Linux 7.3 Adds 120-Second EFI Timeout to Stop Firmware Hangs
Updated
Updated · Phoronix · Jun 16
Linux 7.3 Adds 120-Second EFI Timeout to Stop Firmware Hangs
2 articles · Updated · Phoronix · Jun 16
Summary
A new Linux 7.3 kernel change caps EFI runtime service waits at 120 seconds, after which firmware is marked wedged instead of leaving the system blocked indefinitely.
Buggy EFI calls can trap a kworker inside firmware while it holds efi_runtime_lock, causing later EFI users such as efivarfs, NVRAM writes and ACPI PRM handlers to stall until reboot.
Breno Leitao, a Debian developer and Meta kernel engineer, developed the patch series after the issue surfaced on an NVIDIA Grace server.
The safeguard does not fix the underlying firmware bug, but it isolates one stuck EFI call, protects the rest of user space and gives operators a clear dmesg signal that firmware is at fault.