---
title: "FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE Errata"
sidenav: download
---

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

<p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright &copy; 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 The FreeBSD
Documentation Project</p>

<p class="PUBDATE">$FreeBSD: src/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/errata/article.sgml,v 1.67
2004/03/30 17:43:26 kensmith Exp $<br />
</p>

<div class="LEGALNOTICE"><a id="TRADEMARKS" name="TRADEMARKS"></a>
<p>FreeBSD is a registered trademark of Wind River Systems, Inc. This is expected to
change soon.</p>

<p>Intel, Celeron, EtherExpress, i386, i486, Itanium, Pentium, and Xeon are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and
other countries.</p>

<p>Sparc, Sparc64, SPARCEngine, and UltraSPARC are trademarks of SPARC International, Inc
in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based
upon architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.</p>

<p>Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this document, and
the FreeBSD Project was aware of the trademark claim, the designations have been followed
by the ``&trade;'' or the ``&reg;'' symbol.</p>
</div>

<hr />
</div>

<blockquote class="ABSTRACT">
<div class="ABSTRACT"><a id="AEN20" name="AEN20"></a>
<p>This document lists errata items for FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE, containing significant
information discovered after the release or too late in the release cycle to be otherwise
included in the release documentation. 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 document also contains errata for FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE, a ``point release'' made
about one month after FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE. Unless otherwise noted, all errata items in
this document apply to both 5.2-RELEASE and 5.2.1-RELEASE.</p>

<p>This errata document for FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE will be maintained until the release of
FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRO" name="INTRO">1 Introduction</a></h2>

<p>This errata document contains ``late-breaking news'' about FreeBSD 5.2-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 5-CURRENT 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 />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="SECURITY" name="SECURITY">2 Security Advisories</a></h2>

<p>(30 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) A bug in <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mksnap_ffs&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">mksnap_ffs</span>(8)</span></a>
causes the creation of a filesystem snapshot to reset the flags on the filesystem to
their default values. The possible consequences depend on local usage, but can include
disabling extended access control lists or enabling the use of setuid executables stored
on an untrusted filesystem. This bug also affects the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=dump&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">dump</span>(8)</span></a> <var
class="OPTION">-L</var> option, which uses <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mksnap_ffs&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">mksnap_ffs</span>(8)</span></a>.
Note that <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mksnap_ffs&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">mksnap_ffs</span>(8)</span></a> is
normally only available to the superuser and members of the <tt
class="GROUPNAME">operator</tt> group. This bug has been fixed on the FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE
security fix branch and in FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE. For more information, see security
advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:01.mksnap_ffs.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:01</a>.</p>

<p>(8 Feb 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) A bug with the System V Shared Memory interface
(specifically the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=shmat&sektion=2&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">shmat</span>(2)</span></a> system
call) can cause a shared memory segment to reference unallocated kernel memory. In turn,
this can permit a local attacker to gain unauthorized access to parts of kernel memory,
possibly resulting in disclosure of sensitive information, bypass of access control
mechanisms, or privilege escalation. This bug has been fixed on the FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE
security fix branch and in FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE. More details, including bugfix and
workaround information, can be found in security advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:02.shmat.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:02</a>.</p>

<p>(28 Feb 2004) It is possible, under some circumstances, for a processor with superuser
privileges inside a <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=jail&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">jail</span>(8)</span></a>
environment to change its root directory to a different jail, giving it read and write
access to the files and directories within. This vulnerability has been closed on the
FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE security fix branch and in FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE. Information on the
bug fix can be found in security advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:03.jail.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:03</a>.</p>

<p>(4 Mar 2004) It is possible for a remote attacker to conduct a low-bandwidth
denial-of-service attack against a machine providing TCP-based services, filling up the
target's memory buffers and potentially leading to a system crash. This vulnerability has
been addressed on the FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE security fix branch, but is present in both
FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE and 5.2.1-RELEASE. Security advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:04.tcp.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:04</a> contains more details, as well as information on
patching existing systems.</p>

<p>(17 Mar 2004) By performing a specially crafted SSL/TLS handshake with an application
that uses OpenSSL a null pointer may be dereferenced. This may in turn cause the
application to crash, resulting in a denial of service attack. For more information see
the Security Advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:05.openssl.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:05</a> which contains more details and instructions on how to
patch existing systems.</p>

<p>(29 Mar 2004) A local attacker may take advantage of a programming error in the
handling of certain IPv6 socket options in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=setsockopt&sektion=2&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">setsockopt</span>(2)</span></a>
system call to read portions of kernel memory without proper authorization. This may
result in disclosure of sensitive data, or potentially cause a panic. See Security
Advisory <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-04:06.ipv6.asc"
target="_top">FreeBSD-SA-04:06</a> for a more detailed description and instructions on
how to patch existing systems.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="OPEN-ISSUES" name="OPEN-ISSUES">3 Open Issues</a></h2>

<p>(9 Jan 2004) Due to a change in <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=cpp&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">cpp</span>(1)</span></a> behavior,
the login screen for <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=xdm&sektion=1&manpath=XFree86+4.3.0"><span
class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">xdm</span>(1)</span></a> is in black and
white, even on systems with color displays. As a workaround, update to a newer version of
the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/url.cgi?ports/x11/XFree86-4-clients/pkg-descr"><tt
class="FILENAME">x11/XFree86-4-clients</tt></a> port/package.</p>

<p>(9 Jan 2004) There remain some residual problems with ACPI. In some cases, systems may
behave erratically, or hang at boot time. As a workaround, disable ACPI, using the ``safe
mode'' option of the bootloader or using the <var
class="VARNAME">hint.acpi.0.disabled</var> kernel environment variable. These problems
are being investigated. For problems that have not already been reported (check the
mailing list archives <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">before</i></span>
posting), sending the output of <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=dmesg&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">dmesg</span>(8)</span></a> and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=acpidump&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">acpidump</span>(8)</span></a> to
the <a href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current"
target="_top">FreeBSD-CURRENT mailing list</a> may help diagnose the problem.</p>

<p>(9 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) In some cases, ATA devices may behave erratically,
particularly SATA devices. Reported symptoms include command timeouts or missing
interrupts. These problems appear to be timing-dependent, making them rather difficult to
isolate. Workarounds include:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p>Turn off ATA DMA using the ``safe mode'' option of the bootloader or the <var
class="VARNAME">hw.ata.ata_dma</var> sysctl variable.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>Use the host's BIOS setup options to put the ATA controller in its ``legacy mode'', if
available.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>Disable ACPI, for example using the ``safe mode'' option of the bootloader or using
the <var class="VARNAME">hint.acpi.0.disabled</var> kernel environment variable.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>Some of these problems were addressed in FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE with the import of a
newer <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ata&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">ata</span>(4)</span></a> from
5.2-CURRENT.</p>

<p>(9 Jan 2004) Installing over NFS when using the install floppies requires that the <tt
class="FILENAME">nfsclient.ko</tt> module be manually loaded from the third floppy disk.
This can be done by following the prompts when <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
launches to load a driver off of the third floppy disk.</p>

<p>(9 Jan 2004) The use of multiple vchans (virtual audio channels with dynamic mixing in
software) in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pcm&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">pcm</span>(4)</span></a> driver
has been known to cause some instability.</p>

<p>(10 Jan 2004) Although APIC interrupt routing seems to work correctly on many systems,
on some others (such as some laptops) it can cause various errors, such as <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ata&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-current">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">ata</span>(4)</span></a> errors or
hangs when starting or exiting X11. For these situations, it may be advisable to disable
APIC routing, using the ``safe mode'' of the bootloader or the <var
class="VARNAME">hint.apic.0.disabled</var> loader tunable. Note that disabling APIC is
not compatible with SMP systems.</p>

<p>(10 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) The NFSv4 client may panic when attempting an NFSv4
operation against an NFSv3/NFSv2-only server. This problem has been fixed with revision
1.4 of <tt class="FILENAME">src/sys/rpc/rpcclnt.c</tt> in FreeBSD 5.2-CURRENT. It was
also fixed in FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE.</p>

<p>(11 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) Some problems have been encountered when using
third-party NSS modules, such as <tt class="FILENAME">nss_ldap</tt>, and groups with
large membership lists. These have been fixed with revision 1.2 of <tt
class="FILENAME">src/include/nss.h</tt> and revision 1.2 of <tt
class="FILENAME">src/lib/libc/net/nss_compat.c</tt> in FreeBSD 5.2-CURRENT; this fix was
backported to FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE.</p>

<p>(13 Jan 2004) The FreeBSD 5.2-CURRENT release notes incorrectly stated that <b
class="APPLICATION">GCC</b> was a post-release GCC 3.3.3 snapshot. They should have
stated that GCC was a <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">pre-release</i></span>
GCC 3.3.3 snapshot.</p>

<p>(13 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) The <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/url.cgi?ports/sysutils/kdeadmin3/pkg-descr"><tt
class="FILENAME">sysutils/kdeadmin3</tt></a> port/package has a bug in the <b
class="APPLICATION">KUser</b> component that can cause deletion of the <tt
class="USERNAME">root</tt> user from the system password file. Users are strongly urged
to upgrade to version 3.1.4_1 of this port/package. The package set included with FreeBSD
5.2.1-RELEASE contains the fixed version of this package.</p>

<p>(21 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) Some bugs in the IPsec implementation imported from
the KAME Project can result in memory objects being freed before all references to them
were removed. Reported symptoms include erratic behavior or kernel panics after flushing
the Security Policy Database (SPD). Some of these problems have been fixed in FreeBSD
5.2-CURRENT in rev. 1.31 of <tt class="FILENAME">src/sys/netinet6/ipsec.c</tt>, rev.
1.136 of <tt class="FILENAME">src/sys/netinet/in_pcb.c</tt>, and revs. 1.63 and 1.64 of
<tt class="FILENAME">src/sys/netkey/key.c</tt>. These bugfixes were backported to FreeBSD
5.2.1-RELEASE. More information about these problems has been posted to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current"
target="_top">FreeBSD-CURRENT mailing list</a>, in particular the thread entitled <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2004-January/thread.html#18084"
target="_top">``[PATCH] IPSec fixes''</a>.</p>

<p>(28 Feb 2004) The edition of the Porters Handbook included with FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE
contained an incorrect value for 5.2.1-RELEASE's <var
class="VARNAME">__FreeBSD_version</var>. The correct value is <var
class="LITERAL">502010</var>.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="LATE-NEWS" name="LATE-NEWS">4 Late-Breaking News</a></h2>

<p>(10 Jan 2004, updated 28 Feb 2004) The TCP implementation in FreeBSD now includes
protection against a certain class of TCP MSS resource exhaustion attacks, in the form of
limits on the size and rate of TCP segments. The first limit sets the minimum allowed
maximum TCP segment size, and is controlled by the <var
class="VARNAME">net.inet.tcp.minmss</var> sysctl variable (the default value is <var
class="LITERAL">216</var> bytes). The second limit is set by the <var
class="VARNAME">net.inet.tcp.minmssoverload</var> variable, and controls the maximum rate
of connections whose average segment size is less than <var
class="VARNAME">net.inet.tcp.minmss</var>. Connections exceeding this packet rate are
reset and dropped. Because this feature was added late in the 5.2-RELEASE release cycle,
connection rate limiting is disabled by default, but can be enabled manually by assigning
a non-zero value to <var class="VARNAME">net.inet.tcp.minmssoverload</var>. This feature
was added to FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE too late for inclusion in its release notes.</p>
</div>
</div>

<hr />
<p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related documents, can be
downloaded from <a
href="http://snapshots.jp.FreeBSD.org/">http://snapshots.jp.FreeBSD.org/</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 5-CURRENT should subscribe to the
&#60;<a href="mailto:current@FreeBSD.org">current@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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