What do do when Yum hangs or freezes

1) Check for any processes holding the rpm database open using command

lsof | grep /var/lib/rpm

If this gives any output, kill all processes using kill -9 PID

2) Delete temporary DB files

rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__*

3) Next is to rebuild RPM database

rpm --rebuilddb -v -v

This usually does the trick.

Other causes may be yum repositories /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo that are not accessible from your server. iptables rules which prevents you from connecting to yum repositories may be another cause.

If it all fails, just call Mr Lennart Pöttering and ask for assistance for a Hamburger's sake.