Updating Linux firmware

When thinking of keeping their software up to date, most people think of updating their software via their favorite package manager. Which is right, though hardware firmware updates are often forgotten about. With more malware targeting the BIOS it gets apparent that regular firmware updates should also be part of your system maintenance routine.

A sane method to update firmware on linux is, to use fwupd with LVFS. The Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) allows hardware vendors to upload firmware updates. fwupd uses LVFS to get metadata on firmware updates and download them.

CLI Usage:

1. Install fwupd via your favorite package manager.

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# Update metadata.
sudo fwupdmgr refresh

# Show device status (optional).
sudo fwupdmgr get-devices

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# Update firmware.
sudo fwupdmgr update

Integrate with Gnome:

If you use gnome as desktop environment you can install the gnome-firmware package which neatly integrates with gnome-software. gnome-firmware will then search for and notify you of any new firmware updates.