Many consumer routers contained another backdoor which was fixed with a patch, but the patch actually just hid the backdoor so it was still usable by attackers. For example, some D-Link routers contained a backdoor - if your browser used a special user agent string, you could access the administration interface without a username and password. If your router needs regular reboots, a custom firmware may make it run more stable. Here’s a demo of the DD-WRT interface you can view online.Ĭustom router firmware can also be more stable than the manufacturer-provided firmware in some cases. Even user-friendly options like DD-WRT add powerful features like quality of service (QoS) support for prioritizing network traffic, a feature often found only on higher-end routers.
You can use it to install lightweight web, VPN, and SSH servers on your router. For example, the OpenWrt firmware is basically a Linux distribution for your router, complete with a package manager. People like installing custom router firmware because they provide additional features. RELATED: Secure Your Wireless Router: 8 Things You Can Do Right Now However, the WRT54GL series only supports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and lacks support for 802.11n wireless, so it’s not really the ideal router to purchase today.
However, the line of Linux-based WRT54G routers continues in Linksys’s WRT54GL series - the L stands for Linux. They could take that code and change it, adding features, tweaking it, modifying the interface, and then flashing their customized version back onto the router.įuture versions of the WRT54G ran a different operating system. Enthusiast’s then had a router that ran Linux and the source code to the router. They eventually released the WRT54G firmware’s source code after some pressure. Linksys didn’t release source code when they released the router, although they were supposed to. These routers ran a firmware based on Linux.
Custom router firmware first took off with the Linksys WRT54G router released back in 2003.
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