@ func (ms *MetricSet) packageEvent(pkg *Package, eventType string, action eventAc
 		event.MetricSetFields.Put("entity_id", pkg.entityID(ms.HostID()))
 	}
 
-	if pkg.Error != nil {
-		event.RootFields.Put("error.message", pkg.Error.Error())
+	if pkg.error != nil {
+		event.RootFields.Put("error.message", pkg.error.Error())
 	}
 
 	return event

x-pack/auditbeat/module/system/package/package_homebrew.go

@@ -60,12 +60,12 @@ func listBrewPackages() ([]*Package, error) {
 			installReceiptPath := path.Join(homebrewCellarPath, pkg.Name, pkg.Version, "INSTALL_RECEIPT.json")
 			contents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(installReceiptPath)
 			if err != nil {
-				pkg.Error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error reading %v", installReceiptPath)
+				pkg.error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error reading %v", installReceiptPath)
 			} else {
 				var installReceipt InstallReceipt
 				err = json.Unmarshal(contents, &installReceipt)
 				if err != nil {
-					pkg.Error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error unmarshalling JSON in %v", installReceiptPath)
+					pkg.error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error unmarshalling JSON in %v", installReceiptPath)
 				} else {
 					formulaPath = installReceipt.Source.Path
 				}
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func listBrewPackages() ([]*Package, error) {
 
 			file, err := os.Open(formulaPath)
 			if err != nil {
-				pkg.Error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error reading %v", formulaPath)
+				pkg.error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error reading %v", formulaPath)
 			} else {
 				defer file.Close()
 
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func listBrewPackages() ([]*Package, error) {
 					}
 				}
 				if err = scanner.Err(); err != nil {
-					pkg.Error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error parsing %v", formulaPath)
+					pkg.error = errors.Wrapf(err, "error parsing %v", formulaPath)
 				}
 			}
 

x-pack/auditbeat/module/system/package/package_test.go

@@ -7,9 +7,15 @@
 package pkg
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/gob"
+	"errors"
+	"flag"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 
@@ -19,6 +25,8 @@ import (
 	mbtest "github.com/elastic/beats/v7/metricbeat/mb/testing"
 )
 
+var flagUpdateGob = flag.Bool("update-gob", false, "update persisted gob testdata")
+
 func TestData(t *testing.T) {
 	if runtime.GOOS == "darwin" {
 		t.Skip("FIXME: https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/18855")
@@ -160,3 +168,68 @@ func getConfig() map[string]interface{} {
 		"datasets": []string{"package"},
 	}
 }
+
+func TestPackageGobEncodeDecode(t *testing.T) {
+	pkg := Package{
+		Name:        "foo",
+		Version:     "1.2.3",
+		Release:     "1",
+		Arch:        "amd64",
+		License:     "bar",
+		InstallTime: time.Unix(1591021924, 0).UTC(),
+		Size:        1234,
+		Summary:     "Foo stuff",
+		URL:         "http://foo.example.com",
+		Type:        "rpm",
+	}
+
+	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	if err := gob.NewEncoder(buf).Encode(pkg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	const gobTestFile = "testdata/package.v1.gob"
+	if *flagUpdateGob {
+		// NOTE: If you are updating this file then you may have introduced a
+		// a breaking change.
+		if err := ioutil.WriteFile(gobTestFile, buf.Bytes(), 0644); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	t.Run("decode", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var pkgDecoded Package
+		if err := gob.NewDecoder(buf).Decode(&pkgDecoded); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		assert.Equal(t, pkg, pkgDecoded)
+	})
+
+	// Validate that we get the same result when decoding an earlier saved version.
+	// This detects breakages to the struct or to the encoding/decoding pkgs.
+	t.Run("decode_from_file", func(t *testing.T) {
+		contents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(gobTestFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		var pkgDecoded Package
+		if err := gob.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(contents)).Decode(&pkgDecoded); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		assert.Equal(t, pkg, pkgDecoded)
+	})
+}
+
+// Regression test for https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/18536 to verify
+// that error isn't made public.
+func TestPackageWithErrorGobEncode(t *testing.T) {
+	pkg := Package{
+		error: errors.New("test"),
+	}
+
+	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	if err := gob.NewEncoder(buf).Encode(pkg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}

x-pack/auditbeat/module/system/package/rpm_linux.go

@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ func packageFromHeader(header C.Header, openedLibrpm *librpm) (*Package, error)
 	if version != nil {
 		pkg.Version = C.GoString(version)
 	} else {
-		pkg.Error = errors.New("Failed to get package version")
+		pkg.error = errors.New("failed to get package version")
 	}
 
 	pkg.Release = C.GoString(C.my_headerGetString(openedLibrpm.headerGetString, header, RPMTAG_RELEASE))