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I am running Linux Mint on a Lenovo C530. I would like to upgrade its bios but Lenovo's official bios upgrade doesn't support Linux. The reason I want to upgrade the bios is to get the latest Intel microcode patches for security reasons. Do I need to actually update the bios for that or can I install them in a different way? If so, what would be the advantage of upgrading the bios?
alec_djinn
Posted 2019-12-12T09:34:44.943
Reputation: 127
Many distributions include a microcode update package. https://superuser.com/questions/1284124/does-sudo-apt-upgrade-update-my-microcode updating the system firmware ("bios") ensures that your system is secure and stable before any operating system boots and works in the eventuality that they lack another update method or the update is out of date.
– Mokubai – 2019-12-12T09:46:17.853The best answer to this question is "it depends". I assume you are worried about the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. It should be noted that Intel did not release microcode updates for every single one of their vulnerable products. What products were patched by Intel is well documented. Once Intel released the updated microcode for a supported product, Lenovo would release the firmware update, which included it. However, in most cases, the Linux kernel itself provided these microcode updates. So updating the BIOS isn't required, in fact in most cases, it's the only way to mitigate – Ramhound – 2019-12-12T09:53:25.507
Your computer may be supported by fwupd. Try
– gronostaj – 2019-12-12T09:57:46.670sudo fwupdmgr get-devices.@gronostaj I did get devices listed, including a UEFI update. Thanks! – alec_djinn – 2019-12-12T10:25:26.940