Study Finds Significant Number of Macs Running Out-of-Date Firmware Susceptible to Critical Exploits

[MacRumors]

A new research paper from Duo Security, shared by Ars Technica, reveals that a significant number of Macs are running out-of-date EFI versions, leaving them susceptible to critical pre-boot firmware exploits.

The security firm analyzed 73,324 Macs used in production environments and found that, on average, 4.2 percent of the systems were running the incorrect EFI version relative to the model and version of macOS or OS X installed.

The percentage of incorrect EFI versions varies greatly depending on the model. The late 2015 21.5" iMac had the highest occurrence of incorrect EFI firmware, with 43 percent of systems running incorrect versions.

EFI, which stands for Extensible Firmware Interface, bridges a Mac's hardware, firmware, and operating system together to enable it to go from power-on to booting macOS. EFI operates at a lower level than both the operating system and hypervisors, providing attackers with a greater level of control.

Successful attack of a system's UEFI implementation provides an attacker with powerful capabilities in terms of stealth, persistence, and direct access to hardware, all in an OS and VMM independent manner.

Duo Security found that 47 models capable of running OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, or macOS Sierra, for example, did not have an EFI security patch for the Thunderstrike exploit publicly disclosed nearly three years ago.

The research paper noted that there seems to be something interfering with the way bundled EFI updates are installed alongside macOS, while some Macs never received EFI updates whatsoever, but it doesn't know exactly why.

There seems to be something interfering with the way bundled EFI firmware updates are getting installed, leading to systems running old EFI versions. We are not able to give an exact reason why, but there are significant discrepancies between the firmware version that is actually running on real world production systems and the version that is expected to be running, given the OS build. This means that even if your Mac is still receiving security patch support, there is a non-trivial chance that your system is not running the latest version, even though you thought it was installed.

While its research paper is focused on Apple, Duo Security said the same if not worse EFI issues likely affect PCs running Windows or Linux.

In response to the research paper, Apple said it appreciates the research on the industry-wide issue and noted that macOS High Sierra automatically validates a Mac's EFI on a weekly basis to ensure it hasn't been tampered with.

We appreciate Duo's work on this industry-wide issue and noting Apple's leading approach to this challenge. Apple continues to work diligently in the area of firmware security and we're always exploring ways to make our systems even more secure. In order to provide a safer and more secure experience in this area, macOS High Sierra automatically validates Mac firmware weekly.

In a related blog post, Duo Security said users should check if they are running the latest version of EFI on their Macs, and it has released a tool to help do so. It also recommends updating to the latest version of macOS High Sierra.

Article Link: Study Finds Significant Number of Macs Running Out-of-Date Firmware Susceptible to Critical Exploits

 

[jackson01442]

Tool's down for now, we'll have to wait for them to fix a bug then it should be back up.

 

[ChasSC-Mac-Guy]

4.2% huh, I imagine most of those are in fact Hackintoshes, which are modified EFI to begin with.... I wonder what percent it would be if those were excluded?

 

[840quadra]

4.2% huh, I imagine most of those are in fact Hackintoshes, which are modified EFI to begin with.... I wonder what percent it would be if those were excluded?

I am not sure how many Hackintoshes are in production environments though. It appears that they did this study directly, not using web metrics.

I am sure there are some hackintosh computers being used commercially, though I would expect they would be excluded from such a study. Nevermind completely illegal, exposing those companies to potentially serious lawsuits.

 

[jackson01442]

4.2% huh, I imagine most of those are in fact Hackintoshes, which are modified EFI to begin with.... I wonder what percent it would be if those were excluded?

Interesting thought. I wonder if they counted Hackintoshes as a certain type of mac mistakenly.

 

[joueboy]

This is an old research. I just found out that even when you have the most up to date firmware you still doomed.

 

[chrfr]

4.2% huh, I imagine most of those are in fact Hackintoshes, which are modified EFI to begin with.... I wonder what percent it would be if those were excluded?

If you read through the paper, you'll see that these are not Hackintoshes. The guys who wrote this paper are well aware of the details.
[doublepost=1506697970][/doublepost]

This is an old research. I just found out that even when you have the most up to date firmware you still doomed.

No, this isn't old.

 

[now i see it]

It used to be software drives hardware (updates). Now it's hacker drives hardware.

 

[chromite]

Buy a Mac they said...

Macs can’t get viruses they said...

 

[sos47]

it hurts me. update to High Sierra not possible. iMac 2011

 

[jayducharme]

Buy a Mac they said...

Macs can’t get viruses they said...

Well, technically they still can't, not in the way PCs do. But they're still a computer susceptible to hacking.

This discovery gives yet another good reason for always updating your Mac to the latest OS (if your hardware supports it, obviously). Sometimes Apple patches problems before we even know they exist.

 

[rpmurray]

In response to the research paper, Apple said it appreciates the research on the industry-wide issue and noted that ONLY macOS High Sierra automatically validates a Mac's EFI on a weekly basis to ensure it hasn't been tampered with. Anyone running Macs with an earlier OS (like Sierra or the ancient El Capitan) or a Mac that can't be updated to run High Sierra are SOL.

 

[travelsheep]

Does the downloadable tool include the exploit?

 

[Codeseven]

it hurts me. update to High Sierra not possible. iMac 2011

Yup, me too, 2008 MacBook Pro, but then again, it’s friggin’ ancient hardware that I should’ve ditched long ago. ( unbelievable how long Apple products keep trudging along! )

 

[Juicy Box]

Apple said it appreciates the research on the industry-wide issue and noted that macOS High Sierra automatically validates a Mac's EFI on a weekly basis to ensure it hasn't been tampered with.

This is wonderful, but what if you are not using, or cannot use High Sierra? How can you tell if your Mac has the correct EFI?

EDIT: NVM, I just saw the last sentence. Although the link doesn't work.

 

[Vanilla35]

4.2% huh, I imagine most of those are in fact Hackintoshes, which are modified EFI to begin with.... I wonder what percent it would be if those were excluded?

There is no way hackintoshes are more than 1% of Mac devices.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Buy a Mac they said...

Macs can’t get viruses they said...

It’s more of a technicality. Macs won’t suffer from the same viruses that Windows machines will due to running an entirely different software environment. Windows machines are more abundant and therefore are usually the target of most viruses. So if a serious Windows exploit gets, well, exploited, a Mac won’t have a problem. That doesn’t mean Macs are entirely safe though, as they can also be targeted. Still, with Windows Update and Windows Defender (installed by default since Windows 8) running, a Windows user shouldn’t see much risk, so long as they let those services do their thing.

 

[Drfter]

my mom is afraid when updates come up, I have to always do it. lol legit every time a bunch of notifications in the corner every time.

 

[PTVMan]

How is 4.2% a “significant number?”

 

[rjohnstone]

it hurts me. update to High Sierra not possible. iMac 2011

Depends on the 2011 model.
My mid-2011 iMac runs it just fine.

 

[kemal]

My Mac Pro 4,1, hacked to 5,1, ran the High Sierra EFI update just fine. Apple really could have made this a problem by checking the serial number rather than the current firmware version.

 

[Sasparilla]

it hurts me. update to High Sierra not possible. iMac 2011

If you can, sell and upgrade to a newer iMac while your old one still has value. Mac's keep their value much better than PC's but once they stop getting the latest OS versions the value starts to decline faster - once security updates aren't coming its through the floor (couple of more years).

 

[Applebot1]

Could be worse and we are running Windows. Wife wants to get my boy a computer this Xmas as more home work needs one. She insists on a Windows machine...like hell thats going to happen!

 

[sdwaltz]

Well, if Apple hadn't decided that my perfectly good, still very fast, still completely capable 2008 Mac Pro wasn't going to receive any software updates beyond El Capitan, we wouldn't have this problem now would we?

This is the one thing about Apple I cannot stand. Microsoft will let you install Windows on any PC, yet Apple randomly decides which Macs won't get the latest software regardless of specs. It's infuriating.

 

[Vanilla35]

It’s more of a technicality. Macs won’t suffer from the same viruses that Windows machines will due to running an entirely different software environment. Windows machines are more abundant and therefore are usually the target of most viruses. So if a serious Windows exploit gets, well, exploited, a Mac won’t have a problem. That doesn’t mean Macs are entirely safe though, as they can also be targeted. Still, with Windows Update and Windows Defender (installed by default since Windows 8) running, a Windows user shouldn’t see much risk, so long as they let those services do their thing.

Yeah it really comes down to know-how of computers. For those who are completely incapable of knowing what a program does, and how things work on computers, Mac is generally more safe. Less room for user error.