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]/
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 5.5
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | — | Upgrade kernel-debuginfoUpgrade python-perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade kernel-headersUpgrade perfUpgrade kernel-tools-develUpgrade perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-develUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade python-perfUpgrade bpftool-debuginfoUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-livepatch-5.10.96-90.460 | Aug 2, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Jul 30, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Huawei Euleros 2_0_sp12 | — | Upgrade kernel-tools-libsUpgrade kernelUpgrade python3-perfUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade kernel-abi-stablelists | Oct 9, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Redhat_linux | — | No solution exists | Jul 9, 2025 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Suse | — | Upgrade kernel-azure-livepatch-develUpgrade kernel-syms-azureUpgrade kernel-azure-optionalUpgrade kernel-source-azureUpgrade kselftests-kmp-azureUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-source-rtUpgrade kernel-rt-extraUpgrade gfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-develUpgrade kernel-azure-extraUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-devel-azureUpgrade kernel-rt-vdsoUpgrade gfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-rt_debugUpgrade kernel-rt-optionalUpgrade kernel-azureUpgrade kernel-azure-develUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatch-develUpgrade kselftests-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-livepatch-develUpgrade kernel-rt-develUpgrade kernel-azure-vdsoUpgrade dlm-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatchUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-azureUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rtUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-syms-rtUpgrade kernel-devel-rtUpgrade dlm-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-vdso | Aug 9, 2024 | Jun 20, 2024 |
| Ubuntu | — | No solution existsUpgrade linux-azure-fde-5.15 | 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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