In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
efi: runtime: avoid EFIv2 runtime services on Apple x86 machines
Aditya reports [0] that his recent MacbookPro crashes in the firmware when using the variable services at runtime. The culprit appears to be a call to QueryVariableInfo(), which we did not use to call on Apple x86 machines in the past as they only upgraded from EFI v1.10 to EFI v2.40 firmware fairly recently, and QueryVariableInfo() (along with UpdateCapsule() et al) was added in EFI v2.00.
The only runtime service introduced in EFI v2.00 that we actually use in Linux is QueryVariableInfo(), as the capsule based ones are optional, generally not used at runtime (all the LVFS/fwupd firmware update infrastructure uses helper EFI programs that invoke capsule update at boot time, not runtime), and not implemented by Apple machines in the first place. QueryVariableInfo() is used to 'safely' set variables, i.e., only when there is enough space. This prevents machines with buggy firmwares from corrupting their NVRAMs when they run out of space.
Given that Apple machines have been using EFI v1.10 services only for the longest time (the EFI v2.0 spec was released in 2006, and Linux support for the newly introduced runtime services was added in 2011, but the MacbookPro12,1 released in 2015 still claims to be EFI v1.10 only), let's avoid the EFI v2.0 ones on all Apple x86 machines.
[0] https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | — | Upgrade perfUpgrade kernel-headersUpgrade perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-tools-develUpgrade kernel-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade python-perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade kernel-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade bpftool-debuginfoUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-livepatch-5.10.96-90.460Upgrade kernel-develUpgrade kernelUpgrade python-perf | Aug 2, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Jul 30, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Huawei Euleros 2_0_sp12 | — | Upgrade kernel-abi-stablelistsUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-tools-libsUpgrade python3-perf | Oct 9, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Redhat_linux | — | No solution exists | Jul 9, 2025 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Suse | — | Upgrade kernel-source-azureUpgrade kernel-azureUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-develUpgrade kernel-azure-optionalUpgrade kernel-source-rtUpgrade kernel-rt-extraUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-azure-livepatch-develUpgrade gfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-devel-azureUpgrade gfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rt_debugUpgrade kernel-rt-optionalUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-azure-extraUpgrade kernel-syms-azureUpgrade kernel-rt-vdsoUpgrade kselftests-kmp-azureUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-devel-rtUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-azureUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rtUpgrade kernel-azure-vdsoUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-livepatch-develUpgrade kselftests-kmp-rtUpgrade dlm-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-rt-develUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatch-develUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-vdsoUpgrade kernel-azure-develUpgrade dlm-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-syms-rtUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatchUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-rt | Aug 9, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Ubuntu | — | Upgrade linux-azure-fde-5.15No solution exists | Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Vmware Photon_os | — | Use 'tdnf update' to upgrade all packages to the latest version. | May 27, 2026 | Jun 20, 2024 |
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