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OpenWrt

DEVOPS
Velocity2.5

Linux operating system for embedded network devices

openwrt.org ↗

Two stable branches, and the release cadence is now set by CVE disclosure.

router-firmwareembedded-linuxcve-responsedevice-supportdual-branchsecurity-audit
◆Current state
OpenWrt is maintaining 24.10 in security-only mode with end of life projected for September 2026, while 25.12 — released in March 2026 after more than a year and over 4,700 commits — carries active development. Nearly every release in the last five months is driven by vulnerability response: a Trail of Bits audit of OpenWrt's own components in February produced four CVEs in umdns, jsonpath and procd, and the odhcpd DHCPv6 server has since yielded a critical stack overflow plus use-after-free and memory disclosure bugs. The 25.12 release itself replaced opkg with apk and was named for Dave Täht.
◆Where it's heading
The project is being audited seriously for the first time in a while, and it shows — the security sections of these notes have shifted from upstream dependency updates to defects in OpenWrt's own daemons. That is uncomfortable in the short term and healthy in the long term, and the pattern of same-day paired releases across both branches shows the maintainers treat the installed base as production infrastructure rather than hobbyist firmware. Device support continues accreting steadily underneath, mostly mediatek filogic and ramips targets.
◆Prediction
Expect the 24.10 branch to receive security-only patches until the September 2026 EoL and then stop, with migration pressure toward 25.12 increasing in the notes. Further odhcpd findings are plausible given how much of the recent CVE volume traces to that one daemon.

◆Recent moves

  1. 13d ago

    Remotely triggerable odhcpd flaws patched on 24.10

    A security release for the 24.10 maintenance branch covering multiple remotely triggerable flaws in network services enabled by default, chiefly odhcpd. The notes repeat the September 2026 EoL warning and push users toward 25.12.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    Critical DHCPv6 overflow in odhcpd patched

    The 25.12 counterpart carrying the same odhcpd fixes, including a critical stack buffer overflow in DHCPv6 IA reply serialization reachable with crafted REQUEST packets, plus a use-after-free and a memory disclosure. Both branches were patched within weeks of each other, as is now standard for this project.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    dnsmasq fixes and the Dirty Frag IPsec privilege escalation

    Security maintenance for 24.10 covering dnsmasq and a kernel update to 6.6.138 that closes an IPsec ESP local privilege escalation. Only devices with the IPsec kernel modules loaded are affected, which the notes are careful to scope.

    View source ↗
  4. 2mo ago

    Six dnsmasq CVEs backported plus the kernel IPsec fix

    Backports six upstream dnsmasq CVE patches — heap overflow in domain-name handling, two DNSSEC crash paths, a DHCPv6 CLID overflow and broken EDNS Client Subnet validation — alongside the same kernel IPsec fix. DNS and DHCP remain where most of the exposure sits in this firmware.

    View source ↗
  5. 3mo ago

    TLS library updates and seven new device targets

    Updates mbedtls, OpenSSL and wolfSSL for multiple CVEs and closes a kernel issue affecting a narrow set of targets, while adding support for seven new devices across mediatek and ramips. A representative service release — TLS library churn plus steady hardware accretion.

    View source ↗
  6. 4mo ago

    Device fixes across airoha, ath79, apm821xx and ipq40xx

    A device-support release with no security section — U-Boot environment fixes for older NETGEAR, Western Digital and Meraki hardware, VLAN CPU port tagging fixes on dual-CPU-port devices, and a kernel module rename that requires affected users to reinstall. The one release in this window driven by hardware rather than CVEs.

    View source ↗