Alert for Home Users - Router Critical Vulnerability
Jan 17, 2008
As SOHO (Small Office Home Office) users, we wanted to inform you of a vulnerability that has been identified in several home wireless routers (including D-Link, Belkin, Linksys and Netgear). The vulnerability that has been identified could allow an attacker to reconfigure or take over devices connected to the victim’s system that support UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). Please click here for additional information on the security alert.
To mitigate this security vulnerability, please visit the suggested sites below for additional information on steps to be taken. The likely course of action recommended by the vendor may be for the home router to be restored to factory defaults and for a firmware update to be applied. It is also possible that the vendor for your router may not have a fix yet for this problem but may have information on steps to take to minimize the risk of exposure due to this vulnerability. The key is to TURN OFF UPnP on the router ASAP and then take other steps as recommended by the vendor in the event that your router is already compromised.
D-Link: D-Link Technical Support
Belkin: Live Chat, User Guides, FAQs & More | Belkin Support
Note: On the popular Linksys WRT54G router, you need to do the following:
- Log into the router as the Administrator
- Click on Administration
- Under the Administration menu, click on the choice Management (the first one)
- At the bottom of the page will be the setting for UPnP. Click the button to disable it.
- Click Save Settings
- Click on the link to go to the Linksys site to check if additional actions are recommended.