14 DAY TRIAL // Oracle announced today the release and immediate availability of the VirtualBox 5.2.12 maintenance update to the company's open-source and cross-platform virtualization software.
Coming only three weeks after VirtualBox 5.2.10, the VirtualBox 5.2.12 release appears to be a minor bugfix update that only addresses a possible data corruption in the Serial component, which could occur when data was sent under specific circumstances, and fixes starting and stopping of video recording.
But there's also good news for Linux users, as VirtualBox 5.2.12 is the first stable release of the popular virtualization software to add initial support for the upcoming Linux 4.17 kernel, which is currently under development with an RC4 milestone out the door last week. Linux kernel 4.17 should be hitting the streets early next month.
Linux 4.16 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 improvements
Additionally, VirtualBox 5.2.12 improves Linux guest support for GNU/Linux distributions using the current stable Linux 4.16 kernel series, as well as for the kernels used by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 operating system. Also, it addresses some 3D issue that users encounter with recent Linux guests.
VirtualBox 5.2.12 is now available to download for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems through our web portal or directly from the official website, where you'll also be able to download the accompanying Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack to enable support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, disk encryption, NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards, and VirtualBox RDP.
If you already use the VirtualBox 5.2 series on your personal computer, you should soon be able to update through the built-in OTA (Over-the-Air) update system. Simply open VirtualBox and click on the "Check for Updates" entry in the main menu to check for new versions. After VirtualBox 5.2.12 is downloaded and installed, the corresponding Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack will also be automatically downloaded and installed.