Openwrt One - Upgrade from 25.12 rc1 to rc2, fails

When I use the attended upgrade via luci or owut, the update fails. I currently have version 25 rc1 and want to update to rc2. In the owut output, I notice at the end of the list that “-dnsmasq -nftables” appears in the owut packet list. How can I work around this, and is this perhaps a bug?

We need a bit more information than that. Run owut upgrade --verbose and post the output.

That is correct. You probably have dnsmasq-full and nftables-json supplying those (you should see it in the --verbose output under the defaults analysis section).

If I initiate the upgrade and stick with the default settings, no more IP addresses will be assigned afterwards. Even with manual address assignment, no more IP traffic will occur. The only option left for me was to restore via ssh/sftp.

owut upgrade –verbose

owut upgrade --verbose
owut - OpenWrt Upgrade Tool 2025.12.01~4482dd09-r1 (/usr/bin/owut)
ASU-Server     https://sysupgrade.openwrt.org
Upstream       https://downloads.openwrt.org
Target         mediatek/filogic
Profile        openwrt_one
Package-arch   aarch64_cortex-a53
Root-FS-type   squashfs
Sys-type       sysupgrade
Version-from   25.12.0-rc1 r32353-9e9b05130c (kernel 6.12.62)
Version-to     25.12.0-rc2 r32429-d76c64ad00 (kernel 6.12.63)
Build-commit   https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=shortlog;h=d76c64ad00
Build-FS-type  squashfs
Build-at       2026-01-05T22:48:50Z (~5 days ago)
Image-prefix   openwrt-25.12.0-rc2-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one
Image-URL      https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0-rc2/targets/mediatek/filogic
Image-file     openwrt-25.12.0-rc2-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb
Installed      290 packages
Top-level      276 packages
Default         37 packages
User-installed 241 packages (top-level only)

Package version changes:
  base-files                          1679~9e9b05130c                             1682~d76c64ad00
  blkid                               2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  ca-bundle                           20250419-r1                                 20250419-r2
  fdisk                               2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  iwinfo                              2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  kmod-asn1-decoder                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-cfg80211                       6.12.62.6.18-r1                             6.12.63.6.18-r1
  kmod-crypto-acompress               6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-aead                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-authenc                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ccm                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-cmac                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-crc32                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-crc32c                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ctr                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-des                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ecb                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-gcm                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-geniv                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-gf128                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ghash                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hash                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hmac                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hw-safexcel             6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-kpp                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-chacha20            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-chacha20poly1305    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-curve25519          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-poly1305            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-manager                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-md5                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-null                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-rng                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-seqiv                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha1                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha256                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha3                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha512                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-f2fs                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-ksmbd                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-netfs                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-smbfs-common                6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-gpio-button-hotplug            6.12.62-r5                                  6.12.63-r5
  kmod-hwmon-core                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-i2c-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-leds-gpio                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc-ccitt                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc-itu-t                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc32c                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-lzo                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-libphy                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-mac80211                       6.12.62.6.18-r1                             6.12.63.6.18-r1
  kmod-mt76-connac                    6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt76-core                      6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt7915e                        6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt7981-firmware                6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-netlink-diag                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-conntrack                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-conntrack6                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-flow                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-log                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-log6                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-nat                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-reject                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-reject6                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nfnetlink                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-fib                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-nat                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-offload                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-base                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-ucs2-utils                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-utf8                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nvme                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-oid-registry                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-phy-airoha-en8811h             6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-phy-aquantia                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-ppp                            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-pppoe                          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-pppox                          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-rtc-pcf8563                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-scsi-core                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-slhc                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-thermal                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-udptunnel4                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-udptunnel6                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-common                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-storage                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-xhci-hcd                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-xhci-mtk                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb3                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-wireguard                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-zram                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  libblkid                            2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libfdisk                            2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libiwinfo                           2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  libiwinfo-data                      2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  libsmartcols                        2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libuuid                             2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  luci                                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-attendedsysupgrade         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-firewall                   25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-irqbalance                 25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-ksmbd                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-package-manager            25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-app-unbound                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-base                           25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-compat                         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-adblock-de                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-attendedsysupgrade-de     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-base-de                   25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-firewall-de               25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-irqbalance-de             25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-package-manager-de        25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-i18n-unbound-de                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lib-base                       25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lib-ip                         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lib-jsonc                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lib-nixio                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lib-uqr                        25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-light                          25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-lua-runtime                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-mod-admin-full                 25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-mod-network                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-mod-status                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-mod-system                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-proto-ipv6                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-proto-ppp                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-proto-wireguard                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-ssl                            25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  luci-theme-bootstrap                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.006.11347~6e7ed76
  odhcp6c                             2025.12.18~5ab32038-r1                      2025.12.29~699cc615-r1
  swap-utils                          2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
134 packages are out-of-date

Default package analysis:
  Default                             Provided-by
  dnsmasq                             dnsmasq-dhcpv6
  nftables                            nftables-json

There are currently package build failures for 25.12.0-rc2 aarch64_cortex-a53:
  Feed: packages
    pigeonhole                        Thu Jan  8 09:21:55 2026 - not installed
    pillow                            Thu Jan  8 09:06:24 2026 - not installed
    python-flask-httpauth             Thu Jan  8 10:09:07 2026 - not installed
    python-frozenlist                 Thu Jan  8 09:06:38 2026 - not installed
    python-gevent                     Thu Jan  8 09:46:47 2026 - not installed
    python-gmpy2                      Thu Jan  8 09:07:21 2026 - not installed
    python-multidict                  Thu Jan  8 09:06:41 2026 - not installed
    python-psycopg2                   Thu Jan  8 09:08:01 2026 - not installed
    python-pyfuse3                    Thu Jan  8 10:16:28 2026 - not installed
    python-pyodbc                     Thu Jan  8 09:47:20 2026 - not installed
    python-pyopenssl                  Thu Jan  8 09:47:33 2026 - not installed
    python-ubus                       Thu Jan  8 09:08:46 2026 - not installed
    python-yarl                       Thu Jan  8 09:22:05 2026 - not installed
    radicale2                         Thu Jan  8 10:13:41 2026 - not installed
  Feed: telephony
    asterisk-chan-sccp                Thu Jan  8 10:35:40 2026 - not installed
  Feed: video
    cog                               Thu Jan  8 10:36:49 2026 - not installed
    qt5base                           Thu Jan  8 10:20:00 2026 - not installed
    qt5quick                          Thu Jan  8 10:19:42 2026 - not installed
    qt5quick-controls                 Thu Jan  8 10:21:55 2026 - not installed
    qt5script                         Thu Jan  8 10:19:54 2026 - not installed
    qt5svg                            Thu Jan  8 10:19:59 2026 - not installed
    qt5translations                   Thu Jan  8 10:50:17 2026 - not installed
    qt5virtualkeyboard                Thu Jan  8 10:50:17 2026 - not installed
    wpewebkit                         Thu Jan  8 10:25:01 2026 - not installed
24 package build failures don't affect this device, details at
  https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/faillogs-25.12/aarch64_cortex-a53/

Request:
  Version 25.12.0-rc2 r32429-d76c64ad00 (kernel 6.12.63)
Request hash:
  e1b82ada507e17ab9e98c2807fc3d843526316671488d6d88c92e40f73bee176
--
Status:   queued - 0 ahead of you
Progress:   0s total =   0s in queue +   0s in build
--
Status:   init
Progress:   1s total =   0s in queue +   1s in build

Edit: When I run owut upgrade --verbose, it asks me again before flashing?

We're still missing the part where it fails, the 20 lines or so after where you've cut off the output is where the important information is. Do you have that?

There should be no disconnection of the network connection until a few milliseconds before the flash write occurs. I'm not clear what you're saying above.

owut never asks anything, you just tell it what to do and it either does it or fails.

So I started the guided upgrade via Luci, and after that, no more IPv4 addresses were assigned. With manual configuration, routing no longer worked after the upgrade. I had to import an old imagebuilder image. Over the course of the next afternoon, I will run through the upgrade again with owut and record the output from owut.

I just ran “owut upgrade --verbose” again. After the run, dnsmasq is completely missing. DNS and DHCPv4 are dead.

owut - OpenWrt Upgrade Tool 2025.12.01~4482dd09-r1 (/usr/bin/owut)
ASU-Server     https://sysupgrade.openwrt.org
Upstream       https://downloads.openwrt.org
Target         mediatek/filogic
Profile        openwrt_one
Package-arch   aarch64_cortex-a53
Root-FS-type   squashfs
Sys-type       sysupgrade
Version-from   25.12.0-rc1 r32353-9e9b05130c (kernel 6.12.62)
Version-to     25.12.0-rc2 r32429-d76c64ad00 (kernel 6.12.63)
Build-commit   https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=shortlog;h=d76c64ad00
Build-FS-type  squashfs
Build-at       2026-01-05T22:48:50Z (~7 days ago)
Image-prefix   openwrt-25.12.0-rc2-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one
Image-URL      https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0-rc2/targets/mediatek/filogic
Image-file     openwrt-25.12.0-rc2-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb
Installed      290 packages
Top-level      276 packages
Default         37 packages
User-installed 241 packages (top-level only)

Package version changes:
  base-files                          1679~9e9b05130c                             1682~d76c64ad00
  blkid                               2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  ca-bundle                           20250419-r1                                 20250419-r2
  fdisk                               2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  iwinfo                              2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  kmod-asn1-decoder                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-cfg80211                       6.12.62.6.18-r1                             6.12.63.6.18-r1
  kmod-crypto-acompress               6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-aead                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-authenc                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ccm                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-cmac                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-crc32                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-crc32c                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ctr                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-des                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ecb                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-gcm                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-geniv                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-gf128                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-ghash                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hash                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hmac                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-hw-safexcel             6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-kpp                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-chacha20            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-chacha20poly1305    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-curve25519          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-lib-poly1305            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-manager                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-md5                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-null                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-rng                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-seqiv                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha1                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha256                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha3                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-crypto-sha512                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-f2fs                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-ksmbd                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-netfs                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-fs-smbfs-common                6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-gpio-button-hotplug            6.12.62-r5                                  6.12.63-r5
  kmod-hwmon-core                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-i2c-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-leds-gpio                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc-ccitt                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc-itu-t                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-crc32c                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-lib-lzo                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-libphy                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-mac80211                       6.12.62.6.18-r1                             6.12.63.6.18-r1
  kmod-mt76-connac                    6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt76-core                      6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt7915e                        6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-mt7981-firmware                6.12.62.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2              6.12.63.2025.11.06~eb567bc7-r2
  kmod-netlink-diag                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-conntrack                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-conntrack6                  6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-flow                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-log                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-log6                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-nat                         6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-reject                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nf-reject6                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nfnetlink                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-fib                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-nat                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nft-offload                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-base                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-ucs2-utils                 6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nls-utf8                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-nvme                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-oid-registry                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-phy-airoha-en8811h             6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-phy-aquantia                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-ppp                            6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-pppoe                          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-pppox                          6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-rtc-pcf8563                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-scsi-core                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-slhc                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-thermal                        6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-udptunnel4                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-udptunnel6                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-common                     6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-core                       6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-storage                    6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-xhci-hcd                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb-xhci-mtk                   6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-usb3                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-wireguard                      6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  kmod-zram                           6.12.62-r1                                  6.12.63-r1
  libblkid                            2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libfdisk                            2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libiwinfo                           2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  libiwinfo-data                      2025.11.07~5f4c213f-r1                      2025.11.29~2ebef3da-r1
  libsmartcols                        2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  libuuid                             2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
  luci                                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-attendedsysupgrade         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-firewall                   25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-irqbalance                 25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-ksmbd                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-package-manager            25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-app-unbound                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-base                           25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-compat                         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-adblock-de                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-attendedsysupgrade-de     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-base-de                   25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-firewall-de               25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-irqbalance-de             25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-package-manager-de        25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-i18n-unbound-de                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lib-base                       25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lib-ip                         25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lib-jsonc                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lib-nixio                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lib-uqr                        25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-light                          25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-lua-runtime                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-mod-admin-full                 25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-mod-network                    25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-mod-status                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-mod-system                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-proto-ipv6                     25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-proto-ppp                      25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-proto-wireguard                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-ssl                            25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  luci-theme-bootstrap                25.360.65088~78a62f2                        26.011.48481~532dc97
  netifd                              2025.10.20~777f5942-r1                      2025.10.20~777f5942-r2
  odhcp6c                             2025.12.18~5ab32038-r1                      2025.12.29~699cc615-r1
  swap-utils                          2.41.2-r1                                   2.41.3-r1
135 packages are out-of-date

Default package analysis:
  Default                             Provided-by
  dnsmasq                             dnsmasq-dhcpv6
  nftables                            nftables-json

There are currently package build failures for 25.12.0-rc2 aarch64_cortex-a53:
  Feed: packages
    pigeonhole                        Mon Jan 12 03:04:33 2026 - not installed
    pillow                            Mon Jan 12 02:49:20 2026 - not installed
    python-constantly                 Mon Jan 12 02:50:12 2026 - not installed
    python-flask-httpauth             Mon Jan 12 03:52:52 2026 - not installed
    python-frozenlist                 Mon Jan 12 02:49:42 2026 - not installed
    python-gevent                     Mon Jan 12 03:36:43 2026 - not installed
    python-gmpy2                      Mon Jan 12 02:50:29 2026 - not installed
    python-multidict                  Mon Jan 12 02:49:48 2026 - not installed
    python-psycopg2                   Mon Jan 12 02:50:59 2026 - not installed
    python-pyodbc                     Mon Jan 12 03:36:57 2026 - not installed
    python-pyopenssl                  Mon Jan 12 03:37:05 2026 - not installed
    python-twisted                    Mon Jan 12 03:53:46 2026 - not installed
    python-ubus                       Mon Jan 12 02:51:51 2026 - not installed
    python-yarl                       Mon Jan 12 03:04:39 2026 - not installed
  Feed: telephony
    asterisk-chan-sccp                Mon Jan 12 04:12:13 2026 - not installed
  Feed: video
    cog                               Mon Jan 12 04:19:16 2026 - not installed
    qt5base                           Mon Jan 12 04:02:05 2026 - not installed
    qt5quick                          Mon Jan 12 04:01:32 2026 - not installed
    qt5quick-controls                 Mon Jan 12 04:04:22 2026 - not installed
    qt5script                         Mon Jan 12 04:01:34 2026 - not installed
    qt5svg                            Mon Jan 12 04:02:02 2026 - not installed
    qt5translations                   Mon Jan 12 04:31:16 2026 - not installed
    qt5virtualkeyboard                Mon Jan 12 04:31:17 2026 - not installed
    wpewebkit                         Mon Jan 12 04:07:54 2026 - not installed
24 package build failures don't affect this device, details at
  https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/faillogs-25.12/aarch64_cortex-a53/

Request:
  Version 25.12.0-rc2 r32429-d76c64ad00 (kernel 6.12.63)
Request hash:
  d23a080332ee4e17d1925187e27fe5a5ed5ac5a22a50355964fad534e64b11de
--
Status:   queued - 0 ahead of you
Progress:   0s total =   0s in queue +   0s in build
--
Status:   init
Progress:   1s total =   0s in queue +   1s in build
--
Status:   container_setup
Progress:   3s total =   0s in queue +   3s in build
--
Status:   validate_manifest
Progress:  10s total =   0s in queue +  10s in build
--
Status:   building_image
Progress:  25s total =   0s in queue +  25s in build
--
Status:   done
Progress:  27s total =   0s in queue +  27s in build

Build succeeded in  27s total =   0s in queue +  27s to build:
  version_number = 25.12.0-rc2
  version_code   = r32429-d76c64ad00 (requested r32429-d76c64ad00)
  kernel_version = 6.12.63
  rootfs_size_mb = default
  init-script    = no-init-script

Image source: https://sysupgrade.openwrt.org/store/d23a080332ee4e17d1925187e27fe5a5ed5ac5a22a50355964fad534e64b11de/openwrt-25.12.0-rc2-098099f3ab3c-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb
Image saved : /tmp/firmware.bin
Manifest    : /tmp/firmware-manifest.json
Verifying   : /tmp/firmware.bin (19923214 bytes) against /tmp/firmware.sha256sums
  Saved sha256 matches
  Signature check OK
Checks complete, image is valid.
Installing /tmp/firmware.bin and rebooting...

Looks like there's a version that got installed, not sure why it wouldn't work.

You might want to try this and see if it fixes things. (That's the IP address of the downloads server, so you don't need DNS to run wget.)

wget http://185.163.119.85/releases/packages-25.12/aarch64_cortex-a53/base/dnsmasq-2.91-r2.apk
apk add --allow-untrusted dnsmasq-2.91-r2.apk
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq start

I have now used the image builder and removed “-dnsmasq” at the end. That works.

Could the source of the error be the RC1 image builder, because that's what I used to create the image?

Yeah, the imagebuilders contain some buggy code in the package building, that just got mostly fixed by a big commit today. The packages were being built with incorrect provider-priority values, so if you said, for example, dnsmasq, you might get dnsmasq-full or dnsmasq-dhcpv6 instead.

But, if you are building directly with the imagebuilder, then -dnsmasq is saying, "don't give me any variant of dnsmasq at all", which is valid and correct for some installations (I actually use this on APs and switches).