ha-asusrouter: Connection to RT-AX86U broken after upgrade to 0.18.0+ [Bug]

The problem

Support for RT-AX86U (running Merlin 388.1) seems to be broken for me since upgrading to 0.18.0 (and all the way up to the current 0.22.0. When I downgrade back to 0.17.4, everything works/connects fine, but upgrading to 0.18.0/0.18.1/0.18.2/018.3+ seems to ALWAYS break this integration’s ability to connect to my router. Was there just a breaking change somewhere that I missed, or is something else going on here? Screenshot below from my Devices & Services page, and paste of error below that. Oh also, I’m running the latest version of Hassio in KVM if that helps.

This error originated from a custom integration.

Logger: homeassistant.config_entries
Source: custom_components/asusrouter/bridge.py:145
Integration: AsusRouter (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 8:59:48 AM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 8:59:48 AM

Error setting up entry 192.168.1.1 for asusrouter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 183, in async_request
    json_body = await reply.json()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/aiohttp_client.py", line 52, in json
    return await super().json(*args, loads=loads, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/aiohttp/client_reqrep.py", line 1119, in json
    return loads(stripped.decode(encoding))
orjson.JSONDecodeError: byte order mark (BOM) is not supported: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 101, in async_run_command
    result = await self.async_request(command, endpoint, self._headers)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 229, in async_request
    json_body = parsers.xml(text=string_body)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/util/parsers.py", line 483, in xml
    data = xmltodict.parse(text)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xmltodict.py", line 327, in parse
    parser.Parse(xml_input, True)
xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError: not well-formed (invalid token): line 60, column 19

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 183, in async_request
    json_body = await reply.json()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/aiohttp_client.py", line 52, in json
    return await super().json(*args, loads=loads, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/aiohttp/client_reqrep.py", line 1119, in json
    return loads(stripped.decode(encoding))
orjson.JSONDecodeError: byte order mark (BOM) is not supported: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/config_entries.py", line 382, in async_setup
    result = await component.async_setup_entry(hass, self)
  File "/config/custom_components/asusrouter/__init__.py", line 30, in async_setup_entry
    await router.setup()
  File "/config/custom_components/asusrouter/router.py", line 609, in setup
    await self.bridge.async_connect()
  File "/config/custom_components/asusrouter/bridge.py", line 145, in async_connect
    await self.api.async_connect()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/asusrouter.py", line 251, in async_connect
    await self.async_identify()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/asusrouter.py", line 344, in async_identify
    ] = await self.async_check_endpoint(address)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/asusrouter.py", line 238, in async_check_endpoint
    await self.async_api_load(endpoint)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/asusrouter.py", line 400, in async_api_load
    raise ex
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/asusrouter.py", line 393, in async_api_load
    result = await self.connection.async_run_command(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 113, in async_run_command
    return await self.async_run_command(command, endpoint, retry=True)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 114, in async_run_command
    raise ex
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 101, in async_run_command
    result = await self.async_request(command, endpoint, self._headers)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/connection.py", line 229, in async_request
    json_body = parsers.xml(text=string_body)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/asusrouter/util/parsers.py", line 483, in xml
    data = xmltodict.parse(text)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xmltodict.py", line 327, in parse
    parser.Parse(xml_input, True)
xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError: not well-formed (invalid token): line 60, column 19

Your device model

RT-AX86U

Firmware type

Merlin

Firmware version

3.0.0.4.388.1_0

Integration version with the issue

0.18.0+

Method of the integration installation

HACS

What version and type of Home Assistant installation do you use

Operating System 9.5 Supervisor 2023.01.1 Home Assistant 2023.3.1