ASUS RT-AC56S AsusWrt-Merlin Firmware 384.5 Beta 1

The AsusWrt-Merlin firmware was developed with the primary goal of boosting the original ASUS firmware, fix bugs and also add new improvements. This package includes a customized firmware targeted at ASUS routers that brings various changes without modifying the interface of the original firmware.

Changes:

- NEW: Merged withh GPL 384_20648
- NEW: Merged RT-AC68U, RT-AC5300 binary blobs from 384_20648
- NEW: Merged RT-AC86U SDK and binary blobs from 384_20648
- NEW: service-event script, executed before any service call is made. First argument is the event (typically stop, start or restart), second argument is the target (wireless, httpd, etc...). Note that this script will block the execution of the event until it returns.
- CHANGED: Updated OpenVPN to 2.4.6.
- CHANGED: Updated Dropbear to 2018.76.
- CHANGED: Updated Openssl to 1.0.2o.
- CHANGED: Updated miniupnpd to 20180412.
- CHANGED: Updated nano to 2.9.5.
- CHANGED: Moved RT-AC86U to the same Busybox version (1.25.1) as other models.
- CHANGED: Removed option to resolve names on the Log -> Connections page (making that page work now like on stock Asus firmware). That functionality is now provided by the Network Tools -> Netstat page.
- CHANGED: Re-designed Log -> Connections page into a table with sortable fields.
- CHANGED: From now on, setting the router to act as a master browser or a WINS server will also require you to enable sharing. This will ensure that disks won't be accidentally shared when sharing is disabled but you had one of these two options enabled.
- CHANGED: Moved "Beta firmware" option to the Tools -> Other Settings page
- CHANGED: Improved layout of the Firmware Update page
- CHANGED: DHCP server no longer sends an empty DHCP option 252 (for WPAD), Windows should now behave correctly without these.
- CHANGED: Blocking custom scripts such as service-event and pre-mount will now wait a maximum of 120 seconds before resuming normal operations, to prevent accidental lockouts.
- FIXED: Some dnsmasq issues related to DNSSEC were fixed, including CVE-2017-15107. (backported from dnsmasq 2.79 by John Bacho)
- FIXED: Restoring an OpenVPN instance to default values would fail to disable its Start with WAN setting.
- FIXED: Hardware authentication failure for the RT-AC3100 and RT-AC5300.
- FIXED: Minidlna web status page could no longer be enabled.

Revised OpenVPN client options:

- Reorganized settings into groups
- Removed "Poll Interval" (which didn't work properly), and reimplemented watchdog service, with a hardcoded frequency of 2 mins.
- Removed Firewall setting (firewall rules are now always created). You can now use the postconf script to override it.
- Modified behaviour of Connection Retry. Instead of taking a value in seconds that only affected resolution failure, it now takes a number of attempts, and affects connection failures. Resolution failures will now retry for an infinite period of time (the default OpenVPN value).
- Added "refresh" link which can be clicked to re-query the public IP endpoint of the tunnel
- Keys and certificates can now be up to 7999 characters long.
 

Installation Notes:

- This custom firmware can be applied like any regular update.
- You should not need to reset to factory defaults.
- You can revert back to an original ASUS firmware at any time.
- Do not load a saved copy of your settings. 

About Router Firmware:

Before you consider downloading this firmware, go to the system information page of the router and make sure that the currently installed version isn't either newer or matching this release.

Due to the large variety of router models and different methods for upgrading the device, it is highly recommended that you read and, above all, understand the installation steps before you apply the new firmware, even if you are a power user.

In theory, these steps shouldn't be much of a hassle for anyone, because manufacturers try to make them as easy as possible, even if they don't always succeed. Basically, you must upload the new firmware to the router through its administration page and allow it to upgrade.

If you install a new version, you can expect increased security levels, different vulnerability issues to be resolved, improved overall performance and transfer speeds, enhanced compatibility with other devices, added support for newly developed technologies, as well as several other changes.

If you're looking for certain safety measures, remember that it would be best if you perform the upload using an Ethernet cable rather than a wireless connection, which can be interrupted easily. Also, make sure you don't power off the router or use its buttons during the installation, if you wish avoid any malfunctions.

If this firmware meets your current needs, get the desired version and apply it to your router unit; if not, check with our website as often as possible so that you don't miss the update that will improve your device.