What is the critical vulnerability found in ASUS routers?

A high-severity bug in Broadcom chipset software allows denial-of-service attacks on ASUS routers by sending malformed Wi-Fi traffic.

Which ASUS router models are affected by the Wi-Fi vulnerability?

The ASUS RT-BE86U is confirmed vulnerable, and other models using the same Broadcom wireless chipset may also be affected.

How can a denial-of-service attack impact my ASUS router?

The attack can make your router's 5G network unresponsive, disconnect all clients, and require a manual restart to restore service.

Home / Technology / ASUS Router Vulnerability Leaves Wi-Fi Networks Unstable

ASUS Router Vulnerability Leaves Wi-Fi Networks Unstable

20 Jan

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Summary

A high-severity bug (8.4/10) in Broadcom chipset software impacted ASUS routers.
Malicious actors could trigger denial-of-service attacks by sending malformed Wi-Fi traffic.
The ASUS RT-BE86U was confirmed vulnerable; other models may be affected.

ASUS Router Vulnerability Leaves Wi-Fi Networks Unstable

A critical bug affecting Broadcom chipset software has been discovered, with the ASUS RT-BE86U router confirmed as vulnerable. Security researchers identified that malformed 802.11 (Wi-Fi) protocol traffic could trigger denial-of-service attacks, causing the router to crash and become unresponsive.

This vulnerability allows an attacker to send a single malicious frame, leading to the 5G network becoming inaccessible to all clients. Connections on the 5G network would be terminated and could not be re-established until the router was manually restarted. Notably, the 2.4 GHz network and Ethernet connections were not affected.