diff --git a/package/base/file/file.desc b/package/base/file/file.desc
index b106b3cf8..e0fd76fa2 100644
--- a/package/base/file/file.desc
+++ b/package/base/file/file.desc
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@
 
 [L] BSD
 [S] Stable
-[V] 4.16
+[V] 4.17
 [P] X -?-3-5---9 103.300
 
-[D] 2242223233 file-4.16.tar.gz ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/
+[D] 3668382963 file-4.17.tar.gz ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/
 
diff --git a/package/base/file/init-mem.patch b/package/base/file/init-mem.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de0d5c1b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package/base/file/init-mem.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+
+Taken from file-4.17-2.fc5.src.rpm (file-4.17-init-mem.patch).
+
+--- file-4.17/src/apprentice.c
++++ file-4.17/src/apprentice.c
+@@ -380,8 +380,8 @@ apprentice_file(struct magic_set *ms, st
+ 		return -1;
+ 	}
+ 
+-        maxmagic = MAXMAGIS;
+-	if ((marray = malloc(maxmagic * sizeof(*marray))) == NULL) {
++	maxmagic = MAXMAGIS;
++	if ((marray = calloc(maxmagic, sizeof(*marray))) == NULL) {
+ 		(void)fclose(f);
+ 		file_oomem(ms);
+ 		return -1;
+@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ parse(struct magic_set *ms, struct magic
+ 	char *t;
+ 	private const char *fops = FILE_OPS;
+ 	uint32_t val;
+-	uint32_t cont_level, cont_count;
++	uint32_t cont_level;
+ 
+ 	cont_level = 0;
+