Strange BIOS errors on several of my Linux systems - hacked/virus? [Solved]

[TheLorax]

Greetings all,

I am getting odd BIOS errors on both my MX and Kubuntu systems since I'created current Live USBs and installed from them. I've had a problem in the past with being targeted by outlaw hackers and I'm a little paranoid. These Fine Gentlemen would do things like write to BIOS and even write to wireless mice and keyboards in their quest for the 'persistence' on my system. It was really quite a pain.

So, now when I see a BIOS error my first question is: Is this a hack designed to penetrate or corrupt my current system? And then: If not, what do the errors mean? are they dangerous? and . . . can they be corrected?

It seems odd that two different manufacturer's laptops and BIOSs both have similar errors. No? (unless it's a kernel thing? but both use different kernel versions.)

Thanks so much!

Here's my system info:

MX Linux

0.953672] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Could not resolve symbol [\_SB.PCI0.GP17.MP2], AE_NOT_FOUND (20210930/psargs-330)
0.953959] Error: Aborting method \_SB.GPIO._EVT due to previous error (AE_NOT_FOUND) (20210930/psparse-529)

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.16.0-5mx-amd64 [5.16.14-1~mx21+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.16.0-5mx-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           init=/lib/systemd/systemd 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.2_ahs_x64 Wildflower April 9  2022 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: Alpha 17 B5EEK v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> 
           Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-17LL v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> 
           UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: E17LLAMS.108 date: 04/07/2022 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 84.4 Wh (94.8%) condition: 89.0/87.4 Wh (101.8%) volts: 17.2 
           min: 15.4 model: MSI Corp. MS-17 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Unknown 
           Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard serial: <filter> 
           charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:       Info: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Zen 3 family: 19 (25) model-id: 50 (80) stepping: 0 microcode: A50000C cache: 
           L2: 4 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 102208 
           Speed: 1391 MHz min/max: 1200/3200 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1391 
           2: 1874 3: 1294 4: 1294 5: 1533 6: 1913 7: 1395 8: 1323 9: 1765 10: 1590 11: 1296 
           12: 1404 13: 2192 14: 1422 15: 1461 16: 1196 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 
           mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: always-on, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 7.98 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 253:1 mapped: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
           GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 37.0 C mem: 38.0 C fan: 0 watts: 4.00 device: amdgpu 
           temp: 34.0 C 
Info:      Processes: 381 Uptime: 11m wakeups: 3 Memory: 15.09 GiB used: 2.05 GiB (13.6%) 
           Init: systemd v: 247 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.4-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

#########################################################################################################

Kubuntu

[ 0.253220] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Failure creating named object [\_SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB.SS08._UPC], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, (20210730/dswload2-326)
[ 0.253226] ACPI Error (bug): AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20210730/psobject-220)
[ 0.253232] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Failure creating named object [\_SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB.SS08._PLD], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, (20210730/dswload2-326)
[ 0.253237] ACPI Error (bug): AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20210730/psobject-220)
[ 0.253285] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Failure creating named object [\_SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB.SS08._PLD], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, (20210730/dswload2-326)
[ 0.253290] ACPI Error (bug): AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20210730/psobject-220)
… more of the same until [ 0.253365] <- last message time.

Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.6
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-47-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i5-10300H CPU @ 2.50GHz
Memory: 15.4 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics

[mxrd]

just an idea: are you starting this machines sometimes with wide-spread other window-OSs, which were in some cases
writing to BIOS eg faststart(or similar) (or other things?) and so maybe a program on this OS could write, too?

[JayM]

I have had ACPI "errors" similar to those on every computer I've owned, whether Intel or AMD, no matter what motherboard, whether it had legacy BIOS or UEFI, no matter what Linux distro I was using. Just ignore them.

Also, kindly click the button with the icon that looks like a checkmark near the upper-right of this post to mark this topic as solved.

[Huckleberry Finn]

In the meantime: This not the "Quick System Info". "Edited".

[timkb4cq]

These ACPI errors are quite common since most motherboard manufacturers just make sure their implementation works in Windows, not that it follows spec. the [\_SB.PCI0.GP17.MP2 error is related to the ryzen i2c/pci bus controller. The early kernel driver for that controller had issues which subsequent kernels have been fixing. My three year old Dell ryzen laptop had similar ones. It used to have more a year ago but a Bios update & newer kernel fixed most of them.
I do note that there is a bios update available for your laptop and the 5.19 kernel is available.

[Eadwine Rose]

When asked to provide the Quick System Info, do NOT edit the output. Just paste the whole thing in a reply.

[Stevo]

I would say this is a good example for Hanlon's razor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

[Stuart_M]

+1 That's a gem!

[TheLorax]

Thanks so much to all who answered! As for Hanlon's razor . . . admittedly, I'm a bit paranoid since I got my a** handed to me by those hackers for months, so thanks for the reminder to be chill. To answer the OS question, no other OS , I am running a pure MX Linux system. I have "burned my ships on the beach" with regard to MS Windows. As soon as I learned how to use Steam and Proton, windows was dead to me for good. I absolutely love MX Linux with XFCE and Mint with Cinnamon is a bit of fun too. It's great that the new version offers the option to run systemd as this is what I grew up on. Massive thanks to all again for easing my mind. Take care.

[Huckleberry Finn]

You're welcome. You can mark the thread this way: