---
title: "FreeBSD 4.4-RELEASE Errata"
sidenav: download
---

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        <h3 class="CORPAUTHOR">The FreeBSD Project</h3>

        <p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright &copy; 2000, 2001, 2002 by
        The FreeBSD Documentation Project</p>

        <p class="PUBDATE">$FreeBSD:
        src/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/errata/article.sgml,v
        1.1.2.43 2002/01/25 04:12:28 bmah Exp $<br>
        </p>
        <hr>
      </div>

      <blockquote class="ABSTRACT">
        <div class="ABSTRACT">
          <a name="AEN11"></a>

          <p>This document lists errata items for FreeBSD
          4.4-RELEASE, containing significant information
          discovered after the release. This information includes
          security advisories, as well as news relating to the
          software or documentation that could affect its operation
          or usability. An up-to-date version of this document
          should always be consulted before installing this version
          of FreeBSD.</p>

          <p>This errata document for FreeBSD 4.4-RELEASE will be
          maintained until the release of FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE.</p>
        </div>
      </blockquote>

      <div class="SECT1">
        <hr>

        <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="AEN14">1 Introduction</a></h1>

        <p>This errata document contains ``late-breaking news''
        about FreeBSD 4.4-RELEASE. Before installing this version,
        it is important to consult this document to learn about any
        post-release discoveries or problems that may already have
        been found and fixed.</p>

        <p>Any version of this errata document actually distributed
        with the release (for example, on a CDROM distribution)
        will be out of date by definition, but other copies are
        kept updated on the Internet and should be consulted as the
        ``current errata'' for this release. These other copies of
        the errata are located at <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/" target=
        "_top">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/</a>, plus any sites
        which keep up-to-date mirrors of this location.</p>

        <p>Source and binary snapshots of FreeBSD 4-STABLE also
        contain up-to-date copies of this document (as of the time
        of the snapshot).</p>

        <p>For a list of all FreeBSD CERT security advisories, see
        <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/security/" target=
        "_top">http://www.FreeBSD.org/security/</a> or <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/" target=
        "_top">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/</a>.</p>
      </div>

      <div class="SECT1">
        <hr>

        <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="AEN25">2 Security
        Advisories</a></h1>

        <p>Support for per-user <tt class=
        "FILENAME">~/.login_conf</tt> files (as documented in <a
        href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=login.conf&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">login.conf</span>(5)</span></a>) was
        disabled due to incorrect merging of local and global
        settings. This problem has been fixed in FreeBSD
        4.5-RC.</p>

        <p>A local root vulnerability in <b class=
        "APPLICATION">UUCP</b> was corrected before the release of
        FreeBSD 4.4-RELEASE and documented in security advisory <a
        href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-01:62.uucp.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-01:62</a>. The release notes
        mentioned the correction, but not the security advisory,
        which was issued after the release date of 4.4-RELEASE.</p>

        <p>A security hole in <b class="APPLICATION">OpenSSH</b>
        could allow users to execute code with arbitrary privileges
        if <tt class="LITERAL">UseLogin yes</tt> was set, has been
        closed. Note that the default value of this setting is <tt
        class="LITERAL">UseLogin no</tt>. For more information,
        including workarounds and bugfixes, see security advisory
        <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-01:63.openssh.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-01:63</a>.</p>

        <p>The use of an insecure temporary directory by <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">pkg_add</span>(1)</span></a> could permit a
        local attacker to modify the contents of binary packages
        while they were being installed. This hole has been closed.
        For more information, see security advisory <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-02:01.pkg_add.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-02:01</a>.</p>

        <p>A race condition in <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pw&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">pw</span>(8)</span></a>, which could expose
        the contents of <tt class=
        "FILENAME">/etc/master.passwd</tt>, has been eliminated.
        For more information, including workarounds and bugfixes,
        see security advisory <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-02:02.pw.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-02:02</a>.</p>

        <p>A bug in <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=k5su&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">k5su</span>(8)</span></a> could have
        allowed a process that had given up superuser privileges to
        regain them. This bug has been fixed. (See security
        advisory <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-02:07.k5su.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-02:07</a>.)</p>

        <p>A race condition in the <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=exec&sektion=3&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">exec</span>(3)</span></a> system call,
        which could result in local users obtaining increased
        privileges, has been fixed. For more information, including
        bugfixes, see security advisory <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-02:08.exec.asc"
         target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-02:08</a>.)</p>
      </div>

      <div class="SECT1">
        <hr>

        <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="AEN61">3 System Update
        Information</a></h1>

        <p>The handling of some types of comments in <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=printcap&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">printcap</span>(5)</span></a> files is
        faulty. If a comment line ends in <tt class=
        "LITERAL">:\</tt> (the characters normally used to indicate
        the continuation of a printer definition), the line
        following the comment will be parsed as a part of the
        previous printer definition.</p>

        <p>One of the release notes refers to the <tt class=
        "VARNAME">net.inet.tcp.tcp_seq_genscheme</tt> sysctl
        variable for enabling improved compatability in TCP's
        initial sequence number generation algorithm. This variable
        was rendered unnecessary by the adoption of an algorithm
        based on RFC 1948, which restores proper operation in all
        cases while maintaining a high level of unpredictability in
        initial sequence numbers.</p>

        <p>The <tt class="FILENAME">tools/</tt> directory of a
        FreeBSD CDROM distribution typically contains some DOS
        programs for i386 machines, such as <tt class=
        "FILENAME">fdimage.exe</tt> and <tt class=
        "FILENAME">fips.exe</tt>. This directory was inadvertently
        omitted from the initial 4.4-RELEASE ISO images generated
        by the FreeBSD Project. Corrected versions of the <tt
        class="FILENAME">4.4-install.iso</tt> and <tt class=
        "FILENAME">4.4-mini.iso</tt> ISO images were regenerated on
        Saturday, 22 September 2001. For those who need these
        DOS-mode tools and do not wish to re-fetch the ISO images,
        the contents of the <tt class="FILENAME">tools/</tt>
        directory are available by anonymous FTP at <a href=
        "ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools" target=
        "_top">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools</a> (many
        mirrors also have a copy of this directory).</p>

        <p>One of the items in the release notes gave a workaround
        for hangs during PCCARD ejection, but gave the wrong syntax
        for the necessary command. The correct command line is:</p>
<pre class="SCREEN">
    <tt class="PROMPT">#</tt> <tt class=
"USERINPUT"><b>pccardc power <tt class=
"REPLACEABLE"><i>slot</i></tt> 0</b></tt>
</pre>
        <br>
        <br>

        <p>On the i386, the minimum memory requirement for
        installing FreeBSD via <a href=
        "http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+4.4-stable">
        <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class=
        "REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> is 16MB,
        with 4-8MB required to run FreeBSD with a pared-down
        kernel. The installation instructions in <tt class=
        "FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt> (and other renditions thereof)
        cited somewhat lower figures.</p>

        <p>A release note mentioned the merging of two libraries
        used for password authentication hashing, but listed their
        names incorrectly. The libraries that were merged were <tt
        class="FILENAME">libscrypt</tt> and <tt class=
        "FILENAME">libdescrypt</tt>; the new unified library is
        called <tt class="FILENAME">libcrypt</tt>.</p>

        <p>A problem has been noted with an increasing number of
        device drivers that make heavy use of and, in some cases,
        can overflow, the kernel stack. This problem has an
        easily-identifable signature; processes randomly receive a
        <tt class="LITERAL">SIGPROF</tt> signal and may die with
        the message ``<tt class="ERRORNAME">Profiling time
        alarm</tt>''. For those users experiencing this problem, a
        workaround is to edit <tt class=
        "FILENAME">/src/sys/i386/include/param.h</tt> and change
        the line which reads:</p>
<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
    #define UPAGES  2
</pre>
        to read: 
<pre class="PROGRAMLISTING">
    #define UPAGES  3
</pre>
        It will be necessary to recompile the kernel and reboot for
        the change to take effect. This problem has been fixed in
        FreeBSD 4.5-RC.<br>
        <br>
      </div>
    </div>
    <hr>

    <p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related
    documents, can be downloaded from <a href=
    "ftp://stable.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/">ftp://stable.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a>.</small></p>

    <p align="center"><small>For questions about FreeBSD, read the
    <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">documentation</a>
    before contacting &#60;<a href=
    "mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">questions@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</small></p>

    <p align="center"><small><small>All users of FreeBSD 4-STABLE
    should subscribe to the &#60;<a href=
    "mailto:stable@FreeBSD.org">stable@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62; mailing
    list.</small></small></p>

    <p align="center">For questions about this documentation,
    e-mail &#60;<a href=
    "mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">doc@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</p>
    <br>
    <br>
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