{"id":51886,"date":"2026-08-19T08:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=51886"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:04:21","slug":"virtualbox-7-2-16-released-with-intel-fred-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2026\/08\/virtualbox-7-2-16-released-with-intel-fred-support\/","title":{"rendered":"VirtualBox 7.2.16 Released with Intel FRED Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oracle VirtualBox 7.2.16, the eighth maintenance update for the 7.2 series, was released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The new version of this virtualization software contains only some fixes and performance improvements.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Linux host running on recent Intel platform with FRED (Flexible Return and Event Delivery) enabled (e.g., Fedora 44 on Core Ultra Series 3 laptops), there was and incompatibility causing the host system freeze.<\/p>\n

It was because Virtualbox used the old x86 mechanism to pass NMI (Non-Maskable Interrupt) to host kernel, but the host kernel uses FRED and rejects causing kernel panic.<\/p>\n

The 7.2.16 version fixed the issue by adding a patch that detects whether the host CPU is currently using FRED, and in that case, use Linux’s FRED-specific mechanism to re-deliver a NMI instead of the old x86 mechanism.<\/p>\n

For RHEL 9.8 and its based distributions such as AlmaLinux running in virtual machines, VirtualBox 7.2.16 also fixed the guest addition install failure issue due to kernel internal API change.<\/p>\n

Other changes include build failure in Linux host with OpenSSL 4.0, such as the next Ubuntu 26.10 and Fedora 45, as well as:<\/p>\n