This has been one of the most eventful weeks in recent FreeBSD history: a new release, a new Core Team, a graphics driver milestone, and a proposal to overhaul the service manager. Here’s the roundup.
FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE Is Here
The biggest news of the week: FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE was announced on June 16 – the second release of the stable/15 branch. The release was originally planned earlier but delayed by two weeks.
Highlights include:
- WiFi drivers now based on Linux v7.0 (iwlwifi and other LinuxKPI-based drivers)
- Boot-time scheduler selection via
kern.sched.nametunable - C23 progress: significant strides toward complete C23 language support
- Unicode 17.0.0 with 4,803 new characters and CLDR 48
- Cloud images with pkgbase now include pkg(8) and support automatic base system package updates on first boot
- OpenZFS 2.4.2 and OpenSSL 3.5.6
- Intel LASS support (Linear Address Space Separation) on AMD64
- DTrace on 32-bit PowerPC and PowerPC64LE
- The release is dedicated to the memory of Peter G. Neumann, a longtime collaborator on capability-based security
The release notes also include numerous base system changes: find(1) now supports -xattr and -xattrname, bectl(8) can create empty boot environments (-E), cron(8) gains full PAM session lifecycle support, and the default root shell has changed from csh to sh.
New Core Team (core.14) Elected
On June 24, the 2026 FreeBSD Core Team election results were announced. The nine elected members of the fourteenth Core Team are:
- Warner Losh (imp)
- Baptiste Daroussin (bapt)
- Gleb Smirnoff (glebius)
- Kyle Evans (kevans)
- Adrian Chadd (adrian)
- Joseph Mingrone (jrm)
- Hiroki Sato (hrs)
- Adam Weinberger (adamw)
- Olivier Cochard (olivier)
A bylaws amendment was also passed, tentatively taking effect with the 2028 election at the new core team’s discretion. The transition plan will be shared soon.
Outgoing core.13 members: Li-Wen Hsu, Allan Jude, Tobias C. Berner, Dave Cottlehuber, and Mathieu Arnold. Dag-Erling Smørgrav ran a flawless election.
Graphics Port Upgraded to Linux 6.12
The FreeBSD Foundation announced on June 16 that the drm-kmod port now includes the Linux 6.12 LTS graphics driver. This update brings:
- Better compatibility with modern AMD Radeon and Intel graphics hardware
- Improved Wayland compatibility
- Enhanced graphics stability and security
- Linux 6.12 is a CIP SLTS kernel (Super Long Term Support through 2036)
The update requires FreeBSD 15.1 or later.
FreeBSD 14.3 Reaches End-of-Life
The FreeBSD Security Officer announced on June 20 that FreeBSD 14.3 reaches end-of-life on June 30, 2026, after which it will no longer receive security support. Users should upgrade immediately.
After June 30, the supported branches and releases are:
| Branch | Release | Estimated EoL |
|---|---|---|
| stable/15 | — | December 31, 2029 |
| releng/15.1 | 15.1-RELEASE | March 31, 2027 |
| releng/15.0 | 15.0-RELEASE | September 30, 2026 |
| stable/14 | — | November 30, 2028 |
| releng/14.4 | 14.4-RELEASE | December 31, 2026 |
rcd(8) – A New Service Manager for FreeBSD
On June 14, Baptiste Daroussin opened a discussion on freebsd-hackers about rcd(8), a new service manager daemon he’s been working on for years. The discussion continued throughout this week.
Key features:
- Parallel boot via dependency DAG (no more serial rc.d execution)
- Process tracking via
pdfork(2)descriptors (no PID file races) - Subreaper via
procctl(2)(no orphaned process escape) - Socket activation (pre-bound sockets passed via fd inheritance)
- Resource control per service via
rctl(2) - Service isolation via native
jail(2)integration - OOM protection via
procctl(2) PROC_SPROTECT - UCL-based unit files (JSON Schema validated)
- Embedded Lua interpreter for inline service hooks
- Template units for per-instance services (e.g.,
dhclient@em0) - Safe in-place binary upgrade (SIGUSR1: save state, re-exec)
User interface: rcctl(8), familiar from OpenBSD but with FreeBSD-specific implementation.
100% backward compatibility is a hard requirement. rcd scans existing rc.d scripts, parses their PROVIDE/REQUIRE/BEFORE/KEYWORD headers, reads rc.conf, and wraps each script as a virtual “legacy” unit. The migration path is gradual: rc.d scripts will be converted to native UCL unit files at each maintainer’s pace, with no deadline.
The mailing list discussion was intense, with comparisons to launchd and debates over compatibility, daemon supervision, and the migration path.
OpenZFS Merge and ZFS Improvements
On June 27, the OpenZFS merge (commit d0b3ecd) was integrated into the FreeBSD main branch. The change spans +6,983/-2,497 lines across 161 files, pulling in upstream PRs including #18509.
Additionally, on June 25, zfsd spare selection was improved (commit 6aaaf7b), porting OpenZFS PRs #18597 and #18578 from zed to zfsd. Spare selection now considers optimal spare distribution across pools.
pkgbasify – Making the Switch to pkgbase Easy
On June 24, Dag-Erling Smørgrav (des) published a blog post showing how to convert a FreeBSD 15 system to packaged base (pkgbase) with a single command:
# pkg install -r FreeBSD-base --register-only FreeBSD-set-{base,lib32,kernels}{,-dbg} FreeBSD-set-{src,tests}
He walks through enabling the FreeBSD-base repository, creating a boot environment, and notes minor issues like pkg leaf not accounting for shared library dependencies.
AI-assisted Vulnerability Discovery: Praetorian Finds 8 Kernel Bugs
Praetorian published a detailed blog post on June 17 describing how their team used Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Code to find eight FreeBSD kernel vulnerabilities – including CVE-2026-3038, a stack overflow enabling jail escapes. This underscores the significance of the FreeBSD Foundation’s AI-assisted Vulnerability Discovery Project, launched June 15 with $250k funding from Alpha Omega.
Security Advisories (9 Advisories, June 9)
While these advisories originated in the previous week, they remain relevant:
| Advisory | Module | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| SA-26:26.ktls | Kernel | Arbitrary file overwrite via KTLS receive path |
| SA-26:27.sound | Kernel | Multiple vulnerabilities in sound(4) mmap path |
| SA-26:29.ip6_multicast | Kernel | Use-after-free in IPV6_MSFILTER socket option |
| SA-26:30.linux | Kernel | Flaw in Linuxulator execution of setugid binaries |
| SA-26:31.arm64 | Kernel | ARM CPU errata may bypass page table permission changes |
| SA-26:32.elf | Kernel | ASLR bypass for setuid executables via procctl(2) |
| SA-26:33.unbound | Contrib | Multiple vulnerabilities in unbound |
| SA-26:34.vt | Kernel | Integer overflow in vt(4) CONS_HISTORY ioctl |
| SA-26:35.openssl | Contrib | Multiple vulnerabilities in OpenSSL |
| SA-26:36.ldns | Contrib | Insufficient response validation in ldns stub resolver |
All advisories affect FreeBSD 14.x and 15.x. Users should run freebsd-update immediately.
Other Developments
- OFED update (June 24): Various changes from Linux 4.17 merged into the InfiniBand/driver code
- ng_socket leak fixed (June 26): Gleb Smirnoff closed a node reference leak in ng_socket
- cpufreq format fix (June 25): Fix for incorrect formatting, contributed at the Halifax Hackathon
- BSD Now 669 (June 26): Covered native inotify support in FreeBSD and Poudriere optimization
- Vermaden’s Valuable News (June 22): Comprehensive weekly roundup with many FreeBSD links
- Klara Systems: Articles on native inotify in FreeBSD and ZFS performance without hardware upgrades
Bottom Line
Week 26 was one of the densest in recent memory for FreeBSD: a new major release, a newly elected Core Team, a significant graphics driver jump, the unveiling of a new service manager proposal, and an EoL deadline for 14.3. If you’re still on 14.3, upgrade now – the clock runs out on June 30.
Links: – FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE Announcement – Release Notes – FreeBSD Foundation Graphics Blog – New Core Team Announcement – rcd(8) Discussion – pkgbasify Blog Post – Praetorian FreeBSoD Blog – AI Vulnerability Discovery Project – FreeBSD 14.3 EoL