Back in 2017, OpenVPN announced that it would be dropping support for MD5 signed SSL certificates by May 2018. If you are using an MD5 signed certificate with your Android/iOS client, you may have noticed a warning message advising that OpenVPN will be full dropping support for MD5 signed SSL certificates. NETGEAR has started rolling out an improvement to our OpenVPN implantation by switching from MD5 to a more secure SHA256 certificate signing algorithm.
If your NETGEAR router has received a firmware update with OpenVPN fixes/improvements, you will need to remove old MD5 signed certificates and use the OpenVPN feature on the router to generate new SHA256 SSL client and server certificates. To upgrade your NETGEAR router to the latest firmware, please visit How do I upgrade firmware using the Nighthawk app? or How do I update my NETGEAR router firmware using the Check button in the router web interface?.
To generate a new set of OpenVPN SHA256 signed SSL certificates:
- Launch an Internet browser from a computer or mobile device that is connected to your router’s network.
- Enter http://www.routerlogin.net
- Enter the router username and password.
- Select ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > VPN Service.
- Select one of the buttons under the OpenVPN configuration package download section corresponding to the device you are generating the OpenVPN certificates for.
If you require further assistance with setup/certificate generation on your NETGEAR router, please refer to one of the knowledge base articles below:
- For Windows: How do I use the VPN service on my Nighthawk router with my Windows client?
- For Mac: How do I use the VPN service on my Nighthawk router with my MAC OS computer?
- For iOS: How do I use the VPN service with my iOS device?
- For Android: How do I use the VPN service with my Android device?