Add hard dependency on iputils

The "ping" tool, part of the iputils package, is needed to check that
a host is reachable when the connection has the
"connection.gateway-ping-timeout" or the "connection.ip-ping-timeout"
set. If the tool is not available, NM doesn't find the binary and
spawns a process that tries to exec program "", which crashes.

Furthermore, the RHEL 9 Content Structure and Guidelines state that
weak dependencies are discouraged because they make the installed
package set non deterministic.

Turn the weak dependency into a hard one.

Resolves: RHEL-134751

NetworkManager.spec

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 %global real_version 1.54.3
 %global git_tag_version 1.54.3
 %global rpm_version %{real_version}
-%global release_version 1
+%global release_version 2
 %global snapshot %{nil}
 %global git_sha %{nil}
 %global bcond_default_debug 0
@@ -201,8 +201,7 @@ Requires(postun): systemd
 Requires: dbus >= %{dbus_version}
 Requires: glib2 >= %{glib2_version}
 Requires: %{name}-libnm%{?_isa} = %{epoch}:%{version}-%{release}
-
-Recommends: iputils
+Requires: iputils
 
 %if 0%{?rhel} == 8
 # Older libndp versions use select() (rh#1933041). On well known distros,
@@ -1088,6 +1087,9 @@ fi
 
 
 %changelog
+* Wed Jan 7 2026 Beniamino Galvani <bgalvani@redhat.com> - 1:1.54.3-2
+- Add hard dependency on iputils (RHEL-134751)
+
 * Mon Dec 15 2025 Íñigo Huguet <ihuguet@redhat.com> - 1:1.54.3-1
 - Update to 1.54.3
 - Fix CVE-2025-9615 (RHEL-111783)