hoakley Macs, Technology

Firmware updates and futures

This week’s updates to macOS Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura mark the end of the macOS 13 cycle. Although there’s always time for a quick RSR or even a security patch to macOS 13.5, the next scheduled update to Ventura should be September’s release of 13.6, the first of its security updates. Any remaining bugs that don’t have security implications are very unlikely to be fixed now that it’s in security-only maintenance.

Big Sur 11.7.9 is also likely to be the last security update for the macOS that first brought us Apple silicon Macs. If your Mac can run a more recent version of macOS but is still on Big Sur, it’s time to plan its upgrade to Monterey or later. Meanwhile, look for Monterey 12.7 in September, as it moves into its last year of security maintenance.

Firmware

Changes in firmware are actually becoming simpler as current releases of macOS support fewer Intel Macs without T2 chips. The 13.5/12.6.8/11.7.9 updates shipped with updated firmware for just four different families of models without T2 chips:

  • iMac 18,x and 19,1
  • MacBook 10,1
  • MacBook Pro 14,x

which are those on which Ventura is officially supported. Older Macs last had firmware updates earlier this year, and seem unlikely to receive any further firmware updates in the future.

With macOS 14 expected in September or October, Apple’s support for all Intel Macs without T2 chips is rapidly fading out: most will only get security updates for Monterey or Ventura, with only one model, the iMac 2019 (iMac19,x), supported by Sonoma. Some models may still get updated firmware with their security updates, but those tend to be few and infrequent.

I have now updated the databases used by my free SilentKnight and my reference pages here, with the new firmware versions brought in the 13.5/12.6.8/11.7.9 updates, so you can check your Mac is up to date. If you have installed one of those three updates but your Mac’s firmware is still showing an older version, all you can do now is try installing the full installer app for that version of macOS, in the hope that will install the firmware update successfully. If it doesn’t, you should contact Apple support.

eficheck

Intel Macs without T2 chips also have a bundled tool that can check that firmware appears reasonably up to date, and hasn’t been corrupted or tampered with in any way: eficheck. This was introduced in High Sierra, and should continue running automatically every week or so. Unfortunately, running it manually from the command line failed in recent versions of Ventura, but that has now been fixed, and as of macOS 13.5 you should be able to check your own Intel Mac provided it doesn’t have a T2 chip, using the command
/usr/libexec/firmwarecheckers/eficheck/eficheck --integrity-check
Once it completes, you should see a response like
EFI Version: MBP141.88Z.F000.B00.1909131925 (Boot ROM Version: 202.0.0.0.0)
Primary allowlist version match found. No changes detected in primary hashes.

While eficheck will remain fully functional in Ventura and earlier, with just the one model supported in Sonoma I expect that it won’t ship in macOS 14 when it’s released. If you want to check your Mac’s firmware in future, I suggest that SilentKnight should be a suitable replacement. However, with the expected reduction in firmware updates for Intel Macs without T2 chips, the value in doing this will also fade into the past.

Intel T2 and Apple silicon Macs

Managing firmware in these newer Macs is far simpler: at any time, those Macs that are up to date with macOS updates should all show the same firmware versions. Following the 13.5/12.6.8/11.7.9 updates these are:

  • 1968.140.7.0.0 (iBridge: 20.16.6072.0.0,0) on T2 models, and
  • 8422.141.2 on Apple silicon Macs.

eficheck isn’t able to run on these models, and you can check their firmware in System Information or using SilentKnight.

The common cause of failed firmware updates, replaced internal storage, doesn’t apply to these models, as all of them (except the Mac Pro) have their internal SSDs soldered in, and failed updates should never occur. If your Mac doesn’t update correctly, then I recommend that you contact Apple Support.

Firmware version references

The following pages provide full listings of expected firmware versions for the current releases of supported macOS: