ASUS Certificate Maintenance Advisory – Motherboards, Graphics Cards, Mini PCs, Workstations and Servers
ASUS is releasing this advisory to provide information related to the new implementation of a tiered certificate structure that upgrades the security infrastructure of our expanding software ecosystem.
The upgrade requires the current code-signing certificate of several ASUS products to be revoked. This revocation can cause some existing software utilities to trigger a Windows Security dialog box, and may prevent legitimate ASUS programs, such as Aura, AI Suite III, GPU Tweak II and others, from running normally when users attempt to execute the associated ‘Setup.exe’ or ‘AsusSetup.exe’ file.
The new versions of each ASUS software update, code-signed with a new digital certificate are now available for download at the link provided below. Once the latest version of the respective software is downloaded, the relevant program can be installed and run normally.
Further information can be found in the Advisory FAQ section below. Users who have any inquiries or concerns are welcome to contact ASUS Customer Service. ASUS apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this update.
Updated Software List
Download links for each software program can be found here: < Related Product Categories and Updated Software List>
Advisory FAQ
What is a code-signing certificate?
Many companies, including ASUS, use electronic certificates to digitally ‘sign’ software code. These unique signatures provide users with an assurance that the code is legitimate, and has not been modified since being signed by the developer.
For more information, please follow the link below:
https://www.digicert.com/blog/ms-smartscreen-application-reputation/
Yes. All previously released ASUS software obtained from official sources, such as the official ASUS support website, ASUS Q-Installer, ASUS Armoury Crate, or an ASUS support CD, is safe and does not contain any malicious code. However, to account for the growth of our software ecosystem, we have implemented a new certificate infrastructure that requires a software update. Please use the links above to download the latest software for your system.
How does this affect me as a user?
You may encounter one of four different scenarios:
Scenario 1: ASUS software (such as Aura, AI Suite III, GPU Tweak II etc.)
Because the aforementioned software operates at the driver and service level, Windows may perform regular checks on the validity of the certificate when trying to run the program normally. Once the certificate has been revoked, Windows may prevent you from running the program altogether. In this case, you will need to download the newest code-signed version from the support page link listed above.
Scenario 2: Third-party drivers and software packed with ASUS products
The source code for third-party drivers and software are not produced by ASUS. As such, they will be code-signed by the third-party provider, and therefore are not affected by the revocation of the ASUS certificate. If you have existing drivers installed, you can continue to use them safely.
However, if you are trying to install third-party drivers or software from an ASUS support CD then you may still encounter a warning dialog. This is because the ASUS support C