FreeBSD 15 – pkg audit cannot run because local vulnerability database is stale or locked

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Security compliance checks fail, leaving vulnerability exposure unknown.

Environment & Reproduction

Observed after interrupted audits, filesystem lock contention, or outdated advisory mirrors.

pkg audit -F
ls -la /var/db/pkg
ps aux | grep '[p]kg'

Root Cause Analysis

Audit metadata cannot refresh due to stale lock files or repository access issues.

Quick Triage

Confirm no active pkg transaction before lock cleanup.

fstat /var/db/pkg
pgrep pkg || true
fetch -o /dev/null https://vuxml.freebsd.org/freebsd/vuln.xml.xz

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect pkg DB lock artifacts and force verbose audit refresh.

ls -la /var/db/pkg/*.lock 2>/dev/null || true
pkg -d audit -F 2>&1 | tail -n 80

Solution – Primary Fix

Clear stale locks safely and refresh audit database.

rm -f /var/db/pkg/*.lock
pkg update -f
pkg audit -F

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Mirror VuXML internally for restricted environments.

fetch -m -o /usr/local/share/vuxml https://vuxml.freebsd.org/freebsd/vuln.xml.xz
pkg audit -f /usr/local/share/vuxml/vuln.xml.xz

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Audit completes and reports either zero or actionable vulnerability findings.

pkg audit
echo $?

Rollback Plan

Restore package DB snapshot if lock cleanup coincides with metadata corruption.

tar -xf /root/backup/pkgdb.tar -C /

Prevention & Hardening

Schedule audits with lock-aware wrapper to avoid overlapping pkg operations.

lockf -s /var/run/pkg-audit.lock pkg audit -F

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Often linked with failed unattended upgrades and interrupted jail package updates.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for freebsd-15.

View all freebsd-15 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

pkg-audit and VuXML documentation for FreeBSD environments.