4 ms·
Well, considering that most home users never update their router's firmware, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of applied updates are
by labcomputer 2y ago
Well, considering that most home users never update their router's firmware, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of applied updates are malicious.
If you did want to go this route, a simple fix would be to have the write enable line gated by a hardware one-shot timer (think like a 555 timer) triggered by a physical button on the front (and the button would also reboot the router).
The firmware update sequence would go like: Router prompts user to update using button -> user presses update button -> router reboots to clear malicious software -> when the router comes back up, the write enable gate remains open for $n minutes (and maybe there's a GPIO that can hold the gate open if it is already open) -> router performs software update.
The problem is that there's pretty much no way to do this without adding a $1-2 to the BOM, and no manufacturer of (pro|con)sumer routers will do that.
Edit: Or do what stacktrust wrote and just have a toggle switch (update/secure).
- starttoaster 2y ago> Well, considering that most home users never update their router's firmware, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of applied updates are malicious. Consumer grade routers often have automatic updates these days.
- internetter 2y agoYeah I have a pretty nice router and inexplicably, random nights, it drops out at 3am for ~3 minutes and then comes back on (and has all the markings of a reboot in terms of the pattern of request failures). I have to assume Synology just decided that nothing's using the internet at 3am
- starttoaster 2y agoI had no idea that Synology did routers too, but I would assume this would be a configurable time somewhere in the settings. But yes, that sounds like automatic updates to me.
- Scoundreller 2y agoTo fix security issues, or to introduce new features increasing the attack surface?
- stacktrust 2y agoOPNsense automatic updates are relatively conservative.