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TP-Link routers are facing a big security issue and the Indian govt has warned about it.
Wi-Fi routers from TP-Link faces a major security issue across the globe and the Indian government has warned people in the country as well.
Wireless routers are common across houses, so when a major security issue hits these devices, the concerns are alarming. The Indian government has also taken heed to the issues and released a high severity rated warning for people who are using wireless routers from a brand called TP–Link. The biggest problem with the security threat is that a big chunk of TP-Link routers are affected that have been running on the firmware version 1_1.1.6., as per the details available on the security issue with TP-Link routers.
TP-Link Router Security Risk: What We Know
The security risk affecting TP-Link routers is capable of allowing the attackers to bypass the existing security levels which gives them the ability to do anything with these devices. “By successfully exploiting this flaw, remote unauthenticated attackers can gain arbitrary command execution on the device with elevated privileges,” as highlighted by ONEKEY, a Germany-based cybersecurity firm.
As for the bulletin from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), “the vulnerability exists in TP-Link routers due to improper neutralization of special elements used in a binary called rftest. This binary exposes a network service that is vulnerable to unauthenticated command injection.”
The actual security risk was observed in the TP-Link Archer C5400X gaming router that was also running on the firmware version 1_1.1.6. The good news is that a new firmware is already available and you can fix the issue in the TP-Link routers by updating to the latest version.
TP-Link Router Security Issue: How To Update The Firmware And What Else You Should Know
Before you get to the part of updating the firmware version of the router to v1_1.1.7, the company has a strict set of guidelines that the customer needs to understand, because any misuse could void their product warranty.
– Only install the new firmware update from the official and local TP-Link website for your region, in this case it will be India.
– The second step is to verify the hardware version of the router to know the firmware version running on it. Once again, installing the wrong version could damage the router. You can head over to the TP-Link official website to see how the version number can be found.
– Keep the router turned on while the firmware upgrade is taking place because if the device loses power, it can face some issues.
– TP-Link advises you to install the upgrade by connecting the router to a wired LAN connection.
– You should stop using the computer and even disconnect the internet from the device while the upgrade is going on.
The firmware upgrade file for v1_1.1.7 Build 20240510 is available on the support page of TP-Link with a download file size of 34.78MB which can be extracted using software like WinRAR or WinZIP.
