Netgear Router: BSI warns again of serious security breaches

One of the vulnerable routers: The Netgear Nighthwak X8 R8500.


Protection through Update and Workaround


For owners of a Netgear there is again bad news. After numerous routers had already been affected by a security breach in December 2017, the manufacturer now confirms a vulnerability in numerous devices. The Swiss Federal Office for Information Security has issued an official technical warning for the risk level 5. It is strongly recommended that users are informed of a firmware update or alternative safeguards.


These Netgear routers are affected


The easy-to-use vulnerabilities allow attackers to access the Netgear Web interface passwords when the passwords recovery option is disabled. The attack must either be done internally from the network or the remote maintenance must be activated.


Which router models are affected, our list below shows. For 18 routers, Netgear already provides firmware updates for download on its support website. For all others, Netgear recommends the following workaround to protect the routers from attacks


Both steps are necessary to close the vulnerability.


Depending on the firmware, the following router models are affected by the current security vulnerability under the BSI warning:


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Already in December 2017, Netgear had confirmed a security breach in some of its routers and was in urgent need of updates. At that time, attackers were able to execute code directly in the router command line via specially crafted web pages and thus take over the router.