¶ OpenWrt version history
¶ Beginning
The OpenWrt project started in January 2004. The first OpenWrt versions were based on Linksys GPL sources for WRT54G and a buildroot from the uClibc project. This version was known as OpenWrt stable release and was widely in use.
In the beginning of 2005 some new developers joined the team. After some months of closed development the team decided to publish the first experimental versions of OpenWrt. The experimental versions use a heavily customized build system based on buildroot2 from the uClibc project.
OpenWrt uses official GNU/Linux kernel sources and only adds patches for the system on chip and drivers for the network interfaces. The developer team tries to re-implement most of the proprietary code inside the GPL tarballs of the different vendors. There are free tools for writing new firmware images directly into the flash (mtd), for configuring the wireless lan chip and to program the VLAN-capable switch via the proc filesystem.
¶ Release history
Stable release version numbers are made from the year and the month when a new stable branch was created. An additional third number indicates a service or interim release from that branch.
Pre-built images of the final stable image for each release are in the Downloads column at the right. Information about the various types of builds is available on the Choosing an OpenWrt version page.
¶ Timeline
The following is a complete history of OpenWrt releases:
Announcement / Release notes Downloads Release date Revision Bleeding Edge Main (master) snapshots Downloads Continuously Release Candidate - Stable Release 25.12 OpenWrt 25.12.2 Downloads 2026 March r32802-f505120278 OpenWrt 25.12.1 Downloads 2026 March r32768-b21cfa8f8c OpenWrt 25.12.0 Downloads 2026 February r32713-f919e7899d 24.10 OpenWrt 24.10.5 Downloads 2025 December r29087-d9c5716d1d OpenWrt 24.10.4 Downloads 2025 October r28959-29397011cc OpenWrt 24.10.3 Downloads 2025 September r28872-daca7c049b OpenWrt 24.10.2 Downloads 2025 June r28739-d9340319c6 OpenWrt 24.10.1 Downloads 2025 April r28597-0425664679 OpenWrt 24.10.0 Downloads 2025 February r28427-6df0e3d02a 23.05 OpenWrt 23.05.6 Downloads 2025 August r24232-539228933c OpenWrt 23.05.5 Downloads 2024 September r24106-10cc5fcd00 OpenWrt 23.05.4 Downloads 2024 July r24012-d8dd03c46f OpenWrt 23.05.3 Downloads 2024 March r23809-234f1a2efa OpenWrt 23.05.2 Downloads 2023 November r23630-842932a63d OpenWrt 23.05.1 Skipped in favor of 23.05.2 2023 November - OpenWrt 23.05.0 Downloads 2023 October r23497-6637af95aa 22.03 OpenWrt 22.03.7 Downloads 2024 July r20341-591b7e93d3 OpenWrt 22.03.6 Downloads 2023 December r20265-f85a79bcb4 OpenWrt 22.03.5 Downloads 2023 May r20134-5f15225c1e OpenWrt 22.03.4 Downloads 2023 April r20123-38ccc47687 OpenWrt 22.03.3 Downloads 2023 January r20028-43d71ad93e OpenWrt 22.03.2 Downloads 2022 October r19803-9a599fee93 OpenWrt 22.03.1 Downloads 2022 October r19777-2853b6d652 OpenWrt 22.03.0 Downloads 2022 September r19685-512e76967f 21.02 Openwrt 21.02.7 Downloads 2023 May r16847-f8282da11e Openwrt 21.02.6 Downloads 2023 April r16842-bc99ce5b22 Openwrt 21.02.5 Downloads 2022 October r16688-fa9a932fdb Openwrt 21.02.4 Downloads 2022 October r16685-82ebc173b3 Openwrt 21.02.3 Downloads 2022 April r16554-1d4dea6d4f Openwrt 21.02.2 Downloads 2022 February r16495-bf0c965af0 Openwrt 21.02.1 Downloads 2021 October r16325-88151b8303 Openwrt 21.02.0 Downloads 2021 September r16279-5cc0535800 19.07 OpenWrt 19.07.10 Downloads 2022 April r11427-9ce6aa9d8d OpenWrt 19.07.9 Downloads 2022 February r11405-2a3558b0de OpenWrt 19.07.8 Downloads 2021 August r11364-ef56c85848 OpenWrt 19.07.7 Downloads 2021 February r11306-c4a6851c72 OpenWrt 19.07.6 Downloads 2021 January r11278-8055e38794 OpenWrt 19.07.5 Downloads 2020 December r11257-5090152ae3 OpenWrt 19.07.4 Downloads 2020 September r11208-ce6496d796 OpenWrt 19.07.3 Downloads 2020 May r11063-85e04e9f46 OpenWrt 19.07.2 Downloads 2020 March r10947-65030d81f3 OpenWrt 19.07.1 Downloads 2020 January r10911-c155900f66 OpenWrt 19.07.0 Downloads 2020 January r10860-a3ffeb413b 18.06 OpenWrt 18.06.9 Downloads 2020 December r8077-7cbbab7246 OpenWrt 18.06.8 Downloads 2020 March r7989-82fbd85747 OpenWrt 18.06.7 Downloads 2020 January r7976-ca47026b7d OpenWrt 18.06.6 Downloads 2020 January r7957-d81a8a3e29 OpenWrt 18.06.5 Downloads 2019 November r7897-9d401013fc OpenWrt 18.06.4 Downloads 2019 July r7808-ef686b7292 OpenWrt 18.06.3 Skipped in favor of 18.06.4 due to a last minute 4.14 kernel update OpenWrt 18.06.2 Downloads 2019 February r7676-cddd7b4c77 OpenWrt 18.06.1 Downloads 2018 August r7258-5eb055306f OpenWrt 18.06.0 Downloads 2018 July r7188-b0b5c64c22 17.01 LEDE 17.01.7 Skipped due to GPG signing certs issues LEDE 17.01.6 Downloads 2018 September r3979-2252731af4 LEDE 17.01.5 Downloads 2018 July r3919-38e704be71 LEDE 17.01.4 Downloads 2017 October r3560-79f57e422d LEDE 17.01.3 Downloads 2017 August r3533-d0bf257c46 LEDE 17.01.2 Downloads 2017 June r3435-65eec8bd5f LEDE 17.01.1 Downloads 2017 April r3316-7eb58cf109 LEDE 17.01.0 Downloads 2017 February r3205-59508e3 Older releases (from svn codebase) Chaos Calmer 15.05.1 Downloads 2016 March r48532 Chaos Calmer 15.05 Downloads 2015 September r46767 Barrier Breaker 14.07 Downloads 2014 October r42625 Attitude Adjustment 12.09 Downloads 2013 April r36088 Backfire 10.03.1 Downloads 2011 December r29592 Backfire 10.03 Downloads 2010 April r20728 Kamikaze 8.09.2 Downloads 2010 January r18801 Kamikaze 8.09.1 Downloads 2009 June r16278 Kamikaze 8.09 Downloads 2008 September r14510 Kamikaze 7.09 Downloads 2007 September r7831 Kamikaze 7.07 Downloads 2007 July Kamikaze 7.06 Downloads 2007 June r7204 White Russian 0.9 Downloads 2007 January r6257
¶ Important notes
Only supported OpenWrt releases are considered safe. Any use of unsupported versions is strongly discouraged due to multiple, severe, well-known, actively exploited security vulnerabilities in the kernel, third-party applications, and 802.11 protocols.
OEM devices may indicate a specific OpenWrt or LEDE release name in banners or other locations that are built using Qualcomm Atheros' QSDK. These builds, while based on OpenWrt code are not OpenWrt and are often not compatible with OpenWrt configuration approaches. QSDK builds are often very good builds, incorporating proprietary code from Qualcomm Atheros. Support for these OEM builds is best sought from the OEM.
¶ White Russian
2007: The codename of the first OpenWrt release is White Russian. White Russian is a popular cocktail. Subsequent release names in 2007-2016 were based on other cocktails, and the recipe was shown in /etc/banner.
Subsequent releases continue the version scheme without the .0 prefix, and with the version number derived roughly from the year in which the release falls.
White Russian is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ Kamikaze and Buildroot-NG
2006-2010: Substantial improvements to the build environment were made under the Buildroot-NG fork in August and September 2006, and these were merged back into the main Kamikaze development branch in mid-October 2006 and became the first official Kamikaze release. OpenWrt 7 and 8, both in the Kamikaze stream, were released throughout 2007-2008.
Kamikaze and Buildroot-NG are no longer maintained or supported.
¶ Backfire
2010-2011: The first Backfire release, OpenWrt 10.03, was released in April 2010:
Backfire is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ Attitude Adjustment
2013: Attitude Adjustment (AA) was released on 25 April 2013:
- Release notes
- Release notes
- Announcement
- Changelog
- Downloads
- Code revision: r36088
Attitude Adjustment is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ Barrier Breaker
2014: Barrier Breaker (BB) was released in October 2014:
- Release notes
- Announcement / Release notes
- Downloads
- Code revision: r42625
Barrier Breaker is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ Chaos Calmer
2015-2016: Chaos Calmer (CC) was compiled at the end of January 2016, but hardware problems delayed the release until March.
The maintenance release of Chaos Calmer was released on 16 March 2016:
- Release notes
- Announcement / Release notes
- Downloads
- Code revision: r48532
- Linux kernel: 3.18
Chaos Calmer is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ LEDE 17.01
2017-2018: The final 17.01 release was 17.01.6 in September 2018:
- Release notes
- Announcement
- Downloads
- Code revision: r3979-2252731af4
- Linux kernel: 4.4
LEDE 17.01 is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 18.06
The OpenWrt 18.06 series highlights:
- network flow offloading support for targets using kernel 4.14
- IPv6 improvements
- SQM & cake qdisc improvements from network flow controlling
2018-2020: The last 18.06 release was the final service release 18.06.9 in December 2020:
- Release notes
- Announcement
- Downloads
- Code revision: r8077-7cbbab7246
- Linux kernel: 4.9 / 4.14 depending on target
OpenWrt 18.06 was declared End-of-Support in December 2020 and is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 19.07
The OpenWrt 19.07 highlights:
- bringing all supported targets to Linux kernel version 4.14
- initial device tree based ath79 support (for ar71xx devices)
- initial WPA3 support for wireless networking for openssl based images
- conversion to client-side rendering on LuCI web interface
2020-2022: The last 19.07 release was the final service release 19.07.10 in April 2022:
- Release notes
- Announcement
- Downloads
- Code revision: r11427-9ce6aa9d8d
- Linux kernel: 4.14
OpenWrt 19.07 was declared End-of-Support in April 2022 and is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 21.02
The OpenWrt 21.02 highlights:
- WPA3 support in default images
- TLS and HTTPS support by default
- initial DSA support for switch config on some targets
- network config clarifications
2021-2023: The last 21.02 release was the final service release 21.02.7 in May 2023:
- Release notes
- Announcement
- Downloads
- Code revision: r16847-f8282da11e
- Linux kernel: 5.4
OpenWrt 21.02 was declared End-of-Support in May 2023 and is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 22.03
The OpenWrt 22.03 highlights:
- migration from iptables based firewall3 to the nftables based firewall4
- more DSA support
- year 2038 date problem fix via 64-bit time_t in musl C lib
2022-2024: The last 22.03 release was the final service release 22.03.7 in July 2024:
* [[:releases:22.03:notes-22.03.7 | Release notes]]
* [[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/openwrt-22-03-7-seventh-service-release/205025 | Announcement]]
* [[https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.7/targets/ | Downloads]]
* Code revision: r20341-591b7e93d3
* Linux kernel: 5.10.221
OpenWrt 22.03 was declared End-of-Support in July 2024 and is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 23.05
The OpenWrt 23.05 highlights:
- Support for Wifi 6E (6GHz)
- More 64bit ARM targets
2023-2025: The last 23.05 release was the final service release 23.05.6 in August 2025:
* [[:releases:23.05:notes-23.05.6 | Release notes]]
* [[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/openwrt-23-05-6-service-release/239506 | Announcement]]
* [[https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.6/targets/ | Downloads]]
* Code revision: r24106-10cc5fcd00
* Linux kernel: 5.15.189
OpenWrt 23.05 was declared End-of-Support in August 2025 and is no longer maintained or supported.
¶ OpenWrt 24.10
The OpenWrt 24.10 highlights:
- improved support for WiFi6 (802.11ax) and initial support for WiFi7 (802.11be)
- TLS 1.3 support in default images
2024-: The current 24.10 release is the 24.10.5 service release in December 2025:
* [[:releases:24.10:notes-24.10.5 | Release notes]]
* [[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/openwrt-24-10-5-service-release/244303 | Announcement]]
* [[https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.5/targets/ | Downloads]]
* Code revision: r29087-d9c5716d1d
* Linux kernel: 6.6.119
¶ OpenWrt 25.12
The OpenWrt 25.12 highlights:
- apk instead of opkg as the package manager
- Attended sysupgrade package enabled by default
- wifi handling scripts rewritten
2025-: The current 25.12 release is the 25.12.2 release in March 2026.
* [[:releases:25.12:notes-25.12.2 | Release notes]]
* [[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/openwrt-25-12-2-service-release/248287 | Announcement]]
* [[https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.2/targets/ | Downloads]]
* Code revision: r32802-f505120278
* Linux kernel: 6.12.74
¶ Main (master) snapshots
The "bleeding edge" aka trunk (SVN age term) where the main development is being made, is called as the main branch (previously "master") in the Git repository. Snapshot images made from the main branch are considered unstable and potentially can brick the device, so they are only supposed to be used by developers or experienced users.
¶ Branch logic
OpenWrt follows this branch strategy:
- All development happens in 'main' (master). It progresses on, but no releases are made from it. Buildbot development snapshots are compiled from 'main'. New devices are added to 'main'.
- Before major releases, a release branch is branched off from 'main'. This branch will get separate fix commits and the releases are made of that. No new features are normally added to the release branches after the branching.
Approximate branching dates of the recent release branches, reflecting the date from which the bulk of the source code also in the later maintenance releases is based on:
- 18.06: May 2018
- 19.07: June 2019
- 21.02: February 2021
- 22.03: March 2022
- 23.05: May 2023
- 24.10: October 2024
- 25.12: December 2025
In the picture below, you can see 23.05, 24.10 and 25.12 branches with the historical releases made from them.
