As many of you are now aware, part of the FreeBSD build infrastructure was compromised recently. Many people have been contacting us asking how this relates to PC-BSD users. We currently locally compile and distribute all of our own packages, and at this time it looks like nothing on the PC-BSD side was impacted.

However if you are a power-user and have been manually using pkg_add to install packages from the FreeBSD package cluster, you may wish to remove these packages and rebuild from source. For more details regarding the security compromise, please take a look at the official FreeBSD page.

An update to Adobe Flash is now available in the System Updates tab of Software Manager. The update addresses the security vulnerabilities described here. After applying the update, simply restart any open web browsers so that they will use the new version of flash.

The latest NVIDIA driver is now available as an update in Software Manager. If you’re using NVIDIA, apply the update and reboot. When the bootup starts, select option7 – run display setup wizard at the boot-splash screen, and you will then be able to select the new driver. If you’re not using NVIDIA, you can right-click the update in Software Manager and select “Ignore this update” so that you won’t be notified again of this update.

This driver fixes several bugs and adds support for more GPUs. Details are at the NVIDIA website.

Kris has issued a patch for Adobe Flash Plugin which addresses the remote code execution vulnerability described here. It should show up some time today in Software Manager’s System Updates tab once it is available on the mirrors. Once you apply the update, simply restart any open browsers so that they use the updated version of flash.

The following update is now available in the System Updates tab of Software Manager:

nspluginviewer: This port update for nspluginviewer 1.3.0_8 improves the reliability of the Adobe Flash Plugin on PC-BSD, and corrects some “hanging” issues when closing a flash page.

You will be prompted to reboot after applying this update on your PC-BSD system.

This update to webcamd adds the DVB man pages is now available through Update Manager. This update also includes some minor bugfixes and support for USB remote controls.

Instructions for using Update Manager can be found in this section of the Handbook.

Thanks to mato for suggesting that this be made available as an update.

If you’re using the NVIDIA video driver, an update is now available in Update Manager. This update adds support for the following GPUs:

• GeForce GTX 460 SE
• GeForce GTX 570
• Quadro 5000M
• NVS 300

It also fixes a bug that caused some OpenGL applications to become unresponsive for up to a minute on some GPUs when changing the resolution or refresh rate.

Instructions for using Update Manager are here. Simply apply the update on your PC-BSD system, and reboot. When the bootup starts, select option7 – run display setup wizard at the boot-splash screen, and you will then be able to select the new driver.

A security patch is available in Update Manager that addresses the recent OpenSSL vulnerabilities described in FreeBSD security advisory 10:10.openssl. Once the patch is installed, you will need to reboot your system in order to apply it. Instructions for applying a system patch are in the Handbook.

There’s been an update to the latest NVIDIA update that fixes an issue with missing libvdpau files. It should be listed in Update Manager as “NVIDIA Driver Update 260.19.12 (VDPAU Fixed) – 46 MB (10-29-2010)”. If you use the NVIDIA driver, you can use Update Manager to install the update. If you don’t use the NVIDIA driver, you can hide the update by right-clicking it in Update Manager and selecting “Ignore this update”.

The latest NVIDIA driver is now available through Update Manager. The release highlights for this version are listed here. This update applies to both 32 and 64 bit systems.

To apply the update, double-click on Update Manager in your system tray. Highlight the “Nvidia Driver Update (260.19.12) – 46MB (10-27-2010)” entry and click the “Install selected updates” button. When it is finished, reboot. Select option “7. Run the Display Setup Wizard” at the boot-splash screen, and you will then be able to select the new driver.