Vitaliy D. vi7

Removing a Mac's Firmware Password By Reflashing EFI ROM

According to Apple, the only way to remove an unknown firmware password from a MacBook (2011 and later) is to take it to the Apple Store with the original proof-of-purchase. However, I've found that there is another way, which I've been successful with for the unibody MacBook Pro--it's essentially just modifying a couple bytes in the EFI ROM, which should be simple. What's not simple, however, is figuring out how to read and write to the EFI chip. In this post, I'll talk about the process that I figured out and what worked for me.

The Official Method

Apple's method of resetting the firmware password is not reproducible, as Apple generates an SCBO file that unlocks the EFI using their private key. You can read more about this process here. The problem with this system is that, if you are in the unfortunate situation of neither having the firmware unlock pass

Renew GPG key

Given that your key has expired.

$ gpg --list-keys
$ gpg --edit-key KEYID

Use the expire command to set a new expire date:

How to setup your own CA with OpenSSL

For educational reasons I've decided to create my own CA. Here is what I learned.

First things first

Lets get some context first.

	--Adapted from http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/194567/how-can-i-use-applescript-to-type
	--Types text in where TypeIt4Me dare not tread (like in a VNC session).

	on run {input, parameters}

	tell application "System Events"
	set textToType to the clipboard
	delay 1
	keystroke textToType
	end tell

	#! /usr/bin/env python

	# Copyright (C) 2012 The Android Open Source Project
	#
	# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
	# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
	# You may obtain a copy of the License at
	#
	# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
	#

	# import config.
	# You can change the default config with `make cnf="config_special.env" build`
	cnf ?= config.env
	include $(cnf)
	export $(shell sed 's/=.*//' $(cnf))

	# import deploy config
	# You can change the default deploy config with `make cnf="deploy_special.env" release`
	dpl ?= deploy.env
	include $(dpl)

	#!/usr/bin/python

	import serial
	import signal
	import sys
	import time

	def BinaryModeEnter(connection):
	connection.flushInput()
	for x in range(0, 20): # Try at most 20 times

	-- This AppleScript converts the clipboard contents to plain text
	set the clipboard to (get the clipboard as text)
	-- Show notification with a preview
	display notification (the clipboard) with title ("PlainTexted!")
	-- Add a small delay so the notification has the time to launch
	delay 2