For the second time in roughly a year , D-Link has failed to act on warnings Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability from security researchers involving the company ’ s routers . The latest incident arose after Silesian University of Technology researcher Błazej Adamczyk contacted Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability D-Link last May about three vulnerabilities affecting Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability eight router models . Following the warning Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability , D-Link patched Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability two of the affected routers , but did not initially reveal Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability how it would proceed for the remaining six models . After further prompting Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability from Adamczyk , D-Link revealed Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability that the remaining six routers would not get Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability a security patch because they were considered end-of-life models , leaving affected owners out in the cold . “ The D-Link models affected Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability are the DWR-116 , DWR-140L , DWR-512 , DWR-640L , DWR-712 , DWR-912 , DWR-921 , and DWR-111 , six of which date from 2013 , with the DIR-640L first appearing Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability in 2012 and the DWR-111 in 2014 , ” Naked Security reported . Though these are not current models in D-Link ’ s portfolio , many of the listed models are still likely to be in use . As a result of this impasse , Adamczyk released details Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability about the security flaws , following responsible security protocols after giving D-Link notice and the opportunity to address Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability the issues . Of significance is that this is the second time in about a year that D-Link has failed to address Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability security vulnerabilities affecting Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability its products after being notified Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability by researchers . The security researcher noted Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability that the new flaw arose Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability after D-Link reported that it had fixed Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability a prior security flaw . Also known as “ directory traversal ” or “ dot dot slash ” attacks , these flaws allow a malicious attacker to gain access to system files with a simple HTTP request . Despite D-Link ’ s spotty history with supporting older router models , the manufacturer is not alone in leaving routers unpatched Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability . The American Consumer Institute reported Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability that of the 186 routers it had tested , 155 contained Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability firmware vulnerabilities . In total , ACI discovered Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability more than 32,000 known vulnerabilities in its study . “ Our analysis shows that , on average , routers contained Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability 12 critical vulnerabilities and 36 high-risk vulnerabilities , across the entire sample , ” ACI noted in its report . “ The most common vulnerabilities were medium-risk , with an average of 103 vulnerabilities per router. ” For shoppers who are in the market for a new router , it ’ s probably best to also check with the manufacturer to see what the supported lifespan of the router is . If the router is nearing its end of life , as in the case illustrated here , you may not get Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability patches , regardless of how serious a security vulnerability may be . If you have an older router , you may want to consider checking out our guide for the best router options before you decide to upgrade .