News RT-AC68U End of Life Announced by Asus

[Tech9]

Note that I have one and it works very well.

Yours is not doing much. It's a weird looking access point with RGB lights. I hope it's EVA Edition and wall mounted...

 

[yogy]

You also need a switch, access points and knowledge how to make everything work together. Nothing can beat home AIO home router in terms of user friendliness. The hardware is coupled together already and the options in software do multiple operations automatically. All this you have to do manually with understanding how it works.

Definitely the better option, but not for everyone.

Thank you for your warning!
Knowledge is the key word here
I am on a noob end for this point

I have my asus router behind my provider one (yes I know i am bad, double nat)
I have an AP (also with friendly webinterface) from TPlink for the wifi (wifi is not too important for me, small house)
I have a 16 ports switch, because the asus router has only 4 ports.

What I will miss are the easy VPN possibilities and such
But opensense/pfsense will have also have possibilities i guess.
And forums where I can gain knowledge

But no more Asus that hides itself behind Broadcom for updates. (sorry sir, no more sdk)
When I see the list of discontinued devices, Asus must almost be out of letter/number combinations.
What a countless mess of devices.

 

[Tech9]

Thank you for your warning!
Knowledge is the key word here
I am on a noob end for this point

You'll gain knowledge, don't you worry!
Once you move you won't be sorry!
The more you learn the more you'll get,
Soon the issues you'll forget!

 

[sol1109]

Had mine since 2013. Went through several DLink routers before that in shorter times and hated dealing with problems and quirks. Been very happy with Asus but might give Synology a look.

 

[wouterv]

Based on hardware used and software support:

GT and Pro models compatible with 3.0.0.6 firmware have the best chances for survival - 3.0.0.6 firmware is what BE series use as well.

Budget models and older hardware limited to 3.0.0.4 firmware will be discontinued first - some for marketing, others for supply chain reasons.

It is a bit odd, ASUS markets 3.0.0.6 which is ASUSWRT 5.0 as:
Professional-grade software tailored for professionals.
ASUSWRT 5.0 is a router software that we have newly designed for professional users and commercial scenarios.
Source.
The GT and Pro models somewhat suggest by their name they are intended for the above market.

What about the very average consumer who is not waiting for super speeds and does not need all the bells and whistles in that Professional-grade firmware but only needs a rock solid black box that provides (wireless) internet access to their home environment?
On top of this: most consumers do install and power up the router without ever bothering about firmware and upgrades - if the thing fails too often they will buy a new router.

If ASUSWRT 5.0 is for the intended market, you can think they also will develop a straight forward firmware version for the average consumer.
Consumer-ASUSWRT shall be plain, simple, straightforward with an even more rock solid automatic firmware update mechanism (one you can disable ) with a security fix guarantee of at least 5 years after the date of purchase.

 

[Tech9]

Source.

Don't even look at this page. What is shown there is ExpertWiFi series firmware and features and what is claimed as compatible actually isn't.

What professional office or business will purchase Republic Of Gamers Rapture device with RGB lights to drive their network? This Pro is pure marketing. Whoever needs real Pro equipment knows what to look for. Asus home router with Asuswrt 5.0 is not on the list. I personally run 4 business locations, nothing there is a consumer product.

 

[sfx2000]

Professional-grade software tailored for professionals.

They're about as Professional Grade as GMC vs. Chevy pickup trucks here in the US...

Marketing...

To be honest - at the "professional" level - less is more - stability is a key metric...

 

[wouterv]

I know the professional market never uses consumer products, for networking still Cisco is the number one (not their consumer branch like Linksys).
“Less is more” is my way to go, or KISS - keep it simple, stupid.
Looking at routers you see that most of the troubles are related to the extra features.
I promote back to the old school WRT54G basics for consumer routers: a router, a switch and wireless access point in one box. Allow third party firmware for those who want or need extra features.
Eventually offer extra features by payed subscription.
What i still like with ASUS is their firmware upgrades, maybe only Synology offers a similar long term support, others usually stop firmware updating after a year or so.

 

[yogy]

What i still like with ASUS is their firmware upgrades, maybe only Synology offers a similar long term support, others usually stop firmware updating after a year or so.

Do not say that to someone who bought a RT-AX68U about 1.5 year ago

 

[wouterv]

I won’t.
As mentioned: there can be various reasons why no new firmwere gets released, the reason can well be beyond control of ASUSand e.g. be the SoC manufacturer.
There will also be good and bad designs or SoC’s, the good ones may survive longer in sales and support then the bad ones.

 

[maxbraketorque]

Do not say that to someone who bought a RT-AX68U about 1.5 year ago

One of very few exceptions. Unfortunate for those people who purchased, but as others have said, this would be the typical supported life of a router from another brand.

 

[Tech9]

One of very few exceptions.

Because you look at more popular and expensive models. There were series of MediaTek based RT-ARCHXX, RT-AC1200XX, RT-AC65/67/85/87, RT-AC1700/2200/2400/2600 etc. most discontinued after 3-4 years. There is also RT-N19 from 2020, in theory still supported, but never got a firmware update after Jan 2021. It's a rare find 4-stream 2.4GHz N router with Qualcomm hardware and beats in range many much more expensive models. I had one in my router collection. GT-AC5300 also had relatively short life for a high-end model as well as originally offered as "mesh" system on unreal high price RT-AX92U. The expensive "business" model BRT-AC828 didn't live very long too.

 

[wouterv]

Don't even look at this page. What is shown there is ExpertWiFi series firmware and features and what is claimed as compatible actually isn't.

What professional office or business will purchase Republic Of Gamers Rapture device with RGB lights to drive their network? This Pro is pure marketing. Whoever needs real Pro equipment knows what to look for. Asus home router with Asuswrt 5.0 is not on the list. I personally run 4 business locations, nothing there is a consumer product.

Then ASUS is confused them selves.
E.g. taken from the GT-AX6000 firmware release notes:

ASUS GT-AX6000 Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_21514

                 Version 3.0.0.6.102_21514
 
60.31 MB 2023/06/20
 
New features for ASUSWRT 5.0

3.0.0.6.102 is ASUSWRT 5.0 and that is what they describe here.

 

[Tech9]

Then ASUS is confused them selves.

This page was perhaps created before the final plan what device will be getting specific Asuswrt 5.0 features. It's >1 year old predating the first 3.0.0.6 beta. The WebUI is different for ExpertWiFi series and they have additional features like Guest Network profiles and Captive Portal. The WebUI for GT series is also different, but with similar/same to RT series features. I know what the difference is from other sources, but a common user looking at this Asuswrt 5.0 presentation with GT-AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro compatible at the bottom would expect to get what is shown above. This is not the case. What is shown is ExpertWiFi devices only.

 

[Intrepid]

Is the RT-AC68U vulnerable to this attack...?
TheMoon malware infects 6,000 ASUS routers in 72 hours
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...0-asus-routers-in-72-hours-for-proxy-service/

 

[bennor]

Is the RT-AC68U vulnerable to this attack...?
TheMoon malware infects 6,000 ASUS routers in 72 hours
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...0-asus-routers-in-72-hours-for-proxy-service/

Per the Bleeping computer article...

The researchers do not specify the exact method used to breach the ASUS routers, but given that the targeted device models are end-of-life, it is likely that the attackers leveraged known vulnerabilities in the firmware.

The attackers may also brute-force admin passwords or test default and weak credentials.

 

[L&LD]

How recent is your firmware?

The RT-AC68U is EOL, but it was just announced.

 

[Intrepid]

Question assumes Current Firmware, Unique Username & Password, and all of this OFF: Respond to Ping, Telnet, SSH, Access from WAN, Port Forwarding, UPnP, and any other insecure setting.

More Info: Lumen Technologies Report
https://blog.lumen.com/the-darkside-of-themoon/

Speculation: TheMoon spreads via a worm component that scans for vulnerable web servers, so if Access from WAN if Off along with the other router external hardening mentioned the risk is reduced significantly.

 

[bennor]

Specific discussion on TheMoon malware targeting Asus routers one may want to use the other later thread that was started specifically discussing it to avoid having a two track discussion on the malware:

EOL ASUS routers affected by TheMoon malware

EOL ASUS routers affected by TheMoon malware: https://blog.lumen.com/the-darkside-of-themoon/

www.snbforums.com

 

[Jesse Viviano]

Based on hardware used and software support:

GT and Pro models compatible with 3.0.0.6 firmware have the best chances for survival - 3.0.0.6 firmware is what BE series use as well.

Budget models and older hardware limited to 3.0.0.4 firmware will be discontinued first - some for marketing, others for supply chain reasons.

The idea about the different version numbers interested me. When I looked up the latest firmware version number for my GT-AX11000, it is 3.0.0.4.388_24328. The last firmware version for the RT-AC68U is 3.0.0.4.386_51668. When I looked up many other current but slightly older Asus routers' latest firmware versions, they were 3.0.0.4.388_xxxxx firmware versions. My router used to run 3.0.0.4.386_xxxxx firmware versions, but got upgraded to 3.0.0.4.388_xxxxx firmware versions while the RT-AC68U was still stuck on 3.0.0.4.386_xxxxx firmware versions. However, the mention of the RT-AX68U made me look that EOL model up, and its last firmware version is 3.0.0.4.388_24646 . Looking up other EOL 802.11ax Asus routers showed that they are on the 3.0.0.4.388_xxxxx firmware series.

I have not been able to find any pattern on which routers will get upgraded to the 3.0.0.6 firmware versions and which ones will be stuck on 3.0.0.4.388_xxxxx firmware versions.