Friday, 03 March 2017 / Published in Blog

MikroTik RouterOS

What is RouterOS

RouterOS is the operating system of RouterBOARD

It can also be installed on a PC and will turn it into a router with all the necessary features – routing, firewall, bandwidth management, wireless access point, backhaul link, hotspot gateway, VPN server and more.
You can compare the different license Level features on this page in our manual.

Installing RouterOS on an x86 machine is very simple

PC: Download the ISO image, burn it to CD and boot from it. Your new router will run for 24 hours without a license (turn it off to stop the timer). During this time you can try all the features of RouterOS.
Other x86: Netinstall will write RouterOS to any secondary drive you have attached to your Windows PC. Move the drive to your Router PC and boot it.Both installation methods, plus upgrade files and more – on MikroTik download page.

ASK US FOR 30 DAYS TRIAL MIKROTIK HOST

Virtual environments now have special treatment: CHR

CHR, short for Cloud Hosted Router, is a new approach specifically made for Virtual Machines both locally and in the cloud. Optimised drivers, a new and more affordable licensing scheme, transferable licenses and more.
CHR is a special installation image, which is available for free on our download page, or directly in the Amazon AWS marketplace. Read mode in the PDF brochure.

Learning more about our software

RouterOS has extensive documentation.
MikroTik Certification Courses; MTCNA, MTCRE, MTCWE, MTCTCE, MTCINE, MTCUME
Workshops and Events
WirelessNetware also provides any technical support related to MikroTik RouterOS.

Purchasing a license for RouterOS

To use RouterOS after the free trial, a license key is required. You can obtain license keys in the MikroTik Account server. If you don’t have an account yet, click on “New Account” there in the top-right corner of this page.
When purchasing the license, a SoftID number will be asked – this can be copied from the router’s License menu.
To view license key level differences, see the comparison table.

Important notes about MikroTik RouterOS

Make sure to use correct RouterOS package to update your router.
Before doing any RouterOS update read change-log.
RouterOS “Bug-fix” version is usually the best OS.
If you want to use RouterOS “current” version it is recommended to read change-log for RouterOS “Release candidate” and make sure there is no bug for the features already used in your router.
RouterOS “Release candidate” is usually used when MikroTik developer are working on a new feature to add to RouterOS or else to fix the possible bug.
RouterOS “Current” is not fully tested.
NETINSTALL is used when you forger your Router password, install new RouterOS, lost RouterOS, kernel fail issue.

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CVE-2024-54772
Issue Summary A vulnerability has been identified in the WinBox service, where a discrepancy in response size between connection attempts with valid and invalid usernames allows attackers to confirm if user accounts exists via brute forcing the login process. In other words, when attacker tries to log into the device, by examining the response, the […]
CVE-2023-30799
A new CVE has been published, which describes a policy elevation issue, where a logged in administrator with “policy” permissions (able to grant additional permissions to any user on the router), is also able to send crafted configuration commands, that are exchanged internally by the router software components and normally are rejected when sent by […]
CVE-2023-32154
On 10/05/2023 (May 10th, 2023) MikroTik received information about a new vulnerability, which is assigned the ID CVE-2023-32154. The report stated, that vendor (MikroTik) was contacted in December, but we did not find record of such communication. The original report also says, that vendor was informed in person in an event in Toronto, where MikroTik […]
Mēris botnet
In early September 2021 QRATOR labs published an article about a new wave of DDoS attacks, which are originating from a botnet involving MikroTik devices. As far as we have seen, these attacks use the same routers that were compromised in 2018, when MikroTik RouterOS had a vulnerability, that was quickly patched. There is no […]
Fragattacks
In beginning of May 2021, a security research group from Belgium published a set of vulnerabilities they call “Frag Attacks” (from Fragmentation Attack), which affect all modern security protocols of Wi-Fi. Not all the published issues affect MikroTik products, but those that were found to be potentially affecting RouterOS, have been fixed in all currently released […]
Upgraded package signatures
The RouterOS package signing procedure has been upgraded, to use new algorithms and utilize state of the art security hardware. It will also add a possibility to verify the integrity of existing installations. The new updated package signing procedure provides additional security to prevent installation of malicious software. Best security practices: Keep RouterOS updated to the […]
CVE-2019-3981
Summary Tenable has published a potential vulnerability in older RouterOS versions where an attacker can retrieve the password hash of a RouterOS username via a complex man-in-the-middle attack over port 8291. The attacker must be able to intercept a valid RouterOS user login attempt, so he must be located in the same network as the […]
DNS cache poisoning vulnerability
Tenable has identified a vulnerability in RouterOS DNS implementation. RouterOS 6.45.6 and below is vulnerable to unauthenticated remote DNS cache poisoning via Winbox. The router is impacted even when DNS is not enabled. One possible attack vector is via Winbox on port 8291 if this port is open to untrusted networks. The resolver can be […]
Package validation and upgrade vulnerability
Tenable has identified a couple of issues with RouterOS packaging and upgrade systems. The upgrade system used by RouterOS 6.45.5 and below is vulnerable to man in the middle attacks and insufficient package validation. An attacker can abuse these vulnerabilities to downgrade a router’s installed RouterOS version, possibly lock the user out of the system, […]
CVE-2019-11477, CVE-2019-11478, CVE-2019-11479
Summary Netflix has identified several TCP networking vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel that is used in RouterOS. The vulnerabilities can trigger denial of service if the RouterOS system is attacked from an insufficiently protected network interface (port). Firewall can protect against the issue. MikroTik has already applied the necessary patches: fix included in RouterOS 6.45.1 and […]

MikroTik RouterOS

What is RouterOS

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