1 Introduction

This errata document contains ``late-breaking news'' about FreeBSD 4.7-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.

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version of this errata document actually distributed with the release (for example, on a CDROM distribution) will be out of date by definition, but other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be consulted as the ``current errata'' for this release.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

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

For a list of all FreeBSD CERT security advisories, see http://www.FreeBSD.org/security/ or ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/.

2 Security Advisories

Buffer overflows in kadmind(8) and k5admin could potentially cause the administrative server to execute arbitrary code. Bugfix and workaround information can be found in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-02:40.

Errors in smrsh(8), which could allow users to circumvent restrictions on what programs can be executed, were fixed in FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE. Because the applicable security advisory (FreeBSD-SA-02:41) was not issued after the release, this fact was not included in the release notes.

Buffer overflows in the DNS resolver(3), which could cause some applications to fail, have been corrected. This change was not mentioned in the release notes, as the applicable security advisory (FreeBSD-SA-02:42) was not issued until after the release.

Several vulnerabilities exist in the version of BIND included with FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE. More information, including bugfixes and workaround suggestions, can be found in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-02:43.

A file descriptor leak in the fpathconf(2) system call, can allow a local user to crash the system or cause a privilege escalation. Bugfix information can be found in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-02:44.

Remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in CVS could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary comands on a CVS server. More details can be found in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:01.

A timing-based attack on OpenSSL, could allow a very powerful attacker access to plaintext under certain circumstances. This problem has been corrected in FreeBSD 4.8-RC with an upgrade to OpenSSL 0.9.7. On supported security fix branches, this problem has been corrected with the import of OpenSSL 0.9.6i. See security advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:02 for more details.

It may be possible to recover the shared secret key used by the implementation of the ``syncookies'' feature. This reduces its effectiveness in dealing with TCP SYN flood denial-of-service attacks. Workaround information and fixes are given in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:03.

Due to a buffer overflow in header parsing in sendmail, a remote attacker can create a specially-crafted message that may cause sendmail(8) to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running it, typically root. More information, including pointers to patches, can be found in security advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:04.

The XDR encoder/decoder does incorrect bounds-checking, which could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial-of-service. For bugfix information, see security advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:05.

3 Late-Breaking News

Due to concerns over the licensing terms for the matcd(4) driver uncovered late in FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE's release cycle, the matcd(4) driver was removed. These issues are being addressed and this driver may reappear in a future release of FreeBSD.

The srelease distribution contains object files for sysinstall(8) in the release/sysinstall directory. These files were generated during the release building process but, for some reason, were not removed from the distribution files. They are harmless.

The databases/rdfdb and mail/ssmtp packages included in the 4.7-RELEASE package set cannot be installed correctly. A workaround is to build and install these programs using the Ports Collection.

The net/gnomeicu package included in the 4.7-RELEASE package set may not run correctly, due to a missing dependency on the net/gnet package. To work around this problem, install net/gnet either from a package or the Ports Collection, preferably before installing net/gnomeicu.

The release notes for FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE incorrectly stated that the -J option to xargs(1) is deprecated. In fact, there are no plans to remove this option.

ftpd(8) has a bug in its virtual hosting function triggered if /etc/ftphosts defines a virtual host whose IP address can resolve back to a hostname. In that case the daemon will be exiting on SIGSEGV (signal 11) if started from inetd(8), or may malfunction unpredictably if running stand-alone. This bug has been fixed in FreeBSD 4.8-RC.