GoKawiil16-year-old Broadcom Wi-Fi flaw leaves millions of routers open to remote attack
Security researcher Quentin Kaiser disclosed a vulnerability he named WPSplinter in Broadcom's WPS code at the Hexacon conference in Paris. He showed that an attacker within Wi-Fi range, without the password, could extract network keys or gain a remote shell on affected routers, and confirmed the bug on gateways used by three of Belgium's four major ISPs.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Broadcom reportedly patched this code eight years ago, but the fix never made it into deployed routers, and without a CVE number the flaw stayed off the radar of advisory systems ISPs rely on for patching. Kaiser says AI tools let him find the bug in under a week, which suggests firmware security that once relied on obscurity and tedium may now be far easier for both researchers and attackers to crack.
- WPSplinter is a Broadcom WPS firmware flaw letting nearby attackers read memory or run code without needing the Wi-Fi password
- A fix existed for years but never reached consumer routers, partly because no CVE was issued to flag the problem
- Confirmed on gateways from Proximus, Orange and VOO in Belgium, with AI tools helping uncover the bug in days rather than months
TP-Link Archer AX55 Wi-Fi 6 Router — If your old router relies on vulnerable legacy Broadcom WPS code that never got patched, it's a good time to upgrade to a modern router with current firmware support and the option to simply disable WPS. The Archer AX55 offers strong security features, automatic updates, and easy controls to turn off risky legacy protocols like WPS entirely.
See TP-Link Archer AX55 Wi-Fi 6 Router on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: techspot.com — Julio Franco, 2026-10-20
Published there as: “Millions of routers can be hijacked over Wi-Fi thanks to a 16-year-old bug”
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