Will disabling UPnP cause gaming problems?

[king3pj]

I've read that leaving UPnP enabled is a security risk. I'm hesitant to just disable it though. I play games on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Both Sony and Microsoft recommend using routers with UPnP for the best online gaming experience. I'm assuming this is true for PC games too.

I also use a Nest WiFi thermostat that I need to be able to connect to from outside my local network. I believe this also relies on UPnP. If I disable UPnP will I have to do a bunch of port forwarding to get my gaming consoles, Nest, and each individual PC game to work properly?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Its not a huge security risk if your devices have solid security software watching for viruses, and you make sure your flash is updated. However setting your firewall to block outside connections (from your WAN port) from ports 1900/UDP and port 2869/TCP should prevent external UPnP connections.

Individual PC games may not need port forwarding, but it makes everything more complicated. It was much more of an issue a few years ago (there was a UPnP bug in Windows XP).

 

[king3pj]

So it sounds like disabling UPnP is more headache than it's worth. Thanks for your help.