A computing device that implements a secure and transparent firmware update process is provided. The computing device includes a secure memory area and a secure device that separately executes firmware updates in parallel with other processes executed by a CPU. The secure memory area may be allocated by the CPU and/or a memory controller using any of a variety of memory protection techniques. System software executed by the CPU receives update firmware requests from a trusted source, stores a firmware payload included in these requests in the secure memory area, and executes the next scheduled process. Firmware executed by the secure device retrieves the firmware payload from the secure memory area, authenticates the firmware payload, and applies the firmware payload to a firmware storage device. The secure device performs these acts transparently from the point of view of the CPU, these avoiding consumption of resources of the CPU.