Petition calls for Apple to resume updates for discontinued AirPort routers
The AirBorne vulnerability disclosed on Tuesday affects millions of products, including Apple's discontinued and fan-favorite AirPort routers. A petition hopes to change that.
AirPort Express was discontinued in 2018
While the Oligo report didn't discuss AirPort routers directly, the discontinued products are affected by AirBorne. The vulnerability can lead to wormable, zero-click exploits that can infect any connected device on a network with malware.
According to a petition filed on change.org by IT professional and developer Gary Longsine, AirPort routers that are still in use today will be rendered immediately obsolete without updates. Apple discontinued the routers in 2018 and provided the last firmware update in June 2019.
The petitioner argues that while other modern devices can be updated to patch the AirBorne threat, AirPort routers will likely never be updated. Longsine suggests the routers are still used widely because of their ease of use, performance, and durability.
Apple has issued patches for much older machines in the past if a problem is bad enough. There's a chance Apple will provide a patch to the most recent AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme models, petition or not.
Unfortunately, we're not expecting a patch.
Apple's responsibility
There aren't any numbers available to suggest how many active AirPort routers there are, but it is likely not an insignificant number. However, Apple may not consider it enough of an issue to address it with time and labor costs.
AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule are still useful products even without updates
Apple's AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and Time Capsule, especially the last models, aren't exactly dinosaurs. AirPort Express is Wi-Fi 4, but it is also the only one with an AirPlay audio bridge feature. And, it works really well, still.
AirPort Express may be old, but they have multiple Ethernet ports, USB port for attaching storage or a printer, and can achieve 500 megabits per second speeds. That's still faster than the average US home internet connection.
The Time Capsule still exists as one of the best options to use as a Time Machine backup system. Apple offers no first-party alternative to this or the AirPlay bridge feature.
So, the petitioner has a point. Rendering these products too unsafe to use could cause a lot of people to either disconnect and trash these perfectly-good devices, or leave unknowing individuals vulnerable to attack.
Perhaps this is yet another argument why Apple needs to get back into the router business. There just aren't any other products like it that can fit into the Apple ecosystem so well.
Still, beyond the ecosystem exclusive features like Time Capsule and AirPlay bridge, if you're using AirPort devices as a simple router, it may be time to finally upgrade. It is simply irresponsible to have your internet backbone built on a product that no longer receives security updates.
When we found it, the petition has 32 verified signatures of the starting goal of 50. It targets Apple and CEO Tim Cook as the decision-makers on the matter.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I'm also in the UniFi camp: ceiling-mounted WiFi routers, PoE cameras, rack-mounted switch, and rack-mounted security camera RAID. It's a great system but I do wish Apple would've stayed in that market. I've said on this forum plenty of times that I think Apple got out at the worst time because most users seem to understand the need for a better system in their home. I think Apple could've made bank and I really hope that the rumors of the Apple HomeHub device also come with a new "whole home" level of networking equipment (assuming they don't hobble the software like they did with AirPort devices).
Compared with my ISP-provided router, configuring and using my Airport Express is day to the ISP's night. Simple, straightforward, and easy. And the Express itself is extremely reliable. And, anathema as it may be to courts everywhere, the express just works with Macs and iOS/iPadOS/tvOS systems.
And oh yes, having firmware updates pushed from outside my home by outfits with opaque security protections is not my idea of A Good Thing. Particularly when those outfits appear to exist only to increase customer costs every year above and beyond inflation.
Apple has already provided security updates to products that were discontinued for a very long time. For example, on July 29, 2024 Apple released iOS 15.8.3 for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. That update (at that time) was provided to the iPhone 6S/6S Plus just under 9 years after those iPhones were released and just under 6 years after those iPhones were officially discontinued.
There might be even better examples of even older products receiving updates from Apple. The iPhone 6S/6S Plus example was just the one that immediately came to mind when I read your comment.
Edit: Oh, yep, there was an even better example to use. Apple provided yet another update for the iPhone 6S/6S Plus. That update (iOS 15.8.4) happened just a few weeks ago (March 31, 2025). So that would have been 9 years, 6 months after release and 6 years, 6 months after being discontinued.
Edit 2: Even better example of the iPad Air 2 (the one released in 2014). It just got an iPadOS update (also on March 31, 2025) — 10 years and 4 months after it was released and 8 years and 10 days after it was discontinued. Okay. I’ll stop looking now. There might be an even better example, but 8 years after being discontinued is a good example to stop with, lol.
All this aside, maybe someone technically inclined can comment: is there anything technically impossible about Apple making the software/firmware for these things open source, or selling it for a reasonably price to a third party willing to provide support? Asking for a friend.
Apple is deeply involved in so many product domains. Networking was one of many things Apple did. Unifi on the other hand exists solely to serve the networking and networking adjacent product domains. It’s not a side hustle for them, it’s their entire reason for being around.