Asus router users worldwide reported unexpected device freezing and frequent, repeated shutdowns resulting from device memory becoming exhausted on Wednesday. Two days on, the Taiwanese manufacturer said the mass outage was caused by an error in the configuration of its server settings file. After fixing the problem, most customers simply needed to reboot their devices. Those who found this insufficient were advised to save their current configuration settings and perform a factory reset. The company apologised for the downtime and users complained about the lack of information regarding the issue in the meantime.
Asus has yet to go into detail about the configuration error. However, various users have suggested explanations online that seemed to explain the situation. One person wrote that Asus had pushed a corrupted definition file for ASD, a built-in security daemon in a range of their routers. As routers automatically went in to fetch the corrupted definition file, they began running out of filesystem space and memory, subsequently crashing.
Although this answers the question of what caused the routers to crash, it raises new queries. Why were routers affected even when they were configured to not automatically update, and no manual update had been performed? Asus has not addressed this, but the likely answer is that the definitions file for ASD, which scans devices for security threats, gets updated whether or not automatic updates are enabled.
The 48-hour mystery surrounding the malfunctioning Asus routers has finally ended, with customers able to use their routers once more without issue.
