Re: FreeBSD Errata Notice FreeBSD-EN-26:03.vm [and other notices/advisories from today: pkgbase instructions?]

On 1/27/26 14:28, FreeBSD Errata Notices wrote:
> =============================================================================
> FreeBSD-EN-26:03.vm                                             Errata Notice
>                                                           The FreeBSD Project
> 
> Topic:          The page fault handler fails to zero memory
> 
> Category:       core
> Module:         vm
> Announced:      2026-01-27
> Affects:        All supported versions of FreeBSD.
> Corrected:      2025-12-15 10:37:54 UTC (stable/15, 15.0-STABLE)
>                 2026-01-27 19:15:47 UTC (releng/15.0, 15.0-RELEASE-p2)
>                 2025-12-15 10:42:28 UTC (stable/14, 14.3-STABLE)
>                 2026-01-27 19:16:12 UTC (releng/14.3, 14.3-RELEASE-p8)
>                 2026-01-26 15:18:32 UTC (stable/13, 13.4-STABLE)
>                 2026-01-27 19:16:34 UTC (releng/13.5, 13.5-RELEASE-p9)

My notes use this Errata Notice as an example. But all 3 of the Errata
Notices and the 2 Security Advisories released today look to have
similar points relative to pkgbase-based FreeBSD OS installations.

> 
> For general information regarding FreeBSD Errata Notices and Security
> Advisories, including descriptions of the fields above, security
> branches, and the following sections, please visit
> <URL:https://security.FreeBSD.org/>.
> 
> I.   Background
> 
> The mmap(2) system call allows applications and system libraries to allocate
> heap memory using the MAP_ANON flag.  The system call allocates virtual memory
> in the calling thread's address space and physical memory is allocated on
> demand as page faults occur.  Memory allocated this way is guaranteed to be
> zero-filled.
> 
> II.  Problem Description
> 
> Under some conditions, the physical pages allocated and mapped by the kernel
> may not be zero-filled.
> 
> III. Impact
> 
> This bug has been observed to cause process crashes.
> 
> IV.  Workaround
> 
> No workaround is available.
> 
> V.   Solution
> 
> Upgrade your system to a supported FreeBSD stable or release / security
> branch (releng) dated after the correction date.
> 
> Perform one of the following:
> 
> 1) To update your system via a binary patch:

The below freebsd-update use is inappropriate for pkgbase based
installations of the 15.0 variants.

[I'm unsure of intended coverage of 14.3's non-re@-pkgbase-use based
systems but (1) does not apply there either.]

> 
> Systems running a RELEASE version of FreeBSD on the amd64 or arm64 platforms,
> or the i386 platform on FreeBSD 13, can be updated via the freebsd-update(8)
> utility:
> 
> # freebsd-update fetch
> # freebsd-update install
> # shutdown -r now
> 
> 2) To update your system via a source code patch:

The below source-based steps are inappropriate for pkgbase based
installations of the 15.0 variants.

[I'm unsure of intended coverage of 14.3's non-re@-pkgbase-use based
systems but (2) does not correctly apply there either.]

> 
> The following patches have been verified to apply to the applicable
> FreeBSD release branches.
> 
> a) Download the relevant patch from the location below, and verify the
> detached PGP signature using your PGP utility.
> 
> [FreeBSD 15.0]
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-15.patch
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-15.patch.asc
> # gpg --verify vm-15.patch.asc
> 
> [FreeBSD 14.3]
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-14.patch
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-14.patch.asc
> # gpg --verify vm-14.patch.asc
> 
> [FreeBSD 13.5]
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-13.patch
> # fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/EN-26:03/vm-13.patch.asc
> # gpg --verify vm-13.patch.asc
> 
> b) Apply the patch.  Execute the following commands as root:
> 
> # cd /usr/src
> # patch < /path/to/patch
> 
> c) Recompile your kernel as described in
> <URL:https://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/kernelconfig.html> and reboot the
> system.

There is no section for --or mention of-- pkgbase or of use of
pkg/pkg-static commands for updating at all.

(Such would not apply to any 13.5 variant.)

> 
> VI.  Correction details
> 
> This issue is corrected as of the corresponding Git commit hash in the
> following stable and release branches:
> 
> Branch/path                             Hash                     Revision
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> stable/15/                              3c0942f99209    stable/15-n281508
> releng/15.0/                            6e279feb40be  releng/15.0-n281002
> stable/14/                              99f641267d44    stable/14-n272998
> releng/14.3/                            de311ee39b3f  releng/14.3-n271457
> stable/13/                              babac9d7bc05    stable/13-n259725
> releng/13.5/                            4967e14ba25b  releng/13.5-n259188
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Run the following command to see which files were modified by a
> particular commit:
> 
> # git show --stat <commit hash>
> 
> Or visit the following URL, replacing NNNNNN with the hash:
> 
> <URL:https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=NNNNNN>
> 
> To determine the commit count in a working tree (for comparison against
> nNNNNNN in the table above), run:
> 
> # git rev-list --count --first-parent HEAD
> 
> VII. References
> 
> The latest revision of this advisory is available at
> <URL:https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-EN-26:03.vm.asc>
> 
> 

-- 
===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com