OpenVPN Support Forum

Hello everyone,

While I appreciate the sentiment of posting firmwares, I do want to add a note of caution to the above post:

This was posted by a volunteer visiting the public OpenVPN forums, and the authenticity of the URL cannot be proven. That means it could contain viruses or dragons or whatever. So just beware.

Kind regards,
Johan

Indeed, be carefull! Linksys support doesn't know anything about a Beta release!

I decided to jump in the deep end and try the "beta" firmware on an isolated segment of my network. After doing a hard reset with the red button I downloaded the firmware from the link above and flashed a test 3200ACM with it. The router updated without issue, and rebooted as normal. The Linksys logo on the main admin page has changed to the new version on their website. Plugging in the WAN cable, I enabled OpenVPN server and generated a config file, which was empty, no certificates. I've had that happen before on new installs, so I hard reset it once again and generated a new config file, and ran the CA through the geocerts parser and got the following result:

Certificate Information:
Common Name: Mamba

Subject Alternative Names (SANs): N/A

Organization: Linksys

Locality: Irvine

State: CA

Country: US

Valid From: 2022-11-24 00:28:49 UTC

Valid To: 2032-11-21 00:28:49 UTC

Issuer: Mamba

Serial Number: 16611423669438468672

Algorithm: sha1WithRSAEncryption

Key size: 1024

I proceeded to connect to the router with the new confg file and it worked just fine, no errors on the handshake.
I don't know where the firmware came from, so caution is in order. I asked Linksys support to verify the link to the firmware and they were not able to do so, but still assert that a beta release is coming out this week (but its Thanksgiving long weekend in US beginning tomorrow).
Whatever this firmware is, it worked for me. I will wait for Linksys to release the beta and test that.

I understand the caution regarding the beta firmware posting. This link was provided to me over a Linksys support chat. I have used it now for 3 days with no issues. A bit puzzling why all Linksys/Belkin support does not know about it.

Cheers.

Short update: I updated a second router. The first time that I reset it, the CA certificate still expired on 10/8/2022. I reset it again and this time the CA certificate was recreated for 2032. The first reset did clear the LAN address, etc, but I suspect that I didn't leave it connected to the internet long enough for it to update the clock before configuring the OpenVPN.

Further to this, Linksys did send me a link to the beta firmware late Wednesday and it's the same as posted here. I've now updated another router and it worked fine with 2032 expiration dates on the CA. After upgrading, I then restored the previous config and the certicates were created with the correct dates. So if you back up your config first, reset twice, check the certificates and restore you should be in good shape. I also tried to upgrade in place, without a reset, and it failed as I suspected it would. It would have been nice to have this work as I have a a remove location that I guess I'll have to travel to. But, I'm pleased it appears that we have a repeatable solution now.

Unless I'm missing something there doesn't appear to be a solution for WRT1900ACS models, a bit older than the ACM i believe is being discussed here. I have the same problem and the "beta" firmware isn't compatible. I've only tried a few factory resets and things not gone crazy because I prefer the uptime over my VPN access. Definitely disappointed and it seems like alot of people are affected.

Hi all,
Just noting success with the new firmware 1.0.9.211585. The successful procedure:
* Backup router configuration
* Install new firmware manually
* Hard reset to router
* Quick router setup after reset to get to main user interface
* Get new OpenVPN config file to verify certificate date (2022 - 2032)
* Restore router configuration
VPN now working. It also appears Linksys fixed the Guest wifi problem (blocked port).
Candidly I did not hold out much hope this firmware release would happen. I even bought a Synology router replacement, which has been a disappointingly difficult setup, and it is still not working, even in my simple network topology.
Hope this helps....

The important thing is, you need the do a factory reset (This clears all the old certificates) AFTER you installed this new version.
After this it should immediately work and generate 2032 certificates. The rest of the actions have no impact.
Leave the LAN cable connected.

Anycolour wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 30, 2022 5:45 pm

Unless I'm missing something there doesn't appear to be a solution for WRT1900ACS models, a bit older than the ACM i believe is being discussed here. I have the same problem and the "beta" firmware isn't compatible. I've only tried a few factory resets and things not gone crazy because I prefer the uptime over my VPN access. Definitely disappointed and it seems like alot of people are affected.

Same issue with my WRT 1900ACv2, waiting for the USB cable so I can flash my bricked WRT32X.

jaakdaniels wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:26 am

The important thing is, you need the do a factory reset (This clears all the old certificates) AFTER you installed this new version.
After this it should immediately work and generate 2032 certificates. The rest of the actions have no impact.
Leave the LAN cable connected.

And what about WAN cable? Yes / No
If yes, does WAN cable use PPPoE or some other option Static/DCHP IP, or?

Oh, i mean the WAN cable My bad!
Leave the WAN cable connected. Without it it does not update the date and time from the NTP.
Checked the logging. They changed something in the timing. The time-date gets set and after that the certificates ar egenerated, like it should have worked in the first place. This 1.0.9.xxxx version works well

Thank you for posting the hard reset solution. I initially tried the soft button one, but I guess that doesn't work. I didn't have to downgrade the firmware, I was prepared to do it, but figured I'd try a hard reset first.

Mine updated to 2033, saved me the hassle and cost of getting a new router