Is there an eficheck tool for Arm Macs?

[tru3lies]

Earlier Macs had the possibility to check the EFI firmware or even create a complete dump of it from within the OS:

macOS High Sierra Automatically Performs Security Check on EFI Firmware Each Week

Mac users who upgrade to macOS High Sierra will benefit from a significant new security feature that works in the background. macOS High Sierra...

www.macrumors.com

How High Sierra checks your EFI firmware

When did your Mac last check its firmware? Probably only a few days ago. How eficheck keeps our Macs stable and safe.

eclecticlight.co

This was discontinued with T2 Macs:

rdar://42910459: eficheck does not work on Macs with T2 chips

Anyone knows the situation in case of the Arm Macs?
Is there a /usr/libexec/firmwarecheckers/eficheck/eficheck and does it work?

Can the firmware maybe be checked/dumped from DFU mode?

 

[chrfr]

Earlier Macs had the possibility to check the EFI firmware or even create a complete dump of it from within the OS:

macOS High Sierra Automatically Performs Security Check on EFI Firmware Each Week

Mac users who upgrade to macOS High Sierra will benefit from a significant new security feature that works in the background. macOS High Sierra...

www.macrumors.com

How High Sierra checks your EFI firmware

When did your Mac last check its firmware? Probably only a few days ago. How eficheck keeps our Macs stable and safe.

eclecticlight.co

This was discontinued with T2 Macs:

rdar://42910459: eficheck does not work on Macs with T2 chips

Anyone knows the situation in case of the Arm Macs?
Is there a /usr/libexec/firmwarecheckers/eficheck/eficheck and does it work?

Can the firmware maybe be checked/dumped from DFU mode?

Apple Silicon Macs don't use EFI.

 

[tru3lies]

Apple Silicon Macs don't use EFI.

What do they use instead? Firmware is the more general term. There are two EEPROMs on the mainboard. Usually these are used for storing firmware/BIOS/EFI and maybe some user settings. I don't know for sure though in case of the M1 Macs. See here for the motherboard layout/chip descriptions:

M1 MacBook Pro and Air Teardowns

Past, meet future—it’s a mix of old and new in our dual teardown of the newest M1-powered MacBooks.

www.ifixit.com

[Preliminary] 2020 Apple Macbook Air IC Identification

iFixit took these pictures in this preliminary IC identification. This IC identification will be updated as more things are discovered from it. IC Identification: Originally Posted: 11/24/2020 7:11…

electronicsprojectsandmore.wordpress.com

It would be nice to know what is on those chips and having a software way to get a dump of the chip would be quite useful.

 

[chrfr]

What do they use instead? Firmware is the more general term. There are two EEPROMs on the mainboard. Usually these are used for storing firmware/BIOS/EFI and maybe some user settings.

Like an iPhone or iPad, they use iBoot. https://support.apple.com/guide/security/boot-modes-sec10869885b/web

 

[tru3lies]

But according to:

M1 Macs radically change boot and recovery

Unlike Intel Macs, M1 models always start booting from internal SSD, and can only offer full Recovery from there too. This has benefits, and some drawbacks too.

eclecticlight.co

iBoot is on the SSD. What do the EEPROMs do?

 

[CMMChris]

Read this if you want to know the in-depth stuff: https://asahilinux.org/2021/03/progress-report-january-february-2021/
And this: https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/SW:Boot

 

[Gnattu]

But according to:

M1 Macs radically change boot and recovery

Unlike Intel Macs, M1 models always start booting from internal SSD, and can only offer full Recovery from there too. This has benefits, and some drawbacks too.

eclecticlight.co

iBoot is on the SSD. What do the EEPROMs do?

It only contains the very first stage of iBoot and your product information, like serial number.

The secrueROM in the SOC first load the "early stage of iBoot" from EEPROM and run it. The only thing that stage does is to understand the APFS filesystem and load the second stage of iBoot from the Internal SSD.

Because the content of the EEPROM is so simple, it is meant to be permanent on Apple Silicon Macs, which means, they will not change with system updates.

 

[tru3lies]

Read this if you want to know the in-depth stuff: https://asahilinux.org/2021/03/progress-report-january-february-2021/
And this: https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/SW:Boot

Thanks, this was informative

It only contains the very first stage of iBoot and your product information, like serial number.

The secrueROM in the SOC first load the "early stage of iBoot" from EEPROM and run it. The only thing that stage does is to understand the APFS filesystem and load the second stage of iBoot from the Internal SSD.

Because the content of the EEPROM is so simple, it is meant to be permanent on Apple Silicon Macs, which means, they will not change with system updates.

As far as I know there are two chips on the board , not close to each other, indicating they do something different.
Do you know if Apple keeps the EEPROM read only? In case it only contains iBoot and not requiring updates this would be a wise decision.