2025-10-19 –, Wesfarmers Theatre
What started as a harmless attempt to re-enable a disabled feature on my home router led me down a rabbit hole — one that ended in multiple 0-day discoveries: a LAN-side Remote Code Execution vulnerability, and a WAN-side Denial-of-Service bug that can knock out the router’s firmware update service until reboot. And when it's rebooted? You can just do it again.
In this talk, I’ll share the story of how casual tinkering turned into serious vulnerability research, and how the devices we trust to sit quietly at the edge of our networks often hide surprising weaknesses. We’ll explore how these bugs were found, what makes them valuable, and why routers — often ignored — remain highly attractive to APTs seeking stealthy, long-term access to small business, home and corporate networks.
This talk tells the story of how a bit of casual curiosity led to the discovery of multiple 0-days in a consumer-grade home router: a LAN-side Remote Code Execution bug, and a WAN-side unauthenticated Denial-of-Service vulnerability that can disable the router’s firmware update service until reboot — making it trivially repeatable and attractive to threat actors seeking long-term persistence.
While the vulnerabilities are impactful, this is not a deep-dive into reverse engineering or memory corruption. Instead, the talk is tailored to be accessible for a broad audience — from vulnerability researchers and red teamers to defenders, incident responders, and the simply curious. Technical concepts like UART access and firmware interaction will be introduced in approachable ways, showing how anyone can start exploring the forgotten corners of consumer hardware.
Attendees will leave with a better understanding of:
* Why routers are still a goldmine for attackers
* How casual exploration can lead to impactful security discoveries
* How to interface with consumer routers via UART and other accessible techniques
* The broader implications of seemingly “boring” devices being used as launching pads for APT's into networks
Luke is a senior penetration tester with over five years of experience breaking into things professionally — from thick clients and mobile apps to infrastructure and external networks. Currently working in the financial sector, they’ve spent time across industries including health and resources, with past roles spanning everything from red teaming to compliance assessments.
They hold multiple certifications (OSWE, OSCP, CRTO, GMOB) and have been recognised in the Google Hall of Fame. Luke is an ECU alum with a background in Computer and Network Security and is a member of the GIAC Advisory Board.