October 18, 2026
Broadcom WiFi Flaw Lets Attackers Run Code on Millions of Routers Over the Air
Security researcher Quentin Kaiser has disclosed a serious flaw in Broadcom's WiFi software that has been sitting in the company's code since at least 2010. The bug is in how Broadcom chips parse wireless frames, and it lets an attacker within WiFi range run their own code on a router — without knowing the WiFi password and without any user interaction.
In live demos, Kaiser took full control of ISP-issued routers from three Belgian internet providers and pulled the WiFi password straight out of a device's memory. He estimates millions of Broadcom-based access points from dozens of vendors are affected worldwide, and as of October 15 none of the tested devices had been patched.
Perhaps most striking: Broadcom has known about the issue since 2018 and refused to assign it a CVE number or notify the public, which likely kept manufacturers from patching. Kaiser followed a strict 90-day disclosure process before publishing his findings on October 16.