Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.12 is now available for AC models

[RMerlin]

The RT-AC68U_V4 firmware contained in the combined RT-AC68U 386.12_2 file was missing the dcd fix. I re-uploaded the RT-AC68U archive with an updated image. There is no need to redownload if you do not have an RT-AC68U_V4 model (which very few people do, that revision went EOL within a year of its release).

 

[jarip]

Nov 12th:: 386.12_2 is now available. This resolves the constant dcd crashes.

386.12_2 (12-Nov-2023)
  - UPDATED: openssl to 1.1.1w.
  - UPDATED: curl to 8.4.0.
  - UPDATED: openvpn to 2.6.7.
  - FIXED: WPS not working on SDK6/SDK7 devices (affecting
           RT-AC68U and RT-AC88U/3100/5300)
  - FIXED: dcd constantly crashing (updated Trend Micro
           components)

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/download has checksum for RT-AC68U_386.12_2.trx as 77d32e086cc8802f678b79a778638c3fd44dfaa79d4a4c5a62e14bd0285b719d, but extracted file has 7CBFF05AA94F66C34E4A1E915FE3B7229EC20AD500A2B6DA6C4E481864B530FB

 

[RMerlin]

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/download has checksum for RT-AC68U_386.12_2.trx as 77d32e086cc8802f678b79a778638c3fd44dfaa79d4a4c5a62e14bd0285b719d, but extracted file has 7CBFF05AA94F66C34E4A1E915FE3B7229EC20AD500A2B6DA6C4E481864B530FB

Probably Cloudflare caching doesn't reflect the updated sha256 checksum file yet. See the post just above yours.

EDIT: I just manually flushed the Cloudflare cache, the updated sha256sums-ng.txt is now displayed on the website. You might need to flush your browser cache.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

bit funny, but when the update available notification is blinking on the webgui, the AC routers cpu usage is extremely high lol.

 

[WRobertE]

I'm seeing some new odd behavior after updating my AC68U to 386-12_2. I've flashed back to 12_0, back to 12_2 and again back to 12_0 and it seems to be something with 12_2. I see 12_2 has an openSSL update so maybe this is the culprit.

Under 12_2, I get long pauses when visiting web pages and the status line in the browser always shows "Performing TLS handshake ..." every time it happens. I don't see these long pauses under 12_0. So maybe there's something with the openssl update in 12_2.

Curious to see if anyone else sees this. I'm back on 12_0 for now. I never had the dcd crash problem.

I'm on Windows 10 64-bit with all current updates and my browser is the latest Firefox version 119.0.1. I don't understand how all this plumbing works so maybe I've got something else going on.

 

[RMerlin]

bit funny, but when the update available notification is blinking on the webgui, the AC routers cpu usage is extremely high lol.

They must be getting excited at the fact that they aren`t fully EOL yet (tho most of them are about to become so, since Asus already moved SDK7 models to their EOL list).

 

[RMerlin]

I'm on Windows 10 64-bit with all current updates and my browser is the latest Firefox version 119.0.1. I don't understand how all this plumbing works so maybe I've got something else going on.

When your PC`s Firefox connects to a remote website, it uses the SSL library from your operating system. The router`s OpenSSL isn`t involved at all then, it mostly gets used for things like using the router's OpenVPN, or accessing the router's management interface over HTTPS.

 

[WRobertE]

When your PC`s Firefox connects to a remote website, it uses the SSL library from your operating system. The router`s OpenSSL isn`t involved at all then, it mostly gets used for things like using the router's OpenVPN, or accessing the router's management interface over HTTPS.

I'm back on 12_0 and I just got the "Performing TLS handshake ..." delay again so it's clearly not a 12_2 problem. Thanks for the education and sorry for the erroneous report.

 

[bibikalka]

Nov 12th:: 386.12_2 is now available. This resolves the constant dcd crashes.

386.12_2 (12-Nov-2023)
...
  - FIXED: dcd constantly crashing (updated Trend Micro
           components)

It only took them how many years to fix dcd? TrendMicro is an amazing company (NOT)!

Strange that'd call themselves a "security company" ...

P.S. Installed it on AC86U, something else appears to crash early at the end of the boot process:

...
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: dig[25184]: syscall 425
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: Code: aa0503e4 aa0603e5 aa0703e6 d4000001 (b13ffc1f)
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: CPU: 1 PID: 25184 Comm: dig Tainted: P           O    4.1.27 #2
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: Hardware name: Broadcom-v8A (DT)
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: task: ffffffc01718e040 ti: ffffffc00374c000 task.ti: ffffffc00374c000
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: PC is at 0x7fa54f1ee4
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: LR is at 0x7fa54093a4
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: pc : [<0000007fa54f1ee4>] lr : [<0000007fa54093a4>] pstate: 20000000
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: sp : 0000007fda1c9b20
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: x29: 0000007fda1c9b20 x28: 0000000000000003
Nov 13 18:00:08 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000
...

P.P.S. Rebooted after the prior issues, just in case - did not help. Had a few more recent errors, including dcd:

Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: dcd[2701]: unhandled level 3 translation fault (11) at 0x00000000, esr 0x92000007
Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: pgd = ffffffc0112d9000
Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: [00000000] *pgd=0000000009b7c003, *pud=0000000009b7c003, *pmd=00000000131a7003, *pte=0000000000000000
Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: CPU: 1 PID: 2701 Comm: dcd Tainted: P           O    4.1.27 #2
Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: Hardware name: Broadcom-v8A (DT)
Nov 13 18:29:57 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: task: ffffffc01923e140 ti: ffffffc0112f8000 task.ti: ffffffc0112f8000
...
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: asd[1109]: unhandled level 3 translation fault (11) at 0x00000168, esr 0x92000007
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: pgd = ffffffc0170f6000
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: [00000168] *pgd=00000000170f3003, *pud=00000000170f3003, *pmd=00000000170f1003, *pte=0000000000000000
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: CPU: 0 PID: 1109 Comm: asd Tainted: P           O    4.1.27 #2
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: Hardware name: Broadcom-v8A (DT)
Nov 13 18:32:20 RT-AC86U-9988 kernel: task: ffffffc017164080 ti: ffffffc0170e0000 task.ti: ffffffc0170e0000
...

 

[RMerlin]

It only took them how many years to fix dcd?

Actually Trend Micro didn't. Without going into details, I can say that Asus' engineers had to come up with a way to "work around the issue".

Installed it on AC86U, something else appears to crash early at the end of the boot process:

That's dig. Known issue with Entware, check the Add-ons forums for the fix.

ad a few more recent errors, including dcd:

asd crashes: experienced by a few users, no idea what triggers the issue, doesn't happen here. I think there are some changes expected in asd for the next GPL merge, so we'll see then.

dcd crash: an occasional crash is not unexpected, as nothing was fixed in it, so previous issues that can cause it to crash (such as when you have a virtual network interface configured by Pixelserv-tls) are still present.

The workaround only addressed the specific case of dcd crashing every time it tried to connect with Trend Micro's servers.

 

[Howard_inGA]

1 day on 12.2 with clean logs and smooth running...

 

[heywire]

I'm still experiencing major crashes after firmware update to 386.12_2: main router's wifi is working, but WebGUI is down and all Aimesh routers are down.

I have to SSH into the main router and reboot. After rebooting, things are back working ok, but it's no fun (hell of a chore before I sat up SSH in order to be able to reboot remotely).

I think this started with 3.12 (or not many versions ago; most likely 386.12, maybe 386.11, max back to 386.10 I'd wager).

But I did a fair bit of flashing back and forth between 386.11 and 12, so it's happening consistently, not a one off.

Anybody else experiencing this?

 

[Tomo]

No problem here with config in sign but i have Trend M. off.

 

[Jeffrey Young]

I'm still experiencing major crashes after firmware update to 386.12_2: main router's wifi is working, but WebGUI is down and all Aimesh routers are down.

I have to SSH into the main router and reboot. After rebooting, things are back working ok, but it's no fun (hell of a chore before I sat up SSH in order to be able to reboot remotely).

I think this started with 3.12 (or not many versions ago; most likely 386.12, maybe 386.11, max back to 386.10 I'd wager).

But I did a fair bit of flashing back and forth between 386.11 and 12, so it's happening consistently, not a one off.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Have you looked at the syslog for clues?

 

[langesgnu]

I'm still experiencing major crashes after firmware update to 386.12_2: main router's wifi is working, but WebGUI is down and all Aimesh routers are down.

I have to SSH into the main router and reboot. After rebooting, things are back working ok, but it's no fun (hell of a chore before I sat up SSH in order to be able to reboot remotely).

I think this started with 3.12 (or not many versions ago; most likely 386.12, maybe 386.11, max back to 386.10 I'd wager).

But I did a fair bit of flashing back and forth between 386.11 and 12, so it's happening consistently, not a one off.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Since 386.12 or maybe even 386.11 my AC-88U had similar issues, where the router would become unresponsive and I could not log into the web ui while at the same time, all the wireless clients and the open vpn clients also had low (to none) performance. After a reboot, the system would work fine for some time and then it would start again. Strangely, the wired clients never had any such issues and performance was always good.

After reading this thread, I did withdraw from TM and immediately everything was fine and stable again. With the intermediate versions of 386.12, the same issue came up and so I also always turned off the TM engine. Now with 386.12_2, I still need to test if the issue will come back or not.

 

[Diamond67]

I'm still experiencing major crashes after firmware update to 386.12_2

I updated my home router to 386.12_2 (dirty update) about 15 hours ago. And after that used Wi-Fi for about 6 hours.

I only use 5 GHz radio.

After some 12 hours when I came home I noticed that Wi-Fi won't work at all. I rebooted the router and got the Wi-Fi up and running again. But after an hour or so, the Wi-Fi had died again and had to reboot again.

I checked connmon logs and the there were no problem with the internet connection. Just the Wi-Fi dies.

Before updating I had been running the fw 386.12_0 without any problems at all. Uptime for weeks.

Anyone else having trouble with Wi-Fi after updating to 386.12_2?

 

[crq]

I updated my home router to 386.12_2 (dirty update) about 15 hours ago. And after that used Wi-Fi for about 6 hours.

I only use 5 GHz radio.

After some 12 hours when I came home I noticed that Wi-Fi won't work at all. I rebooted the router and got the Wi-Fi up and running again. But after an hour or so, the Wi-Fi had died again and had to reboot again.

I checked connmon logs and the there were no problem with the internet connection. Just the Wi-Fi dies.

Before updating I had been running the fw 386.12_0 without any problems at all. Uptime for weeks.

Anyone else having trouble with Wi-Fi after updating to 386.12_2?

I had to revert back to 386.12 on my RT-AC66U B1 because of a similar problem.

I installed 386.12_2 and after reboot my Samsung phone and tablet didn't want to connect to both 2.4 and 5GHz SSIDs. It looked like the passphrase was wrong. My Windows computer was able to connect, but when I disconnected and tried to connect back, it also refused.
Strange is that all smart sockets, camwras and lights were able to connect, most of them are using 2.4GHz.

I didn't check the logs unfortunately because I needed stable Wi-Fi so I reverted back immediately and all devices were able to connect again.

 

[bibikalka]

Actually Trend Micro didn't. Without going into details, I can say that Asus' engineers had to come up with a way to "work around the issue".

That's dig. Known issue with Entware, check the Add-ons forums for the fix.


asd crashes: experienced by a few users, no idea what triggers the issue, doesn't happen here. I think there are some changes expected in asd for the next GPL merge, so we'll see then.

dcd crash: an occasional crash is not unexpected, as nothing was fixed in it, so previous issues that can cause it to crash (such as when you have a virtual network interface configured by Pixelserv-tls) are still present.

The workaround only addressed the specific case of dcd crashing every time it tried to connect with Trend Micro's servers.

dig issue seems related to uiDivStats slowly becoming obsolete, so the fix is to get rid of uiDivStats entirely if one wants to get rid of these errors:

Need help with syslog being spammed with kernel messages

I don’t know why my syslog is jam packed with these kernel messages. I don’t know what is going on or how to remove them. The router is working fine and doesn’t seem to be a problem, however I’m not sure if it’s something I should be concerned about. Thanks, David 12:00:04 RT-AC86U-3E70...

www.snbforums.com

But I'll keep it running for now.

asd/dcd issues are spammy too, but what can one do if full fixes for those are out of reach ...
The best fix I have is to purge most of the error lines using this scribe filter, so at least the log file is not spammed:

Scribe - A filter to drop kernel dcd tainted errors :

My AC86U router produces endless kernel dcd errors due to AiProtection features which pretty much pollute the system log and make it impossible to look at in a fairly efficient manner. See such a dcd error message below - it's huge for each error instance. So I put together a new quick & dirty...

www.snbforums.com

 

[freddy2000]

RE: OpenVPN server issues with 386.12.2

I upgraded my ASUS RT-AC86U to 386.12.2 from 386.12.0. The OpenVPN server with the new firmware could not maintain the tunnel after the client made a connection for a few minutes. On the server it shows the client is connected, but on the client it turned into connecting. I have to reboot the server. But the problem comes back again. The problem is the same from all different client apps.

It has been fine with all previous versions of Asus-Merlin firmware.

I upgraded it remotely, but it looks like I cannot downgrade remotely.

Thanks.

 

[martinr]

RE: OpenVPN server issues with 386.12.2

I upgraded my ASUS RT-AC86U to 386.12.2 from 386.12.0. The OpenVPN server with the new firmware could not maintain the tunnel after the client made a connection for a few minutes. On the server it shows the client is connected, but on the client it turned into connecting. I have to reboot the server. But the problem comes back again. The problem is the same from all different client apps.

It has been fine with all previous versions of Asus-Merlin firmware.

I upgraded it remotely, but it looks like I cannot downgrade remotely.

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum. I’d try exporting a new OpenVPN config file from the router and importing it into each of your devices that remotely connect. Doesn’t take long, and there’s a very good chance it’ll fix it. Please tell us the result.