A patch series has been submitted for the Apple Silicon NVMe Linux kernel driver to fix several bugs triggered by newer firmware shipped since macOS 15. The new firmware is stricter than previous versions and is also required for Apple M4 support on Linux. Fixes address a kernel panic on controller initialization failure, a missing chicken bit workaround, better alignment with macOS behavior, and a quirk for page-aligned admin queue buffers needed for M4 and later NVMe controllers.
Questions this post answers
Why does the Apple NVMe Linux driver need fixes for macOS 15 firmware?
macOS 15 ships a new, stricter firmware for NVMe controllers on Apple M-series SoCs. This firmware exposes bugs in the Linux driver that were harmless with older M1/M2 firmware, including a kernel panic on controller initialization failure, a missing chicken bit, and a page-alignment quirk for admin queue buffers. The new firmware is also a prerequisite for adding Apple M4 support to Linux. Developers tracking Apple Silicon Linux support follow patch series like this on daily.dev as M4 enablement work progresses.