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TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

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Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#11
post #4

My most recent frustration with TP-LINK was they they DO NOT provide their firmware updates over HTTPS. They do not provide checksums for their firmware files either. (When I asked for these things, their support weren't helpful on Twitter.) So you're expected to download some unsigned binary over an untrusted connection and trust that with all your traffic. Definitely not buying TP-LINK next time. Good to know this…

What makes you think they're unsigned? Surely there's at least some basic checksumming if not cryptographic signatures inside of that blob? There's no reason to even bother with delivering it over https if you put a good signature on the blob itself.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#12
post #8

Wow! 11 years ago Dlink were the ones abusing NTP https://m.slashdot.org/story/67096 Strange how these "mistakes" keep cropping up. Is it laziness, malice, or just ignorance?

Laziness and ignorance (probably not even knowing what they were doing other than just using these ntp servers) at the beginning. I bet someone just “copied and pasted”.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#13

Well I run a TP-link repeater and now thinking of getting something better. Someone know any routers or repeaters with reputation for good firmware?

If you trust Google, consider buying into Google Wifi mesh routers.

If not, consider eero.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#14
post #6
post #5

I use a TP-Link travel router while on the road to get access for all of my devices in hotels that have device caps, and for my Android TV devices which don't gracefully handle hotel login prompts. I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. It boots quickly once plugged in, it reliably handles 4-5 devices ut…

> I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. So your convenience trumps the impact you’re causing to global infrastructure? Yes, you’re just one among millions, but still a slippery slope.

>So your convenience trumps the impact you’re causing to global infrastructure

Honestly? Yes.

Should I want TP-Link to fix it? Maybe. Should pressure be put on TP-Link to fix it? Yes.

But not by consumers. It isn't the responsibility of a random consumer that has no idea what an NTP server even is to understand whether or not the TP-Link router is going the "right thing" for all sorts of use cases they've never even heard of it.

From a consumer perspective, does TP-Link build a good product? Yes. And that's all consumers care about.

The pragmatic reality of the situation is if this is an issue, the public service providers need to do something about it.

You cannot expect consumers to worry about or even know about this sort of thing. They don't care. They'll never care. This blog post won't make these random consumers that see it as a highly rated product on e-commerce websites care. TP-Link won't care when the niche population of people that care about this don't buy their product because we're not the market.

If the NTP pool cares about what TP-Link is doing, they should reach out to TP-Link about it, and if there's no co-operation, be public about it.

Pissing into the wind on a random 3rd party blog about how consumers should switch because of something 99.9% of consumers don't care about isn't going to accomplish anything, whether we a conscientious net citizens should care or not.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#15
post #10
post #5

I use a TP-Link travel router while on the road to get access for all of my devices in hotels that have device caps, and for my Android TV devices which don't gracefully handle hotel login prompts. I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. It boots quickly once plugged in, it reliably handles 4-5 devices ut…

Don't forget that those 715mb you take have to be delivered by someone running those servers at the other end, multiplied by the number of devices. Don't be a vandal on the internet. Don't be the reason for why we can't have nice things like community ntp pools.

If the NTP pool has an issue with what TP-Link is doing, they should talk to TP-Link. If TP-Link is unresponsive to their concerns, then they should be public about it. It is not the responsibility of random consumers to know about how two other parties interact with each other.

This appears to be entirely a supposition that the NTP pool cares that TP-Link is doing this, without any evidence from the actual people in charge of it are concerned. As best I can tell, this blog is not run by Ask Bjørn Hansen and neither he nor the ISC have voiced any concerns here.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#16
post #4

My most recent frustration with TP-LINK was they they DO NOT provide their firmware updates over HTTPS. They do not provide checksums for their firmware files either. (When I asked for these things, their support weren't helpful on Twitter.) So you're expected to download some unsigned binary over an untrusted connection and trust that with all your traffic. Definitely not buying TP-LINK next time. Good to know this…

What makes you think they're unsigned? Surely there's at least some basic checksumming if not cryptographic signatures inside of that blob? There's no reason to even bother with delivering it over https if you put a good signature on the blob itself.

I would assume it does not do those things, or else creating/flashing custom firmware like DD-WRT would presumably be impossible. They could be doing some verification in the firmware itself, but obviously that only saves you from bad downloads - anybody serving you up a malicious firmware can easily just serve one up without the verification checks inside.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#18
post #6
post #5

I use a TP-Link travel router while on the road to get access for all of my devices in hotels that have device caps, and for my Android TV devices which don't gracefully handle hotel login prompts. I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. It boots quickly once plugged in, it reliably handles 4-5 devices ut…

> I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. So your convenience trumps the impact you’re causing to global infrastructure? Yes, you’re just one among millions, but still a slippery slope.

He's actually not causing any "impact" at all.

> The firmware of some TP-Link repeaters — but not routers — including all 2017 models ... --TFA

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#19
post #10
post #5

I use a TP-Link travel router while on the road to get access for all of my devices in hotels that have device caps, and for my Android TV devices which don't gracefully handle hotel login prompts. I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. It boots quickly once plugged in, it reliably handles 4-5 devices ut…

Don't forget that those 715mb you take have to be delivered by someone running those servers at the other end, multiplied by the number of devices. Don't be a vandal on the internet. Don't be the reason for why we can't have nice things like community ntp pools.

> Don't be the reason ...

He's not the reason.

As TFA points out, it's TP-Link repeaters and explicitly "not routers" that are affected.

Re: TP-Link firmware sends six DNS requests and one NTP query every 5 seconds

#20
post #5

I use a TP-Link travel router while on the road to get access for all of my devices in hotels that have device caps, and for my Android TV devices which don't gracefully handle hotel login prompts. I have to say that the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of the product far outweighs any concerns I have over ~715MB over the course of a month. It boots quickly once plugged in, it reliably handles 4-5 devices ut…

I've got a couple of MR-3020 "travel routers" myself, though I run OpenWRT on 'em. They're pretty decent little boxes and well worth the $15 or so that I paid for 'em.
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