Indian Government Alerts Users to Serious Security Flaws in Popular Router Brand

Wireless routers are common in homes, so when a major security issue hits these devices, the concern is alarming. The Indian government has also looked into these issues and issued a high severity rated warning for people using wireless routers of the brand TP-Link. The biggest problem with the security threat is that a large portion of TP-Link routers are affected that have firmware version 1_1.1.6. Running on, as per details available on security issue with TP-Link routers.

TP-LINK Router Security Risk: What We Know
A security risk affecting TP-Link routers is capable of allowing attackers to bypass existing security layers that give them the ability to do anything with these devices. “By successfully exploiting this flaw, remote unauthorized attackers could gain arbitrary command execution on a device with elevated privileges,” as published by Germany-based cybersecurity firm ONEKEY.

For a bulletin from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), “A 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 real security risk was found in a TP-Link Archer C5400X gaming router that was also running on firmware version 1_1.1.6. The good news is that new firmware is already available and you can fix the problem in TP-Link routers by updating to the latest version.

TP-Link Router Security Issue: How to Update 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, as any misuse can 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 check the hardware version of the router and know the firmware version running on it. Once again, installing the wrong version can damage the router. You can visit the TP-Link official website to see how to find the version number.

– Keep the router on while the firmware is being upgraded because if the device loses power, it may 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 while the upgrade is in progress and also disconnect the internet from the device.

The firmware upgrade file for v1_1.1.7 build 20240510 is available on TP-Link’s support page with a download file size of 34.78MB that can be extracted using software like WinRAR or WinZIP.