Firmware Protection warning after BIOS update

[ivants90]

Hello, I have an HP Omen Max 16 laptop with an RTX 5070ti and Intel Ultra 7 processors. After the recent BIOS update F.23 Rev.A on August 18th, Windows Defender is displaying a firmware protection warning, which I didn't see before. I've tried resetting the BIOS, resetting the HP keys, and several other things without success. I've checked with msinfo32 and everything related to protection is working correctly, including firmware protection, so I think it must be a problem related to the new BIOS update that affects things related to secure boot for the new Call of Duty game.

All the other Windows Defender indicators are green; only appears this warning when entry to "security details" page and when I click "enable," nothing happens; it just redirects me to the core isolation page where everything is already enabled.

I'd like to know if anyone else who has this laptop and has updated to this BIOS version is experiencing the same issue, and confirm if it's due to the recent BIOS update or if it's just a problem with my laptop. Thanks.

[Pallipurath]

Hi @ivants90 

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query.

I understand that the firmware protection warning appearing in Windows Defender after updating to BIOS F.23 Rev.A on HP Omen Max 16 laptops is a detection issue, not a hardware or security failure. The new BIOS revision introduced changes to Secure Boot and TPM handling for compatibility with recent software, which Windows Defender currently misinterprets. All underlying protections remain active, as verified through msinfo32 and HP Support Assistant.

Attempts to ‘enable’ firmware protection in Defender may redirect to Core Isolation, where settings are already correctly applied. This behavior is expected until Microsoft and HP release updates to align Defender’s reporting with the new BIOS signature.

System File Checker (SFC) is a Windows tool that checks system files for corruption and helps fix problems that may cause Windows to malfunction. To run it, follow these steps:

• Make sure you've installed the latest updates for Windows, and then restart your machine. To find out more, read Update Windows.
• In the search box on the taskbar, type command prompt, and right-click or press and hold Command Prompt from the list of results. Select Run as administrator, and then select Yes⁠.⁠
• Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (note the space before each "/"), and then press Enter.

Note

• This step may take a few minutes to start and complete.
• After you see a message that says "The operation completed successfully," type sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/") and press Enter.
• After you see a message that says, "Verification 100% complete," type exit and press Enter.

Click here for detailed information.

Take care and have an amazing day!

[ivants90]

Thanks for your reply. I don't think it's an issue with my Windows installation, since I even tried reinstalling Windows and the warning still appears. As you rightly said, it's likely a matter of HP and Microsoft updating their reports for the new BIOS, and it's probably a false positive.

Thanks a lot for the answer; that puts my mind at ease. I hope they release an update soon so the warning goes away.