[Fork] Asuswrt-Merlin 374.43 LTS releases (V32E4)

LATEST RELEASE: Update-32E4, including support new rev AC68 class routers
2-April-2018
Merlin fork 374.43_32E4j9527
Download http://bit.ly/1YdgUcP
============================

This is an LTS (Long Term Service) fork of Asuswrt-Merlin based on 374.43_2. This older code base has a history of being very stable, and some of the older code components may perform better in some environments. It may be a good choice for those who desire a 'set it and forget it' router solution. Additional information on the differences between this firmware and the later Asuswrt-Merlin releases can be found following the recent change highlights.

The following routers are supported by this firmware:

• N16, N66U, AC66U (original MIPS based revs)
• AC56U, AC68U (Rev A1,A2,B1), AC68P (and the retail and color versions, R and W, of each router)
• AC68U (Rev C1,E1), AC1900 and AC1900P (and the retail and color versions, R and W, of each router) and the AC66U-B1

The following routers were released after the base code used for this fork was available, and are NOT supported.

• AC87U, AC3100, AC3200, AC88U, AC5300, AC86U (and the retail R versions)

Installation Notes

• Firmware is now packaged as a zip file (consistent with Merlin firmware releases). Remember to extract the .trx file prior to updating the firmware. An sha256sum file is included in the zip file to validate the firmware.
• For supported routers currently running ASUS firmware 380.3000 or above, or Merlin 380.60 or above, you cannot load this fork using the built in firmware update web interface. You must use the ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool from the ASUS support website to install this fork firmware. You must always perform a factory default reset following the firmware update when moving from ASUS OEM or Merlin firmware above level 374 regardless if you updated via the web interface or Restoration Tool.
• Currently, two build streams are maintained.
  • The 'E' Builds are the recommended builds and contain the latest wireless drivers and related fixes, including the fixes for the KRACK exploit on all supported models except the N16 (ASUS never released a KRACK fix for the N16). The 'E' Builds for ARM routers also contain the latest ARM SDK providing support for the newer rev level AC68U and it's variations.
  • The 'L' Builds contain the original wireless drivers (2014 release) and DO NOT address the KRACK exploit, and for ARM routers DO NOT contain the latest SDK providing support for the latest AC68U rev levels. In addition, some fixes dependent on either the latest wireless drivers or latest ARM SDK may not be included in the 'L' builds. Please review the release notes/Changelog for further information.
• If you are updating an AC56U or AC68U running a fork version V26 or earlier, a factory reset is recommended following the firmware update to V27 or later. You may also need to reformat and restore JFFS due to updates for compatibility with the Merlin releases. Other fork users running an N16, N66U or AC66 can update to the 'E' Build as normal without a factory reset.
• Please review '@UpgradeMatrix.txt' in the download directory, which describes the upgrade options for all the supported routers. Included are the requirements for a Factory Default Reset or reformat of JFFS.
• If you need to perform a factory reset, you may use my NVRAM SAVE/RESTORE utility (check for the latest version) to transfer your user settings from your current firmware to this fork.
  https://www.snbforums.com/threads/19521/
• Users are reminded to have a jffs backup. For users with MIPS based routers, changes in the code image size may affect the jffs space. For users of ARM based routers, changes in the jffs partitioning may also affect the jffs allocations. If you are having jffs script errors or cannot access jffs after loading the firmware, please reformat jffs from the Administration page and restore your jffs backup.

Following are the major changes (full changelog is in the zip files)

Update-32E4 Highlights

• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.2o
• Upstream update for DNSMASQ to address DNSSEC fix for wildcard NSEC records. CVE-2017-15107 applies.
• Upstream update for DNSMASQ to use SIGINT instead of SIGHUP for DNSSEC timestamp notification
• AICloud update to address XSS vulnerability (ASUS backport)
• Update ASUSWEBSTORAGE support (ASUS backport)
• Tighten security around some of the system config files found in /etc (Merlin backport)
• Fix potential resource leak if an error occured when creating OpenVPN passwd/group/shadow files (Merlin backport)
• Fix CVE-2018-8879 potential buffer overrun in check_xss_blacklist (Merlin backport)
• Fix CVE-2018-8826 remote code code execution vulnerability (ASUS backport)
• Fix NETWORKMAP hang with attached Logitech Harmony Hub
• Fix setting of SAMBA dns proxy with wins server instead of master browser
• Enable BUSYBOX applets tty, depmod and blockdev, and enable fdisk support for large disks and lscolor (Merlin backport)

Some notes on this fork...

The fork does include

• Maintenance for documented security issues
• Maintenance for supporting open source components (such as dnsmasq, miniupnpd, etc)
• Backports of applicable fixes and new functions from Merlin's main branch
• Some unique support for options requested by users
• A different IPv6 stack which may work better in some environments
• A separate build with older versions of the wireless drivers that some feel offer better performance (especially on the MIPS based routers)
• Less of a lockdown on tweaking power levels

The fork does not include

• The new TrendMicro DPI engine functions for ARM routers
• The enhancements to the networkmap for custom icons, client naming, etc.
• Some of the enhanced gui formatting of later releases, for instance the new wireless log
• Support for the ASUS router control app
• All the changes/tweaks that ASUS may have made since the original code was released (and any new introduced bugs )

Custom features of the fork which are not exposed in the gui can be set by an nvram variable. These custom features are documented in the Merlin_Fork_Options file in the download directory.

Thanks to all for your continued interest in this fork.

Source: https://github.com/john9527/asuswrt-merlin : branch 374.43_2-update

SHA256

Code:

(Default Build - All supported routers)
7d9472b1423684536d8c4982d62e0bc039d8f82daa456f1c4d718784b3e27e9f  RT-N16_374.43_32E4j9527.trx
73fe76d0e3f07353a2262bcf5772324f7ca54db10ba176ec758a9bfb6f6a4b1f  RT-AC66U_374.43_32E4j9527.trx
505201654883992d91daca74dcaab9a2e3dcf52cae27cc7c60382a51f9390a54  RT-N66U_374.43_32E4j9527.trx
e7f57dd8592d14ba242c3b6d073e81225f43e4ad0fc8e83e7d3e0ab3d8d63293  RT-AC68U_374.43_32E4j9527.trx
6974ef96b6081b639f22d363cd89c8e6f68ec7f8294bda554f2b55f7c087d14e  RT-AC56U_374.43_32E4j9527.trx

(Legacy Only Builds)
bbaadce84aa236c0d65e4cdb42280a292f26c5c1bc8214c6df6f6e80d279ef9e  RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527.trx
9199eccc6f17cdf636256a67654ad1f6ed610e05cb45a30d6d475b652e1d9211  RT-AC56U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527.trx
13ae59a557402ce11a5aa364a4e0314b36f9065cccaea7ce2e3f96da74721caf  RT-N16_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527.trx
7feafa4c95770d3df4abf7835feb05418331562c30a4843fda20a898a18ccf90  RT-AC66U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527.trx
07b4ce97757a97800e848aae8ad91a45072e78dc3a43457ad46d6e7f059ac776  RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527.trx

 

This is awesome man! I haven't tried it yet. My wife is in school so I need 100% up time right now lol

 

Awesome!
A maintenance update for 374.43

I flashed it on top of 374.43 and so far so good.
Nice work.

MD5 checksum I got for the RT-N66U .trx file: E10E98C4F6CF380B00712A6A6BEEE2A1

 

Glad to hear that the flash on N66U worked!
Good point on the MD5 checksum....I added them for all the releases in the first post.

 

Nothing funny in the syslog so far.
Glad to see my MD5 is the same as your source.

For my understanding, the fixes/changes above are they all from Github?
Or did you merge them in yourself?

 

Please fix to work huawei e3276s 4g modem in 374.43_3 build thanks.

 

Add maintenance of Huawei 3g/4g lte dongle to 374.43

Same here. Requesting for maintance fix for the Huawei compatibility issue for 3G/4G/LTE dongle. it was working from Merlin 374.40Alpha4 and older also the latest 376.44 series. the firmwares in between doesn't work.
Using a Huawei e3276s here too.

 

minidlna

Is it possible also updating minidlna to 1.1.3?

Thanks for the work.

I am scared about trying 44 since it seems to cause lot of troubles in very important things like wifi and general speeds... and actually 43.2 is working right for me..

 

Come on gents, cut the Huawei crap.
That one is complicated and for ASUS to fix.
Send ASUS a bug report!

And put the router in question in your signature.
Do we have to smell what you are using?

Do try the fork from john9527 and give him some feedback.
Much better than only asking.

 

Can someone running this build explain more about it ? Is this a build that has the fixes for 44 but the interface of 43_2 ? Any comments would be great..

 

Don't be scared, just give 376.44 a try.
See if it works in your environment and decide yourself.
If not, simply revert to what you are using now.

 

That seems the case as far as I can see.

Maybe john9527 can tell us a bit more...

 

All the fixes have been committed by Merlin in his master branch. For this build, I merged them in by hand....gave me a chance to double check they were applicable (some I looked at were not) and gave me the chance to work through how git really worked. The exception was the openssl update...that one I let 'git cherry-pick' for me (146 updated files!).

 

Merlin kindly tags all his releases in github, so I was able to make a branch of exactly the 374.43 release. With that as a base, I looked at what had been fixed in later builds that may have been seen on the 43 code (a good example is the Plex miniupnpd syslog flood). So I picked up that specific fix and added it to the 43 code.

So what this is, is the 43 code, with just a couple of fixes on top of it that may help people out who don't want to upgrade to the next major release yet.

 

Right now the minidlna update is not in the plan (there is one minidlna fix picked up)....Asus actually picked that up, so it's rolled into Merlin's big merge without a specific commit I can go after (and I need to learn more to do an update that big ) This is unlike the openssl commit where I was just able to grab Merlin's work (only picked up to stay on top of any security issues).

Also, as you said, for me 43.2 is running pretty well....there were just a couple of things that needed addressing in my environment which led me into this project. I don't want to do too much and end up destabilizing the 43.2 base.

 

Great choice!

The problem with 376.44 is that you can't localize the router any more.
This is ASUS crap because of some FCC regulations.
FCC has no jurisdiction in my country, but ASUS doesn't care.

This means that with 376.44 I'm stuck with only 4 channels on 5GHz and reduced range on both WiFi bands.

So I stick with 374.43 unless there are serious security issues that needs to be fixed.
Probably a lot of people will do the same.
Such a shame for a great open source project.

That's why I am happy to see john9527's update on the 374.43 base.

 

Running fine, nothing unusual seen in syslog.

 

Many, many thanks indeed. Just what the Dr ordered, no pun intended.

Please keep up the good work. If you do keep it up, please set up a donation page.

 

From what I have read those that went to 44 and that wanted to go back were stuck and couldn't get their settings to work right.

 

I tried 44 two times and went back to 43_2 with no issues just make sure you do a complete factory reset.