[FIRMWARE] Intel ME (H470/Z490)

[L-Sakata]

Hi everyone,

- Intel ME Consumer Firmware :
snip
Hardware requirements : Motherboards with Intel Z490 chipset.

Hey there.

I've been going round and round with support, for over a week, about the IntelME update at https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/ro...helpdesk_bios/

Version 14.0.45.1389V2.1
2020/10/29 4.93 MBytes
MEUpdateTool
Intel has identified security issue that could potentially place impacted platform at risk.
Use ME Update tool to update your ME.
*We suggest you update ME Driver to the latest Version 14.0.45.1389V2.1 simultaneously.
Please download the file and check the MD5 code first.
MD5: a326d4ad928cc054d970924b50e7b6d6

MD5 matched up, unzipped the archive, and see a bunch of crap that doesn't even appear to have a bin file to flash, but figure maybe I'm out of touch. Run the MEUpdateTool.exe and at first it just crashes without error. Figured out the system was blocking the DLL files included. Turns out these weren't packaged quite right, but... MD5 matches, its from official site, I must really be out of touch. Unblock the DLLs, and re-run the MEUpdateTool. This time is crashes anyways, and presents two errors, the first of which is ASIO.sys missing, then another that I can't recall.

So I'm looking at your package, and it actually looks like a firmware update! I do note the date is a bit older, and I'm not seeing a v2.1 bit on the tail. Not sure if it matters, but figure there had to be a reason they uploaded it on 2020/10/29, so was wondering a couple of things:

First, if you check this stuff, and I'm not just being dumb, maybe you have a bit more influence, or the correct channel, to get them to update the official package? Nothing against you, but I'm a bit suspicious of stuff hosted on some free file sharing service, or an unofficial channel in general. You also don't have a hash to check against in your post, so there's absolutely no telling if what you uploaded has been tampered with by the time I get it.

Second, if the official package is correct, do you happen to have any idea what AsIO.sys is, where it can be obtained? I'm wondering if I'm missing a critical driver somewhere, and support... I'm not sure if they're even reading the support ticket, or understand what I'm saying, either due to language barrier, or because I'm dealing with the B-team lvl1 support people still. They're asking for BIOS screenshots, to see what version of ME I have, which I already know to be old (and have several active CVEs affecting it) which is why I was downloading the update program to begin with! FFS!

Third, I noted in the official download that they recommend some driver be downloaded, that appears to be a ghost. Don't see any other ME packages with a 'driver', nor am I aware that one is required? Intel itself doesn't appear to have released a 'driver' for ME since 8th gen CPUs (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/pro...agement-Engine). Also, this kind of update, if needed or existing, should already be in the package to update firmware anyhow?!

Thanks for taking your time to read this. Hopefully I communicated clearly -- I'm a bit frustrated (with ASUS, not you), but hope that hasn't made me seem like a jerk.