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In our work office, we have a router but the password for it has been lost. We don't want to do a factory reset except as a last resort. I could try brute forcing the login, but I'm afraid that some router models will send some emergency signal to its OEM or our ISP in case it detects a brute force attempt. Is this a common thing, or should I not be worried and try it?

(I wish to emphasize that the router is our property so we aren't attempting to do anything illegal, at least to my knowledge.)

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    It could, but I doubt it. Most routers have very shitty firmware that doesn't even bother to protect against bruteforce (nor against lots of other exploits) let alone report it. But anyway, since you are the owner of the device you should feel free to proceed even if it did report it, as you are doing nothing wrong.
    – André Borie
    Sep 6, 2016 at 20:30
  • As per @AndréBorie, most router OEMs seem to consider routers consumer electronics, and not only tend to write poor firmware but don't even bother updating the firmware when security holes are found. You might consider Googling your router model with 'security hole' or 'default password'. Some routers have firmware with built-in OEM passwords or other security holes and this might save you time from brute-forcing your router and also tell you what you need to secure once you have broken into your router.
    – Mark Ripley
    Sep 8, 2016 at 9:56

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Short of locking out the device or incurring some time-based delay, there is no harm in brute forcing the password. You may also want to scan it with a vulnerability scanner to see if there are any disclosed vulnerabilities which you can exploit to gain access to the router.

As long as you own the device and have permission to attack it, feel free to BF till your hearts content.

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