grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.93.15+2.02-2ubuntu8.14) failed to upgrade, system unbootable

[lvm]

During the routine upgrade grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.93.15+2.02-2ubuntu8.14) returned an error:

Setting up grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.93.15+2.02-2ubuntu8.14) ...
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Could not delete variable: Invalid argument
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Block device required.
dpkg: error processing package grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure):
installed grub-efi-amd64-signed package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
grub-efi-amd64-signed
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Linux server 5.0.0-36-generic #39~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 12 11:09:50 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[lvm (lvm-royal)]

Oh, and I of course didn't try to reboot, so any comment on whether it is safe to do and how to recover from this situation are welcome.

[lvm (lvm-royal)]

Currently ubuntu EFI entry is gone

# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 1 seconds
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery
Boot0001* Hard Drive BBS(HD,,0x0)
Boot0004 Built-in EFI Shell VenMedia(5023b95c-db26-429b-a648-bd47664c8012)/FvFile(c57ad6b7-0515-40a8-9d21-551652854e37)
Boot0007* Removable Drive BBS(Floppy,,0x0)Generic Ultra HS-SD/MMC.

and I cannot add it back

# efibootmgr -c -g -w -L "ubuntu" -l "\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi"
Could not prepare Boot variable: Invalid argument

(/boot/efi is /dev/sda1)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Georg B. (barge)]

I am/was affected by this bug (or at least the same symptoms) on a Dell XPS 13 9343. It got resolved by updating the BIOS from version A15 to version A20. I got the idea from reading the comments at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2-signed/+bug/1753518, which may be related to this.

[Vivien GUEANT (vivienfr)]

I am affected by this bug on a server Dell PowerEdge R320 with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Unable to create EFI entry with efibootmgr.

If my server reboots, I know it will not be able to restart.

Watch the screenshot of my attempts to create a UEFI entry with efibootmgr --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --create --gpt --label "ubuntu" --loader "\EFI\ubuntu\shmix64.efi"

[Vivien GUEANT (vivienfr)]

The error comes from the impossibility for "efibootmgr" to create a new boot UEFI entry
# efibootmgr --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --create --label "ubuntu" --loader "\EFI\ubuntu\shmix64.efi"
Could not prepare Boot variable: Invalid argument

[Vivien GUEANT (vivienfr)]

More information on the server affected by this bug:

product: Dell PowerEdge R320
capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 smp vsyscall32
firmware version: 2.4.2 date: 01/29/2015
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1410 0 @ 2.80GHz
boot in UEFI, but without secure boot

uname -a
Linux carte-fh 5.0.0-37-generic #40~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Nov 14 12:06:39 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

dpkg-query -W efibootmgr
efibootmgr 15-1

dpkg-query -W grub-efi-amd64
grub-efi-amd64 2.02-2ubuntu8.14

dpkg-query -W grub-efi-amd64-signed
grub-efi-amd64-signed 1.93.15+2.02-2ubuntu8.14

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic

# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0004,0000,0002,0003,0005
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager HD(1,GPT,0bb8261c-af59-11e2-ad71-d829a5f6482d,0x800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...a................
Boot0002* EFI Network 1 PcieRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(90b11c522ca3,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)
Boot0003* EFI Network 2 PcieRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x1)/MAC(90b11c522ca4,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager HD(1,GPT,b221b9be-a399-11d5-a392-d4ae5290fd14,0x800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...a................
Boot0005* EFI Fixed Disk Boot Device 1 PcieRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Sata(0,0,0)/HD(1,GPT,c188b9a0-7588-4e8c-a27b-c87039655832,0x800,0x100000)

[lvm (lvm-royal)]

I finally tried rebooting the affected server, and as I expected it wouldn't boot with 'no bootable device available', and I was able to recover it by upgrading (admittedly ancient) BIOS (EFI) to the latest available version.