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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

#81

Post by slazaro »

herpderperator wrote: post #59

Don't bother with repeaters. Get normal access points, and install several of them if you need to disperse the range around a large area/building/complex. If the SSID and security passphrases match, clients will roam seamlessly between the different APs. I suspect the reason people buy repeaters is that they don't realise that this is possible, or they don't want additional cabling. Repeaters add latency and I can't…

Sometimes their simplicity wins out. I have a TP-Link repeater that just plugs into a wall socket and that's it, very quick setup. I just want it for a specific room that doesn't get wifi coverage; this was cheap and convenient, I'm happy with it.

I knew I could do it the proper way, but there would have been a lot of work involved, with very little payoff.

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

#82

Post by Jaruzel »

Slightly tangential, but I've recently been writing a command line tool to talk to some TP-Link Smart Plugs, and discovered that they regularly talk to 'devs.tplinkcloud.com' even if you don't enable a TP-link Cloud account.

More details here (not my site): https://www.softscheck.com/en/reverse-engineering-tp-link-hs...

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

#83

Post by lmns »

konart wrote: post #67
ktta wrote: post #9

PSA Anyone with commodity routers, repeaters, etc. please check out LEDE project https://lede-project.org . Check if your device has support here - https://lede-project.org/toh/start LEDE firmware is amazing. You will be able to do a lot more with your router and they have quick security fixes. The recent krack vulnerability was fixed within 2 days after the announcement.

Is there any reason to switch from OpenWrt yet?

Security patches. OpenWRT hasn't had any in the past year.

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

#84

Post by lmns »

Jaruzel wrote: post #76
herpderperator wrote: post #59

Don't bother with repeaters. Get normal access points, and install several of them if you need to disperse the range around a large area/building/complex. If the SSID and security passphrases match, clients will roam seamlessly between the different APs. I suspect the reason people buy repeaters is that they don't realise that this is possible, or they don't want additional cabling. Repeaters add latency and I can't…

Some OSs (I'm looking at you Windows) can get 'sticky' and refuse to fail over to the stronger AP even if it does have the same SSID and passphrase. The only solution is to force disconnect and reconnect the wifi on your device, and even then it doesn't fix it all the time. I've found the most 'reliable' arrangement is to not only have the same SSID and passphrase, but to have them all on the same frequency and if yo…

Some Windows wifi drivers offer an option for roaming aggressiveness. I think I've seen this with some Intel cards.

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

#85

Post by Faaak »

Jaruzel wrote: post #82

Slightly tangential, but I've recently been writing a command line tool to talk to some TP-Link Smart Plugs, and discovered that they regularly talk to 'devs.tplinkcloud.com' even if you don't enable a TP-link Cloud account. More details here (not my site): https://www.softscheck.com/en/reverse-engineering-tp-link-hs...

I changed the server url on mines to "localhost". I control the plugs via a script on a docker container (they pilot water pumps). It works well that way.

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

#86

Post by jlgaddis »

Xylakant wrote: post #80
jlgaddis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice referral links on your page. I see from your comment history that you've spammed HN with it several times in the past as well. --- Edit: To be clear, there's nothing inherently wrong with affiliate links. To me, though, it's the same as someone here mentioning their product or service in a comment without disclosing their affiliation. It's one thing to tell another person "The FooBar 9000 is a good router.". It'…

I fail to see the problem with affiliate links in that context. The site openly disclosed that they use affiliate links to amazon. The site provides a value, a ranked list of compatible devices. I might actually use it if I were shopping around for a device. Building and maintaining it probably takes some effort. It deserves to get paid. If you think that all for-profit pages should be banned from mention then this h…

> The site openly disclosed that they use affiliate links to amazon.

Did it? I was on an iPad and only realized they were affiliate links after I clicked on one and it took to Amazon. Immediately, I looked at the URL to see if there was a referral tag in there. I then went back and noticed "DISCLOSURE" at the very bottom, in the footer, but I don't recall seeing any mention of it before that.

> If you think that all for-profit pages should be banned from mention then this here would be a barren place, devoid of links to useful services.

Did I say anything even remotely close to that?

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

#87

Post by taneq »

ktta wrote: post #55
bubblethink wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You will be able to do a lot more with your router and they have quick security fixes Just a counter point to this. Lede on its own doesn't have a very smooth in place upgrade system. If you are in the loop, sure you can do upgrades, but most people would never log in to their routers after setting it up. I think something like google wifi is not a bad solution either, with the obvious privacy tradeoff. It runs chro…

I realize people's opinions differ on this, but having Google's wifi router is one of the most privacy compromising things one can do. Security wise, sure, great idea. But there's so much data to collect at the router level. From wireless MAC addresses (which it already does), and to every single IP address visited by every device in the household. I might sound paranoid, but with continuous news of Google's privacy…

This is one of those things where the language is being deliberately twisted. "Secure" means "only people you authorise can see the data", but now it's assumed that you authorise Google (or other provider) implicitly.

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

#88

Post by moreless »

jnbiche wrote: post #52
joering2 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given most of your traffic goes via HTTPS pipes, that over-reacting a little, no?

No. The point is, you could be downloading a corrupted copy of the firmware with exploits, for example. If your firmware has such exploits, what good is the fact that most of your traffic goes over https?

Not to side with him, but I think what GP was trying to say is that exploit on router firmware doesn't necessarily mean that your computer will get owned too - which is true. However owning a router makes further attacks much easier. Also, owning a router is advantageous for attacker in itself.

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

#89

Post by aneidon »

ksec wrote: post #69
ktta wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize people's opinions differ on this, but having Google's wifi router is one of the most privacy compromising things one can do. Security wise, sure, great idea. But there's so much data to collect at the router level. From wireless MAC addresses (which it already does), and to every single IP address visited by every device in the household. I might sound paranoid, but with continuous news of Google's privacy…

Apple Airport is probably the best router I have ever owned. Not the fastest, but extremely Stable, based on NetBSD and from a company that makes money on my hardware rather then my Data. I really hope they will have an 802.11ax version once they iron out all the crap that is going on in there.

hate to break it to you: https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/21/apple-reportedly-stops-develo...

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

#90

Post by jeroen »

jlgaddis wrote: post #65
proctor wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, I maintain a page[0] that lists the top routers with support for openWrt and DD-wrt. http://rooftopbazaar.com/routerfirmware/

Nice referral links on your page. I see from your comment history that you've spammed HN with it several times in the past as well. --- Edit: To be clear, there's nothing inherently wrong with affiliate links. To me, though, it's the same as someone here mentioning their product or service in a comment without disclosing their affiliation. It's one thing to tell another person "The FooBar 9000 is a good router.". It'…

The previous comment mentioning the site is 141 days old, and the one before that 451 days. A bit much to call that spamming.
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