Linksys Wrt54G / Wrt54Gs “Magical Transformation Into A Useful Piece Of Equipment Or A Brick”
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Presented at ShmooCon 2005 by
The Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS series of access points can be purchased at many major retail computer and electronics stores. Many purchasers never realize the true functionality of these access points, and let's face it, many will not even change the defaults. Using custom firmware and software packages these items can be transformed into more functional pieces of equipment that can be used in a wide variety of situations with little or no extra cost. The first part of the presentation compares some of these custom firmware distributions and how to expand their functionality by: • VPNs • 802.1x authentication • SSH tunnels • Hotspots • IPTables firewalls • IPv6 • Logging • Custom Antennas • IDS functionality • Community networking • and more.... In addition, there is also a useful and entertaining section on what to do when firmware fails. The configuration of the devices involved is discussed and examples shown. The goal is to make it as easy as possible to extend additional functionality in these devices. Many access points capable of this functionality are significantly more costly and usually out of reach of the normal consumer. Using custom firmware such as OpenWRT or Sveasoft can put this functionality into the hands of the normal consumer. The second part of the presentation deals with using the WRT as an attack vector. This involves the WRT attacking either its own network or the network of another. These are purposes for which the WRT was not originally intended.