Opkg changes /etc directory ownership when installing packages on RUT2M_R_00.07.20.3/RUT2M_R_00.07.19.4

Networking Solutions
1

This is immediately after a factory reset.

When I install a package over opkg the ownership of the /etc directory gets messed up:

Warning: Permanently added 'rut241' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.


BusyBox v1.34.1 (2026-01-21 11:12:45 UTC) built-in shell (ash)

              ____        _    ___  ____
             |  _ \ _   _| |_ / _ \/ ___|
             | |_) | | | | __| | | \___ \
             |  _ <| |_| | |_| |_| |___) |
             |_| \_\\__,_|\__|\___/|____/
--------------------------------------------------------
               Teltonika RUT2M series 2026
--------------------------------------------------------
   Device:     RUT241
   Kernel:     5.15.196
   Firmware:   RUT2M_R_00.07.20.3
   Build:      6796fd3ec34
   Build date: 2026-01-21 12:20:30
--------------------------------------------------------
[...]
root@RUT241:~# ls -ld /etc
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             0 Feb  6 13:16 /etc
root@RUT241:~# opkg update
Downloading https://opkg.teltonika-networks.com/88318280b31862e9f20c8ec4e592f32cb109ff4e6e2053a4a0757aa5a3bb162f/Packages.gz
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/tlt_packages
Downloading https://opkg.teltonika-networks.com/88318280b31862e9f20c8ec4e592f32cb109ff4e6e2053a4a0757aa5a3bb162f/Packages.sig
Signature check passed.
root@RUT241:~# opkg install speedtest
Installing speedtest (2025-11-04-7) to root...
Downloading https://opkg.teltonika-networks.com/88318280b31862e9f20c8ec4e592f32cb109ff4e6e2053a4a0757aa5a3bb162f/speedtest_2025-11-04-7_mipsel_24kc.ipk
Configuring speedtest.
root@RUT241:~# ls -ld /etc
drwxr-xr-x    1 1000     1000             0 Nov 14 06:17 /etc

In case the seriousness of this bug is not immediately obvious, I discovered it because I could no longer automatically log in via SSH to my RUT241 with an SSH key. I was forced to use a password because the SSH server on the RUT241 refuses key-based login if the permissions on the /etc directory are wrong.

Firmware version RUT2M_R_00.07.18.3 works fine, RUT2M_R_00.07.19.4 has the same problem.

1 Like
3

Hello,

I’ll pass this information to our R&D for review and will get back to you in case more information is required, or if I’ll have additional news.

Regards,
M.

5

This issue does not appear with all packages. I tried wpa-cli, it did not mess with the permissions of /etc/, but the ntpd package did.

6

Thanks for the clarification, I’ve passed this information to our R&D. Still waiting for a response, will get back to you as soon as I have one.

Regards,
M.

7

Still present in firmware version RUT2M_R_00.07.21.2.