Release Asuswrt-Merlin 3006.102.6 is now available

[postoronnim-v]

RT-BE88U. After updating, I did a full reset, but for a long time I couldn’t connect to the drive via Samba. Through trial and error, I discovered the issue was the password—everything worked fine without it. I changed both the logins and the password in the system, and it turned out to be related to password length. With a 12-character password, everything works. I searched for information on password length limits but couldn’t find anything on Asus.com or in the forum. Can anyone help?

 

[bennor]

I searched for information on password length limits but couldn’t find anything on Asus.com or in the forum. Can anyone help?

Asus implemented a change in router passwords with their firmware. For example with the RT-BE88U they implemented that change with 3.0.0.6.102_38186 (2025/08/08):

- Password Policy Upgrade – Minimum 10 characters with at least 1 letter, 1 digit and 1 special symbol, and no consecutive identical characters; hardens defence against brute-force attacks.

However per the Asus-Merlin 3006.102.6 change log (and first post of this 3006.102.6 discussion):

3006.102.6 (25-Nov-2025)
- NOTE: Asus has made some security related changes. Password
requirements are stricter, and UPNP is no longer
enabled by default. New password rules were
slightly loosened for Asuswrt-Merlin, repeating
characters are still allowed.

 

[postoronnim-v]

Asus implemented a change in router passwords with their firmware. For example with the RT-BE88U they implemented that change with 3.0.0.6.102_38186 (2025/08/08):

However per the Asus-Merlin 3006.102.6 change log (and first post of this 3006.102.6 discussion):

That's the catch. It says it must be at least 10 characters long, but there's no mention of a character limit—yet there is one, like in Samba. Unfortunately, I only discovered this after completely reconfiguring the router while trying to fix the Samba issue.

 

[bennor]

That's the catch. It says it must be at least 10 characters long, but there's no mention of a character limit—yet there is one, like in Samba. Unfortunately, I only discovered this after completely reconfiguring the router while trying to fix the Samba issue.

Samba (CIFS/SMB protocol) password length may be limited to 16 characters for legacy reasons. Some very old posts on it:

Account limit on Samba share, password length

The Plus (+) icon was grayed out in Network Place (Samba) Share / Cloud Disk. I found the only way to enable it was to delete a user. There appears to be a user limit. Is there a way to expand this beyond six users? Also, I tried to enter a password longer than 16 characters, but the software...

www.snbforums.com

SAMBA and long password

On Thu October 1 2009 07:06 am, jedancoek wrote: > > I am having problem with accessing shres on win server (no AD). > When try to mount I get “password to long” > The truth is that password is at last 16 characters long. > for instance, when issue cmd like: > mount -t cifs -o...

forums.opensuse.org

Using AI may generate possible ways to have longer passwords but unknown if such methods work on the Samba(SMB/CIF) mount that the Asus router firmware uses.

 

[postoronnim-v]

Samba (CIFS/SMB protocol) password length may be limited to 16 characters for legacy reasons.

Samba doesn't work with a 16-character password. I had to experiment with reducing the password length. I settled on 12.