OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc2 - Release Candidate

Release and security announcements
1

Hi,

The OpenWrt community is proud to announce the second release candidate of the OpenWrt 25.12 stable series.

Download firmware images using the OpenWrt Firmware Selector:

Download firmware images directly from our download servers:

Please test this version

This is not the final version, this is a test version. Please report problems and bugs in our issue tracker.

Highlights in OpenWrt 25.12

OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc2 incorporates over 4300 commits since branching the previous OpenWrt 24.10 release and has been under development for over one year.

Only the main changes are listed below. See changelog-25.12.0-rc2 for the full changelog.

General changes

The hardware requirements did not change significantly, most devices supported by OpenWrt 24.10 should also work with OpenWrt 25.12.

Switch package manager from opkg to apk

OpenWrt has transitioned from the traditional opkg package manager to apk (Alpine Package Keeper).

This change brings several advantages:

  • apk is still maintained, the OpenWrt opkg fork was not maintained any more.

apk supports most features of opkg. Only very few package names changed. The command line arguments of apk are different from the command line arguments of opkg.

For users migrating existing systems, an official opkg to apk cheatsheet is available to ease the transition and map common workflows.

Integration of attended sysupgrade

The attended sysupgrade LuCI application is now installed by default.

ASU allows devices to:

  • Upgrade to new OpenWrt firmware versions
  • Automatically rebuild firmware images with all currently installed packages
  • Preserve system configuration during upgrades

This dramatically simplifies upgrades: with just a few clicks in LuCI and a short wait, a custom firmware image is built and installed without manual intervention.

Shell history is preserved

Shell command history is now preserved across sessions by storing it in a RAM-backed filesystem.

Benefits:

  • Command history is no longer lost between logins
  • No unnecessary writes to flash storage by default

For users who prefer persistent history storage, this behavior can be changed by editing: /etc/profile.d/busybox-history-file.sh

:warning: Note: Storing history on flash will increase write cycles and may impact flash endurance over time.

Integration of video feed

The OpenWrt video feed with Qt5 and UI applications is integrated by default.

Wi-Fi scripts in ucode

The wifi scripts were rewritten in ucode.

Target changes

  • Extend realtek target with support for more switch SoCs like 10G Ethernet switches.
  • Extend qualcommax target with support for ipq50xx and ipq60xx SoCs.
  • Added siflower target for Siflower SF21A6826/SF21H8898 SoCs
  • Added sunxi/arm926ejs subtarget for Allwinner F1C100/200s SoCs

Many new devices added

OpenWrt 25.12 supports over 2180 devices. Support for over 160 new devices was added in addition to the device support by OpenWrt 24.10.

Core components update

Core components have the following versions in 25.12.0-rc2:

  • Updated toolchain:
    • musl libc 1.2.5
    • glibc 2.41
    • gcc 14.3.0
    • binutils 2.44
  • Updated Linux kernel
    • 6.12.63 for all targets
  • main packages:
    • cfg80211/mac80211 from kernel 6.18.0
    • hostapd master snapshot from August 2025
    • dnsmasq 2.91
    • dropbear 2025.89
    • busybox 1.37.0

In addition to the listed applications, many others were also updated.

Upgrading to 25.12

Upgrading from 24.10 to 25.12 should be transparent on most devices, as most configuration data has either remained the same or will be translated correctly on first boot by the package init scripts.

  • Sysupgrade from 23.05 to 25.12 is not officially supported.

  • Cron log level was fixed in busybox. system.@system[0].cronloglevel should be set to 7 for normal logging. 7 is the default now. If this option is not set, the default is used and no manual action is needed.

  • Bananapi BPI-R4: Interfaces eth1 was renamed to sfp-lan or lan4 and the interface eth2 was renamed to sfp-wan to match the labels. You have to upgrade without saving the configuration.

Scratch installs/upgrades

If you wish to start from scratch (always the safest, but also the most work), simply download the pre-built image from the downloads site or from the Firmware Selector to your device. Make sure to create and save a backup, then install the image using sysupgrade -n /tmp/firmware.bin or the LuCI Backup/Flash Firmware, being sure to set "Keep settings and retain the current configuration" to its off position. Restore or reconstruct your configuration using the contents of the backup as a template.

Attended Sysupgrade options

Attended Sysupgrade (ASU) allows you to build a custom image that retains all of your installed packages and their configuration transparently. You need to use one of the three ASU clients that interface with the ASU server to produce this custom image:

  • Firmware Selector - an online builder that requires you to manually supply it with the packages you wish to have installed. This package list is sent to the ASU server, and a new custom device image is created containing those packages. You may then download and install the image in LuCI Backup/Flash Firmware, but for this you would enable "Keep settings..."
  • Luci Attended Sysupgrade - the web interface to the ASU server. This tool allows you to choose a new OpenWrt version, then collects the names of the packages on your device and sends them up to the ASU server. LuCI ASU then downloads the created image directly to your device and allows you to install it, without having to do any of the bookkeeping tasks involved with using the Firmware Selector.
  • owut - a command line package that does the same job as LuCI ASU, but provides more diagnostics and better visibility into what's happening at the various steps before and during the build process.

Both the LuCI ASU app and owut are optional packages in 24.10, so if you have not installed them, they won't be there by default. Use either the LuCI Package Manager to install them, or you can do it from the command line with opkg:

$ opkg update
$ opkg install luci-app-attendedsysupgrade
$ opkg install owut

Note that you can install one or the other, or both together, they are completely independent packages.

Upgrades with Firmware Selector

The Firmware Selector does an excellent job of searching through the thousands of available device configurations and getting you to the right place. But, some devices have several variants and possibly different image formats, so if you're unsure about which one you need or which device you're dealing with or anything else, go to the |Firmware Selector support thread and ask away.

Upgrades with LuCI Attended Sysupgrade

The LuCI web interface should be fairly self explanatory. Since you have fairly limited options there that should be pretty obvious, but if anything is unclear or you're unsure about something, go to the LuCI Attended Sysupgrade support thread and ask.

Upgrades with owut

If you choose to use owut, the fact that it's a command line program means you'll need a little more explanation regarding best practices. In any situation, it's always safe to do a check to see what's going on.

$ owut check --verbose --version-to 25.12
... a lot of output ...

This check should show you all the details of what this upgrade entails with regards to the packages available, and will point out any issues with package versions and so on.

Assuming the results of the check look good, you can simply do an upgrade next.

$ owut upgrade --verbose --version-to 25.12
... even more output ...

If you are unsure of anything you see in the check, during the upgrade, or simply have questions, jump on over to the owut support thread on the forum and ask.

Known issues

  • Users of Zyxel EX5601-T0 devices need to check their WAN interfaces as port was renamed from eth1 to wan.

Full release notes and upgrade instructions are available at
https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/notes-25.12.0-rc2

In particular, make sure to read the regressions and known issues before upgrading:
https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/notes-25.12.0-rc2#known_issues

For a detailed list of all changes since 25.12.0-rc1, refer to
https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/changelog-25.12.0-rc2

To download the 25.12.0-rc2 images, navigate to:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0-rc2/targets/
Use OpenWrt Firmware Selector to download:
https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org?version=25.12.0-rc2

As always, a big thank you goes to all our active package maintainers, testers, documenters and supporters.

Have fun!

The OpenWrt Community

To stay informed of new OpenWrt releases and security advisories, there
are new channels available:

17 Likes
5ghz wifi does not work on 25.12.0.rc3
OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc1 - Release Candidate
3

ASU upgrades should be working again (also on main snapshot).

If you encounter issues with ASU upgrades, please report them on the respective client threads:

There are no known targets or platforms with ASU issues at present, please report otherwise. The GL.iNet MT2500 issue with ambiguous metadata should be resolved in 25.12.

1 Like
4

@hauke Someone noted my typo on the -rc1 thread, I got several .10s where they should be .12...

1 Like
5

My two Belkin RT3200s (main router and dumb AP) successfully updated to RC2 from RC1 using owut.

So far, so good.

Thanks to the devs!

The only thing is now crond fills the Logs with everything I have. For example:

[Jan 7, 2026, 4:15:00 PM GMT-4] cron.err: crond[2209]: line sleep 70 && touch /etc/banner && reboot
[Jan 7, 2026, 4:15:00 PM GMT-4] cron.err: crond[2209]: line arp-scan -qxlN -I br-lan | awk '{print $1}' | xargs fping -q -c1

On my AP, I only have those 2 commands (to reboot every week and to check the hostnames from the main router) and I have those entries in all the syslog. The commands have worked since forever, now I get the syslog filled with that.

6

From 25.12.0-rc1 to 25.12.0-rc2 on two of my Linksys mx5500. And on three Linksys mx5300 from stable (25.10.5) to 25.12.0-rc2, used owut for a change. worked without any problems.

7

I think that's a change in the default cronloglevel from upstream, don't recall the details, but in my 25.10 boxes I have it set to 7 and it was 5 before.

$ cat /etc/config/system

config system
...
        option cronloglevel '7'
2 Likes
8

That was it! Thanks!

9

I am not sure yet if I am seeing a weird issue with IPv6 addresses where some clients are being offered /62 addresses and the router is saying they have them despite all the prefixes available (Global ULP and upstream) are /64s, the clients themselves do not show those addresses running “$ ip addr”. Need to wait for some lease releases because I think it could be caused by all the DUIDs changing (which I wasn’t expecting).

Posting because someone else might look at their DHCPv6 leases and go “huh?! What is with the /62s on the DHCPv4 leases page” but could also be a wetware failure on my part.

PS loving the reorganisation under the DHCP page it looks great.

10

rc1 -> rc2 using owut on Cudy WR3000H.

When opening a console, there is an opkg to apk commands translation message. Will it be kept in final 25.12?

11

In my case, my ISP gives me (PD) /60, my LAN and Guest networks are /64 and the clients get /128. So I don’t see anything weird. It’s the same as 24.10.x

2 Likes
12

Used the firmware selector for rc2 sysupgrade image to flash onto Linksys mr7350. Flashed from snapshot r32353, set up as a client+AP. Everything is working fine. Thank you!

13

After fresh install (factory.ubi on GL.inet AX1800) i install "dns-over-https" and "luci-app-https-dns-proxy".
It already has a configuration backup loaded (of release candidate 1 with dns-over-https + luci-app-https-dns-proxy installed and active.

I get message in systemlog that dnsmasq(2.91-r2) cannot load because 127.0.0.1 is already in use.
Only way to resolve it is:
In "luci-app-https-over-dns" disable that function, remove server configuration, then reboot.
Then dnsmasq loads normally (can use 127.0.0.1), and when activating https-over-dns and configure server it is all working ok with selected server.
Until you reboot, then it all starts over again (dnsmasq cannot load 127.0.0.1 interface), and the whole proces needs to be done again.

I'm not very technical, so i hope you understandwhat i mean. In 25.12.0rc1 this issue wasn't their, it happens in RC2.

14

Does RC comes with LUCI? I cannot open web gui.

15

Did you do unbrick option (Uboot) with factory.ubi image file. (it has Luci, i used the UBI file with unbick option) So a clean install.

16

Remove apk-cheatsheet.sh from etc/profile.d to make it go away.

I fully expect it will remain for the duration.

1 Like
17

Linksys EA8300 upgraded via owut from 24.10.5 to 25.12.0-rc2 smoothly.

Only problem was with wan6/IPv6 not getting a proper address (/128) and PD (/56). To make it work I had to remove the DUID in global as well as re-apply the same settings I have for wan6 from 24.10.5. This router has dual partition so I had to swap between the 24.10.5 partition and 25.12.0-rc2 to revisit the wan6 settings I have even though it got carried over during the owut upgrade.

1 Like
18

It will be replaced on the next upgrade and you'll have to do that again. Creating a hush file is persistent: OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc1 - Release Candidate - #40 by efahl

2 Likes
19

Yes, it should be there. What do you see when you run apk list --installed 'luci*'?

20

Upgraded GL-MT6000 from 24.10.5 → 25.12.0-rc2 using custom image build via firmware selector,

kept previous config (really simple/soho stuff), no ill effects so far, will monitor.

A new (at least I think its new…) error apeared though:

kern.err: [    1.671189] u-boot-env-layout 11230000.mmc:card@0:block:partitions:block-partition-env:nvmem-layout: probe with driver u-boot-env-layout failed with error -22

Any idea if this^ is benign or should be reported as a bug?

Otherwise looks great.

A big thank you to devs for the time/effort.