Firmware management of SR-IOV adapters in a computing system includes: receiving, by a hypervisor, a request to update a hypervisor-hosted firmware image including replacing a firmware image previously stored in a reserved memory space of the hypervisor with a replacement firmware image, where the hypervisor-hosted firmware image includes an SR-IOV adapter firmware image configured for installation on SR-IOV adapters of a particular type; determining whether all SR-IOV adapters of the particular type in the computing system have been updated to the previously stored firmware image; and updating the hypervisor-hosted firmware image only if all SR-IOV adapters of the particular type in the computing system have been updated to the previously stored firmware image, including replacing, in the reserved memory space, the previously stored firmware image with the replacement firmware image.