Libreboot’s developers have published version 25.04—code-named “Corny Calamity”—marking both the project’s first release of 2025 and the first to adopt a new YY.MM version format instead of the familiar eight-digit date stamp.
Keep in mind that this is a testing release, as the last stable one remains 20241206 from December 2024. The next production-ready image is set to ship as Libreboot 25.06 in June.
For the uninitiated, Libreboot is a free and open-source BIOS/UEFI firmware based on Coreboot, designed to replace proprietary ones on specific Intel/AMD x86 and ARM-based motherboards. It initializes the hardware when you power your computer and boots your operating system.
Under the hood, the new version was compiled on Debian 12.10 “Bookworm,” verified on Debian Sid with the GCC 15 experimental toolchain, and smoke-tested on Fedora 42. Those changes and dozens of build-system patches mean that Libreboot now builds cleanly on both ultra-recent and long-term supported GNU/Linux distributions.
Regarding hardware support, Libreboot 25.04 adds the Acer Q45T-AM desktop mainboard to its arsenal. Moreover, its sibling G43T-AM3 migrates to a descriptor-based layout with a full GbE region and the correct 4 MB ROM size, restoring on-board Ethernet in the process.
There is also a massive upstream refresh and security hardening. Those include SeaBIOS rev 9029a010 (March 2025), U-Boot v2025.04 for ARM64 targets, and fresh Coreboot, GRUB, and Flashprog snapshots. The GRUB update incorporates 73 critical CVE patches, closing multiple speculative execution and file system parsing vulnerabilities that had lingered upstream.
Furthermore, the project has overhauled its “./mk inject” workflow. Release ROMs now ship padded by a single byte and prefixed with a blunt “DO NOT FLASH” banner until the user injects required vendor blobs; the padding is then removed automatically.
Additional guardrails include stricter shell quoting throughout the build system, the removal of unattended package manager confirmations, and a default MAC address randomizer to curb duplicate NIC IDs in the wild.
Once again, because v25.04 targets adventurous testers, the maintainers flag the installation guide in bold type: skipping those steps still risks a permanent brick. Prospective flashers are well-advised to review the instructions—and double-check board compatibility—before committing bytes to SPI flash.
For more information, see the announcement.
