Updating the bootloader

bootupd

Updating the bootloader is not currently automatic. The bootupd project is included in Fedora CoreOS and may be used for manual updates.

This is usually only relevant on bare metal scenarios, or virtualized hypervisors that support Secure Boot. An example reason to update the bootloader is for the BootHole vulnerability.

At the moment, only the EFI system partition (i.e. not the BIOS MBR) can be updated by bootupd.

Inspect the system status:

# bootupctl status
Component EFI
  Installed: grub2-efi-x64-1:2.04-31.fc33.x86_64,shim-x64-15-8.x86_64
  Update: At latest version
#

If an update is available, use bootupctl update to apply it; the change will take effect for the next reboot.

# bootupctl update
...
Updated: grub2-efi-x64-1:2.04-31.fc33.x86_64,shim-x64-15-8.x86_64
#

Example systemd unit to automate bootupd updates

variant: fcos
version: 1.5.0
systemd:
  units:
    - name: custom-bootupd-auto.service
      enabled: true
      contents: |
        [Unit]
        Description=Bootupd automatic update

        [Service]
        ExecStart=/usr/bin/bootupctl update
        RemainAfterExit=yes

        [Install]
        WantedBy=multi-user.target

Using images that predate bootupd

Older CoreOS images that predate the existence of bootupd need an explicit "adoption" phase. If bootupctl status says the component is Adoptable, perform the adoption with bootupctl adopt-and-update.

# bootupctl adopt-and-update
...
Updated: grub2-efi-x64-1:2.04-31.fc33.x86_64,shim-x64-15-8.x86_64
#

Future versions may default to automatic updates

It is possible that future Fedora CoreOS versions may default to automating bootloader updates similar to the above.

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