How to run OpenWRT on an obscure router
An author prepared UART access and used a DeepSeek agent to analyze an undocumented Alcatel router, establish a containerized build-and-flash pipeline and run source-built OpenWRT.
news.ycombinator.comSuggested prompt
Suggested prompt written by Agents In Use, not the source author. Replace bracketed inputs and review tool permissions first.
Analyze [firmware blob] from [router I control] using [UART observations]. Identify hardware and driver requirements, document supporting evidence, and prepare an isolated OpenWRT build pipeline. Present the device-specific flashing plan for review.
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Sourced account- Source poster / publisher
- cookiengineer
- Original account
- Read the source ↗
- Published
- Source link checked
- Reported result
- The author reports OpenWRT running on the Alcatel device with a modern upstream kernel compiled from source, after less than half a day of work and $0.86 in AI usage.
- Human involvement
- The author prepared UART access and observed the analysis; the post does not describe formal review checkpoints or a detailed validation procedure.
A linked account supports attribution. It does not mean we independently reproduced its result.
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How the agent did it
- The author soldered UART pins and connected a USB adapter to the computer.
- They asked the agent to reverse engineer the router's firmware blob.
- The agent established an OpenWRT build-and-flash pipeline in an isolated Podman container.
The author had an obscure Alcatel modem/router whose hardware identifiers produced no search results. They soldered UART pins onto the device, connected a USB adapter to their computer, and asked an agent to reverse engineer its firmware blob. The post names DeepSeek v4.1 flash and reports that it took around an hour to establish an OpenWRT build-and-flash pipeline in an isolated Podman container.
According to the author, the outdated OEM kernel helped reveal the SoC hardware, drivers and proprietary Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modifications. The agent reversed those modifications by analyzing .so and .ko files with Frida in another Podman container. The author also describes observing the agent identify encryption keys, signing mechanisms, encodings, binary formats and instruction sets from hexdumps.
The completed router work reportedly took less than half a day and cost $0.86 in AI usage. The stated result was OpenWRT running on the device, compiled from source with a modern upstream kernel. Who it's for: hardware researchers equipped to evaluate firmware analysis and validate changes on devices they control.
Prompt
Suggested prompt (written by Agents In Use, not the author's)
Source: Hacker News · cookiengineer
Frequently asked questions
What physical preparation did the author perform?
The author soldered UART pins onto the router and connected a USB adapter to their computer before asking the agent to analyze the firmware.
How were the proprietary driver modifications analyzed?
The post says .so and .ko files were analyzed with Frida in a separate Podman container.
Was the subsequent smartphone project completed?
No completed smartphone result is reported. The author says baseband firmware reverse engineering on a Xiaomi phone was their ongoing next project.
More details
Remaining steps
- Driver modifications were analyzed with Frida in another Podman container.
- The author reported OpenWRT running with a modern upstream kernel compiled from source.
About this account
After the author's physical setup and request, the agent performed firmware analysis and established the containerized OpenWRT build-and-flash pipeline.
Platform: Hacker News. Attribution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113929. Prompt: Suggested (written by Agents In Use, not the author's). Sourced by the Agents In Use pipeline.
Credit: cookiengineer on Hacker News
Source published
Added to Agents In Use
Source checked
Tools and topics
DeepSeek v4.1 flash · UART · USB adapter · Podman · Frida · OpenWRT
OpenWRT · Firmware · Reverse engineering · Routers
Editorial completeness: 100/100. Measures documented fields, not agent performance or verified outcomes.