Fritz!Box update closes a dangerous security vulnerability – even in old routers: the danger lurks even though remote access is deactivated | News

Vulnerabilities in Internet routers have a very high risk potential because they may be the gateway to all computers in a local network. Therefore, updates that plug these vulnerabilities are very important. AVM has been providing updates for Fritz!Boxes for a few weeks now, and is even providing support for devices that haven’t been officially supported for some time. In total, the manufacturer is considering around 30 models with the patch, suggesting that this fixes a serious bug in the firmware. However, the company still has not revealed any details. On the site with Safety information Just says they want to publish it later.

Preliminary information about closed vulnerabilities
The websites of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) show that attackers can exploit a vulnerability in unpatched Fritz!Boxes to carry out a cyberattack (see ). This means that all versions of Fritz!OS prior to the current version 7.57 are affected. Haze Online According to its own data, it recently received more detailed information from an unnamed informant about the vulnerability that AVM closed with the update. The whistleblower compared the patched version to the previous version of Fritz!OS.

The router is weak even when remote access is turned off
The bug appears to have been lurking in the Fritz!Box web server and enabled attackers to change the routers’ configuration. What is especially dangerous is that such attacks can be successfully carried out even if remote access to the web interface is not activated. The hackers simply had to lure Fritz!Box users to a website that contained a redirection to a router address on the local network. The password for its user interface was not needed to launch a successful attack, Heise Online wrote, but did not provide any further details.

Make sure to install the Fritz!OS update immediately
Fritz!Box owners who have not yet installed the update provided by AVM on September 4th of this year should do so immediately. The status of the firmware can be checked on the home page of the router’s user interface, which can be accessed via the local area network (LAN) at fritz.box. You can find out the current version available for your device Support site From the manufacturer. Incidentally, not only Fritz!Boxes are affected by the vulnerability, but also repeaters from the German manufacturer presented under the name Fritz!WLAN. There are also software updates for these.