MAC#s changed after ASUS DDR Configuration Update Download

[yilee]

RT-AC68u serious issue! Someone please relay this to some senior members.Thanks
It is an understatement to say that I am disturbed about this issue and will greatly appreciate any help in understanding what happened as well as how I should proceed going forward.

My RT-ac68u device MAC numbers are completely different since successfully using the DDR Configuration Update Download from the Asus Website!! ALSO THE PIN CODE CHANGED! It was my understanding that MAC device ID's were basically permanent. Now the numbers on the sticker on the back of the device do not match what shows on the RT-68u WEB GUI or on my Zywall USG100 firewall logs. However, everything is working great. It seems very fast and stable running 5GHz 802.11AC on a very new laptop. I am using the ac68u as an Access Point under the Zywall USG100 Firewall.
Edit: Research on Google turned up this:
a.Original MAC ID at first and on sticker on back of router is unknown vender starting with d8:50:e6
b. The new MAC ID after the DDR Configuration Upgrade starts with 00:90:4c which is Epigram Inc. which is now Broadcom which makes sense.
So now I'm wondering what the story is on the original MAC ID that I started out with?

This is what transpired:

1. Got everything working great as Access Point with default firmware 374.205.

2.Successfully updated firmware to 374.583. Everything continues to work great and Zywall is still identifying the Original MAC's on the AC68u

3.Thought long and hard and decided not to use the DDR Updater but eventually I convinced myself that if I did update I might be in better shape for future firmware updates. So I ran the DDR Updater Successfully after performing a proper Reset.

4. Afterwards during setup my Zywall immediately blocked DHCP assignment to the AC-68u Access Point due to IP-MAC Binding Block. After seeing the Firewall Block I realized that the MAC ID number was no longer the same as before which was very disturbing. Also the MAC Id for the 5GHZ is different from the main LAN MAC and the 2.4GHz MAC at the last portion for which I understand it is normal for the 5GHz mac to be slightly different at the end of the MAC sequence.

5. So I regrouped and reset the AC68u then re-ran the DDR Updater again only to se a dialog box state that the AC68u was already using the updated boot file. So I then re-ran the 374.583 firmware update successfully again.

6.So, after all the re-updating, the MAC ID's were still different from the original defaults. So I then removed the Zywall's reserved MAC-IP reservation and rebooted the Zywall and then accessed the AC68u Web GUI and set it up as an Access Point again and then let the Zywall automatically assign a new IP address to the AC68u and then once I knew the assigned IP address I then set the AC68u back as static and set the Zywall to reserve the NEW MAC ID of the RT-ac68u.

7. I set everything up again and everything is working great. Very stable, getting 866.7Mbps and the Intel Dual Band AC7260 using the Intel ProSet software with administrative group policy for extra features. I have no software bugs and am overly impressed with this new Lenovo t540p laptop. All drivers are up to date.

However, I am at a lost about how to proceed because unless I get a reasonable answer as to what happened I will feel forced to contact Asus or Newegg to get a different router for security reasons.
Is it possible that the AC68u has been assigned a known backdoor MAC ID that is commonly known to hackers? Also, even though I do not use WPS, the PIN Code was also changed to what I would consider an easy string to break by just guessing!

Is there a way to access the Router CLI setting through Telnet or SSH(I think) and fix this issue? It would seem to me that MAC ID's are not possible to manually change at all even with a BOOT Update. Did everyone who used the DDR Updater get the same MAC ID?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[legitsu]

RT-AC68u serious issue! Someone please relay this to some senior members.Thanks
It is an understatement to say that I am disturbed about this issue and will greatly appreciate any help in understanding what happened as well as how I should proceed going forward.

My RT-ac68u device MAC numbers are completely different since successfully using the DDR Configuration Update Download from the Asus Website!! ALSO THE PIN CODE CHANGED! It was my understanding that MAC device ID's were basically permanent. Now the numbers on the sticker on the back of the device do not match what shows on the RT-68u WEB GUI or on my Zywall USG100 firewall logs. However, everything is working great. It seems very fast and stable running 5GHz 802.11AC on a very new laptop. I am using the ac68u as an Access Point under the Zywall USG100 Firewall.
Edit: Research on Google turned up this:
a.Original MAC ID at first and on sticker on back of router is unknown vender starting with d8:50:e6
b. The new MAC ID after the DDR Configuration Upgrade starts with 00:90:4c which is Epigram Inc. which is now Broadcom which makes sense.
So now I'm wondering what the story is on the original MAC ID that I started out with?

This is what transpired:

1. Got everything working great as Access Point with default firmware 374.205.

2.Successfully updated firmware to 374.583. Everything continues to work great and Zywall is still identifying the Original MAC's on the AC68u

3.Thought long and hard and decided not to use the DDR Updater but eventually I convinced myself that if I did update I might be in better shape for future firmware updates. So I ran the DDR Updater Successfully after performing a proper Reset.

4. Afterwards during setup my Zywall immediately blocked DHCP assignment to the AC-68u Access Point due to IP-MAC Binding Block. After seeing the Firewall Block I realized that the MAC ID number was no longer the same as before which was very disturbing. Also the MAC Id for the 5GHZ is different from the main LAN MAC and the 2.4GHz MAC at the last portion for which I understand it is normal for the 5GHz mac to be slightly different at the end of the MAC sequence.

5. So I regrouped and reset the AC68u then re-ran the DDR Updater again only to se a dialog box state that the AC68u was already using the updated boot file. So I then re-ran the 374.583 firmware update successfully again.

6.So, after all the re-updating, the MAC ID's were still different from the original defaults. So I then removed the Zywall's reserved MAC-IP reservation and rebooted the Zywall and then accessed the AC68u Web GUI and set it up as an Access Point again and then let the Zywall automatically assign a new IP address to the AC68u and then once I knew the assigned IP address I then set the AC68u back as static and set the Zywall to reserve the NEW MAC ID of the RT-ac68u.

7. I set everything up again and everything is working great. Very stable, getting 866.7Mbps and the Intel Dual Band AC7260 using the Intel ProSet software with administrative group policy for extra features. I have no software bugs and am overly impressed with this new Lenovo t540p laptop. All drivers are up to date.

However, I am at a lost about how to proceed because unless I get a reasonable answer as to what happened I will feel forced to contact Asus or Newegg to get a different router for security reasons.
Is it possible that the AC68u has been assigned a known backdoor MAC ID that is commonly known to hackers? Also, even though I do not use WPS, the PIN Code was also changed to what I would consider an easy string to break by just guessing!

Is there a way to access the Router CLI setting through Telnet or SSH(I think) and fix this issue? It would seem to me that MAC ID's are not possible to manually change at all even with a BOOT Update. Did everyone who used the DDR Updater get the same MAC ID?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

you clearly misunderstand what a MAC address is/does

your mac address is not visible from the WAN(internet) side it only applies to the LAN this applies to EVERYTHING at no point is anybodys mac address visible outside the LAN (expect in the case of some VPN software but virtual adaptors have there own MAC) it has nothing todo with security or hacking its only used to identify a particular NiC or interface on the network the OSI model doesn't permit broadcasting the MAC address outside the local area network the one exception to this is a CABLE/fiber modem but thats only accessible for the ISP's end or one of the NODES on the cable line it is NOT visible from the internet

and every time you update the firmware the firmware configuration routine generates a new mac address(no idea why it does this it just does)
when you do a firmware upgrade ALL settings are deleted if you do it right

you should be able to change the mac address from the ASUS firmware GUI
on tomato firmware the command to change the mac address from ssh is

nvram set et0macaddr=BC:EE:7B:35:13:37 <-- this is the wifi
nvram set mac_wan=00:4F:C0:31:13:37 <-- this is the wan port where your modem connects
nvram commit
it may be different on the stock firmware so do
nvram find mac
first and compare notes
ill leave it at this you have a ~300.00 bit of firewall hardware and don't even know what a mac address is you sir: have some reading todo