The latest release of the desktop-oriented operating system, MidnightBSD 4.0.4, has been released. The new version includes important security fixes, improved support for modern AMD processors, and an age verification and access control system. MidnightBSD is positioned as a user-friendly operating system based on the FreeBSD codebase, aimed at workstations.
The key innovation is the Age daemon and the agectl management utility. The system allows users to associate an age category with their accounts, which is then taken into account when using the mport package manager and launching applications.
Key features:
- When creating a user via adduser, the age group is now requested;
- You can set a specific age or date of birth for accounts using the agectl command;
- The mport package manager automatically sets negative access control lists for applications that do not match the user's age rating;
- Application developers can verify a user's age using the libutil library or by calling agectl without arguments. Administrators can completely disable the aged daemon in rc.conf if their jurisdiction's laws do not require such verification.
Fixing a critical vulnerability
This release includes a fix for a serious vulnerability related to RPC and RPCSEC_GSS. An unauthenticated attacker could cause a stack overflow by sending specially crafted packets. The issue was addressed at the packet signature verification level.
Improvement for AMD Ryzen processors
The amd-cppc (Collaborative Power Performance Control) driver, implemented by Rob Augustinus, has been added. This driver significantly improves power management and performance on modern AMD processors, allowing for more efficient resource allocation.
Other changes
The release includes numerous updates to system components, improvements to shell scripts, and fixes to utilities such as cp, nextboot, m4, and others. The full changelog is available in the official changelog.
MidnightBSD 4.0.4 is now available for downloading on the official site. Source and the build instructions are published in the GitHub repository.
Source: linux.org.ru
