The release notes for FreeBSD 14.5-RELEASE contain a summary of the changes made to the FreeBSD base system on the 14-STABLE development line. This document lists applicable security advisories that were issued since the last release, as well as significant changes to the FreeBSD kernel and userland. Some brief remarks on upgrading are also presented.
Upgrading from Releases of FreeBSD
Security and Errata Security Advisories Errata Notices
Userland Userland Configuration Changes Userland Application Changes Contributed Software Deprecated Applications Runtime Libraries and API
Userland Configuration Changes
Userland Application Changes
Deprecated Applications
Runtime Libraries and API
Kernel General Kernel Changes
General Kernel Changes
Devices and Drivers Device Drivers Deprecated and Removed Drivers
Deprecated and Removed Drivers
Storage General Storage
Boot Loader Changes Boot Loader Changes
Networking General Network
Hardware Support Virtualization Support
Virtualization Support
Documentation Man Pages
Ports Collection and Package Infrastructure Packaging Changes
General Notes Regarding Future FreeBSD Releases
This document contains the release notes for FreeBSD 14.5-RELEASE. It describes recently added, changed, or deleted features of FreeBSD. It also provides some notes on upgrading from versions of FreeBSD.
The "release" distribution to which these release notes apply represents the latest point along the 14-STABLE development branch since 14-STABLE was created. Information regarding pre-built, binary "release" distributions along this branch can be found at .
The "release" distribution to which these release notes apply represents a point along the 14-STABLE development branch between 14.4-RELEASE and the future 14.6-RELEASE. Information regarding pre-built, binary "release" distributions along this branch can be found at .
This distribution of FreeBSD 14.5-RELEASE is a "release" distribution. It can be found at or any of its mirrors. More information on obtaining this (or other) "release" distributions of FreeBSD can be found in the Obtaining FreeBSD appendix to the FreeBSD Handbook .
All users are encouraged to consult the release errata before installing FreeBSD. The errata document is updated with "late-breaking" information discovered late in the release cycle or after the release. Typically, it contains information on known bugs, security advisories, and corrections to documentation. An up-to-date copy of the errata for FreeBSD 14.5-RELEASE can be found on the FreeBSD Web site.
This document describes the most user-visible new or changed features in FreeBSD since 14.4-RELEASE. In general, changes described here are unique to the 14-STABLE branch unless specifically marked as MERGED features.
Typical release note items document recent security advisories issued after 14.4-RELEASE, new drivers or hardware support, new commands or options, major bug fixes, or contributed software upgrades. They may also list changes to major ports/packages or release engineering practices. Clearly the release notes cannot list every single change made to FreeBSD between releases; this document focuses primarily on security advisories, user-visible changes, and major architectural improvements.
Upgrading from Releases of FreeBSD
Binary upgrades between RELEASE versions (and snapshots of the various security branches) are supported using the freebsd-update(8) utility. See the release-specific upgrade procedure, FreeBSD 14.5-RELEASE upgrade information , with more details in the FreeBSD handbook binary upgrade procedure . This will update unmodified userland utilities, as well as unmodified GENERIC kernels distributed as a part of an official FreeBSD release. The freebsd-update(8) utility requires that the host being upgraded have Internet connectivity.
Source-based upgrades (those based on recompiling the FreeBSD base system from source code) from versions are supported, according to the instructions in /usr/src/UPDATING .
Upgrading FreeBSD should only be attempted after backing up all data and configuration files.
This section lists the various Security Advisories and Errata Notices since 14.4-RELEASE.
FreeBSD-SA-26:05.route
Local DoS and possible privilege escalation via routing sockets
TCP: remotely exploitable DoS vector (mbuf leak)
FreeBSD-SA-26:08.rpcsec_gss
Remote code execution via RPCSEC_GSS packet validation
pf silently ignores certain rules
Kernel use-after-free bug in the TIOCNOTTY handler
FreeBSD-SA-26:11.amd64
Missing large page handling in pmap_pkru_update_range()
FreeBSD-SA-26:12.dhclient
Remote code execution via malicious DHCP options
FreeBSD-SA-26:13.exec
Local privilege escalation via execve()
pf can overflow the stack parsing crafted SCTP packets
FreeBSD-SA-26:15.dhclient
Remotely triggerable out-of-bounds heap write in dhclient
FreeBSD-SA-26:16.libnv
Stack overflow via select() file descriptor set overflow
FreeBSD-SA-26:17.libnv
Heap overflow in libnv
FreeBSD-SA-26:18.setcred
Stack buffer overflow via setcred(2)
FreeBSD-SA-26:19.file
Kernel use-after-free via file descriptor syscalls
FreeBSD-SA-26:20.fusefs
Heap overflow in FUSE_LISTXATTR
FreeBSD-SA-26:21.ptrace
Missing validation in ptrace(PT_SC_REMOTE)
FreeBSD-SA-26:22.libcasper
select(2) file descriptor set overflow causes stack overflow
FreeBSD-SA-26:23.bsdinstall
Remote code execution via installer Wi-Fi access point scans
FreeBSD-SA-26:24.cap_net
Incorrect libcap_net limitation list manipulation
Missing permission check in thr_kill2(2)
FreeBSD-SA-26:26.ktls
Arbitrary file overwrite via the KTLS receive path
FreeBSD-SA-26:27.sound
Multiple vulnerabilities in the sound(4) mmap path
FreeBSD-SA-26:28.capsicum
sigqueue(2) missing capability mode restriction
FreeBSD-SA-26:29.ip6_multicast
Use-after-free bug in the IPV6_MSFILTER socket option handler
Flaw in Linuxulator execution of setugid binaries
FreeBSD-SA-26:31.arm64
Arm CPU errata may bypass page table permission changes
ASLR bypass for setuid executables via procctl(2)
FreeBSD-SA-26:33.unbound
Multiple vulnerabilities in unbound
Integer overflow in vt(4) CONS_HISTORY ioctl
FreeBSD-SA-26:35.openssl
Multiple vulnerabilities in OpenSSL
FreeBSD-SA-26:36.ldns
Insufficient response validation in the ldns stub resolver
Use-after-free in device pager page list
FreeBSD-SA-26:39.execve
Local privilege escalation via execve(2) TOCTOU race
Multiple vulnerabilities in OpenZFS
FreeBSD-SA-26:41.libalias
Buffer overflow in libalias RTSP handler
FreeBSD-SA-26:42.unlinkat
unlinkat(2) ignores AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag
Use-after-free in TCP RACK stack option handler
FreeBSD-SA-26:44.posixshm
Multiple vulnerabilities in POSIX largepage objects
FreeBSD-SA-26:45.audit
Incorrect audit records for ptrace(2) syscall requests
FreeBSD-SA-26:46.ktls
Remote DOS via uninitialized memory access in KTLS receive
Kernel stack disclosure in Linux compatibility layer
FreeBSD-SA-26:48.compat32
Kernel stack disclosure in 32-bit compatibility support
FreeBSD-SA-26:49.iconv
Multiple vulnerabilities in iconv(3)
FreeBSD-SA-26:52.if_wg
Missing MAC validation in wg(4) packet decryption
FreeBSD-SA-26:54.sysvsem
Heap out-of-bounds access in semctl(2)
Race condition in ELF core dump segment counting
FreeBSD-SA-26:56.hwpmc
hwpmc fails to detach PMCs during exec credential transitions
FreeBSD-SA-26:58.sound
Kernel use-after-free via the SNDCTL_DSP_SYNCSTART ioctl
FreeBSD-SA-26:61.openssl
Multiple vulnerabilities in OpenSSL
Kernel use-after-free via tty ioctls
FreeBSD-SA-26:63.posixshm
TOCTOU race in POSIX shared memory large page configuration
The page fault handler fails to zero memory
FreeBSD-EN-26:06.timerfd
Periodic timerfd(2) timers may produce incorrect results
FreeBSD-EN-26:09.tzdata
Timezone database information update
FreeBSD-EN-26:10.amd64
TLB invalidation bug on AMD systems with INVLPGB
FreeBSD-EN-26:11.dhclient
dhclient(8) lease validation is too strict
FreeBSD-EN-26:13.freebsd-update
freebsd-update attempts to merge a generated file
FreeBSD-EN-26:15.openssl
Update OpenSSL to 3.0.20 and 3.5.6
FreeBSD-EN-26:16.arm64
32-bit setcontext(2) and swapcontext(2) fail on arm64
FreeBSD-EN-26:18.tzdata
Timezone database information update
FreeBSD-EN-26:20.microcode
Early loading of Intel CPU microcode fails for some CPUs
This section covers changes and additions to userland applications, contributed software, and system utilities.
Userland Configuration Changes
Local-unbound-setup now properly configures DNS resolution on IPv6-only systems by disabling unsupported protocols in the server configuration and using 127.0.0.1, ::1, or both in resolv.conf based on kernel support. 973d1f2b12ab .
The /etc/protocols file has been updated with the latest IANA assignments, including documentation of unassigned and deprecated protocols. 9f9f0d3d9e1c .
The lpd(8) daemon now correctly uses the port number specified in /etc/printcap instead of ignoring it, restoring a feature broken since the addition of IPv6 support in 2000. 85852fe5e4a9 .
Userland Application Changes
The rc.firewall script now supports reading IP addresses or subnets from on-disk files for the firewall_allowservices and firewall_trusted list variables. Elements that look like absolute paths are read line by line, skipping and blank lines, and the first word on each line is treated as an address or subnet. 10075baae2c1 .
The default history size in sh(1) has been increased from 100 to 128, complying with the POSIX.1-2024 minimum requirement. 9bc3d8e002b9 .
The default behavior of pwd(1) has changed from -P to -L, aligning with POSIX semantics. ae75d4bdc12b .
The ipfw(8) binary now includes a fallback mechanism to support the new kernel interface introduced in FreeBSD 15.0. When running with a 15.0+ kernel, ipfw(8) automatically invokes a bundled ipfw15 binary to load firewall rules, ensuring compatibility during upgrade procedures. 704ec5e68c44 .
The daemon(8) utility now supports the -m option to specify the output file mode, allowing non-root log collectors to access log files. cc35db95eb9e .
The default linker for clang on FreeBSD is now ld.lld (LLD) instead of following the generic ld path. f81c82a9db12 .
Expat has been updated to version 2.8.1. 84f7ee30767b .
file(1) has been updated to 5.47. d58218761eeb .
ldns has been updated to version 1.9.2. 222648172b80 .
less(1) has been updated to 704. 7cc6a5d46484 .
libarchive has been updated to version 3.8.7. This update includes bugfixes for vulnerabilities, memory leaks, and crashes in multiple archive format readers. 2dddbb67c6a1 .
LLVM and related components have been updated to version 21.1.8. 502fd5427dc8 .
mandoc(1) has been updated to 2025-09-26. f763f12ed5eb .
ncurses(3) has been updated to 6.6. 8de7c76ee02f .
The openresolv utility has been updated to version 3.17.4, which brings numerous improvements to the resolvconf implementation, including updated man pages and configuration file documentation, as well as new compatibility scripts for avahi-daemon, mDNSResponder, and systemd-resolved. 266022bf0b60 .
openresolv now trims leading dots from domain names in resolvconf, which affects DNS resolution behavior for users with such configurations. aad298c8f9ca .
OpenSSL has been updated to 3.0.21. ca66129a2c8a .
The pci_vendors database has been updated to the 2026-02-10 version. b28b6c6d33ac .
The root certificate bundle has been updated to match NSS 3.123.1, adding new trusted CA certificates and moving others to untrusted. 09bb6a62d00f .
tzcode has been updated to 2026c. 3ab59366fed8 .
The tzdata database has been updated to version 2026c. 819af80de8e8 .
unbound(8) has been updated to version 1.26.0. c555236ec76f .
USB vendor list updated to 2025.12.13. 2f866e0547bd .
xz(1) has been updated to 5.8.3. e32e126c136d .
Deprecated Applications
The lpr(1) suite of programs has been deprecated and may be removed before FreeBSD 16.0. Better-maintained alternatives are available in the Ports Collection (print/cups, sysutils/LPRng). b734006cafa1 .
Runtime Libraries and API
The sortlist parser in libc’s resolver has been reimplemented, restoring the ability to configure address sort order in /etc/resolv.conf . Sorting of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses is now functional again, with updated documentation. fc00e7a18cde .
The libc resolver option parser now strictly validates option names and values, rejecting trailing garbage, negative values, and non-numeric arguments, which changes behavior for malformed resolv.conf options. b52d95bf1494 .
C23-standard trigonometric functions using the pi multiplier (such as sinpi, cospi, and related variants) are now exposed in . This extends the available math library APIs to align with the C23 standard. 69b3aa35469a .
This section covers changes in support for cloud environments.
This section covers changes to kernel configurations, system tuning, and system control parameters that are not otherwise categorized.
General Kernel Changes
A new security knob disables unprivileged access to the kernel environment (kenv), including jailed root, to protect sensitive data. System administrators can configure this via the documented sysctl/tunable. Manual pages updated to reflect the new behavior. c839c1566147 .
This section covers changes and additions to devices and device drivers since 14.4-RELEASE.
The br.lenovo.kbd keyboard layout is now installed and available in the system. ca42bd490891 .
The US international keyboard layout with accented keys us.intl.acc.kbd is now installed by default and available in the system. 823889aaafa3 .
The acpi(4) driver now supports power management on Apple Mac hardware with dual GPUs by enabling the Darwin OSI by default, which uses the integrated GPU for improved battery life. This behavior can be toggled with the tunable hw.acpi.apple_darwin_osi . 964c97aa80ec .
The ahci(4) driver now supports an additional Marvell 88SE9128 SATA controller variant (device ID 0x91a3), enabling proper operation on systems with this chip (e.g., Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 motherboards). 487eeda542a7 .
Deprecated and Removed Drivers
The asmc(4) driver no longer supports 32-bit Intel-based Macs. Users of 32-bit hardware are affected by this removal. 432c95c57bb5 .
This section covers changes and additions to file systems and other storage subsystems, both local and networked.
The msdosfs(4) filesystem now supports file names containing Unicode surrogate pairs, enabling full access to files with emoji and other characters beyond the Basic Multilingual Plane on FAT32 volumes. e71ad3f7a6b1 .
This section covers the boot loader, boot , and other boot-related changes.
The lualoader now supports be-list and be-switch commands, allowing boot environment changes from the loader command prompt. bddfcbd9bbc6 .
The boot loader’s Lua core now follows symlinks when searching for bootable kernels. 1841091eaa0b .
bsdinstall(8) now correctly creates a FreeBSD UEFI boot entry after installation, fixing a regression where some machines could not boot due to a missing boot entry. cfdd90abab51 .
The boot loader’s Lua scripting now supports filtering the list of boot environments via a user-defined callback in local.lua, allowing operators to hide certain BEs (e.g., those with a leading dot). 9ef671ef0c6c .
The ZFS rc script now runs before the tmp rc script, ensuring ZFS datasets (including a /tmp dataset) are mounted before tmp attempts to test writability and possibly mount a tmpfs. This fixes issues with read-only ZFS roots and the tmpmfs=yes setting. b39cac4b834c .
Fix for handling of foreground and background color settings in the loader’s graphical console environment, ensuring that the environment can set either independently and that colors are correctly applied when switching to the kernel. 14c8e003318b .
Nvidia kernel modules are now blacklisted by the loader to prevent panics if loaded early via loader.conf . The nvidia, nvidia-modeset, and nvidia-drm modules are denied loading at boot time. 7db1376bd151 .
This section describes changes that affect networking in FreeBSD.
This section covers general hardware support for physical machines, hypervisors, and virtualization environments, as well as hardware changes and updates that do not otherwise fit in other sections of this document.
Please see the list of hardware supported by 14.5-RELEASE, as well as the platforms page for the complete list of supported CPU architectures.
Virtualization Support
This section covers changes to manual ( man(1) ) pages and other documentation shipped with the base system.
Manual pages for libusb20_open(3) and libusb20_be_device_foreach(3) have been added, documenting these library functions. 3e05b2366af1 .
Manual page mq_getfd_np(3) documents the function that retrieves the file descriptor from a message queue descriptor. 11a0cf32a232 .
The dwcotg(4) manual page has been added, documenting the DesignWare USB OTG controller driver and making it visible for future release notes. a1479a37fcf8 .
The ports(7) reference manual’s FILES section has been expanded and reorganized into three tables, documenting additional files such as make.conf, CHANGES, CONTRIBUTING.md, UPDATING, and Tools/scripts. 5e1443211528 .
Man page documentation for bhyve(8) has been updated to describe the full -c flag syntax including complex CPU topology specifiers. c92c3852a974 .
Manual pages for GEOM and related tools ( gcache(8) , geli(8) , gpart(8) , ggatec(8) , and ggated(8) ) now consistently clarify that sizes are specified in binary units (bytes) unless an SI unit suffix is provided, and use non-breaking spaces between numbers and units. 30c821ac04c1 .
Manual page documentation updated for jail(8) , describing how to create a jail from a distribution set. cf16565eb929 .
The deprecated -p option has been removed from lpd(8) and its manual page. 5f10e369a13a .
A new manual page sbintime(9) documents the usage of sbintime_t and its helper functions for kernel developers. 84eec65ebb27 .
Ports Collection and Package Infrastructure
This section covers changes to the FreeBSD Ports Collection, package infrastructure, and package maintenance and installation tools.
General Notes Regarding Future FreeBSD Releases
Last modified on : September 1, 2026 by Vladlen Popolitov
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