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Forum Discussion
iOS 14 Private Network Address makes my iPad loose connectivity..
I recently upgraded to iOS 14 & I'm noticing that the Orbi is not playing nice with the Private Internet Address feature. I keep loosing connectivity even though it shows that the wifi is connected. ...
Disable this junk for your own secure home or office network. Nobody is tracing you there. No f**g reason to enable this for your Orbi system.
Yes: JUNK! Apple (and Google) does illegally use harmonized MAC OUI either assigned to other vendors or coming from the reserved non-assigned MAC OUI space.
- While I understand that. The Orbi firmware needs to be addressed with an update to fix this incompatibility.
IOS 14 introduced a feature which "randomizes" the WiFi MAC address as a security feature. This is not unique to Apple. Other operating systems have a similar feature. This feature can be turned off. This would most likely "solve the problem."
My (limited) understanding is that the randomized MAC feature is supposed to create a new MAC address for each WiFi system that the IOS device connects to. Once it creates a MAC for an Orbi WiFi system, that MAC should remain the same. (Can someone comment if this is indeed what is supposed to happen?)
So, (1) disabling this feature would solve the problem, and (2) it would be interesting to understand exactly "what is going on" with respect to this specific iPhone and Orbi system. Does it have a consistent MAC address? What is happening when it "roams"? Is "Access Control" enabled on the Orbi?
To further expose my ignorance.....
If rather than creating a new MAC address for each WiFi SSID, the new IOS 14 feature creates a new MAC address for each access point MAC address that the iPhone encounters, this will create havok for every mesh system that exists. What the heck is a WiFi system supposed to do?
Wow, here is a device with MAC address xxx that knows my SSID/password and wants to connect. Great. I'll give it an IP address.
Oh, goodness. Here is another device with a different MAC address that knows my SSID/password and wants to connect. Cool.
Oh my. Here is yet another device with a different MAC address that knows my SSID/password and wants to connect. Fine dea.
Oh, now it MY responsibility to know that those three different devices were actually the same device that was creating new identities every time it wanted to connect?
Holy Crap. No wonder the message boards are full of posts about IOS 14.
computersteve wrote:
The Orbi firmware needs to be addressed with an update to fix this incompatibility.Nothing to fix* on the wireless infrastructure if devices start to change thier MAC addresses randomly for whatever tin hat ideas. The DHCP IP pool here and on venues get flooded when my engineers and other users get started testing Apps on iOS 14 Beta.
*Except of one: I'm voting for the proposal to modify the DHCP server and automated switch ACL behaviour: Only devices with correct registered MAC OUI must be able to get DHCP addresses and handle traffic over a L2 network. Only devices strictly following IEEE standards and RFCs - this means there is no way to abuse free or OUIs assigned to other vendors OUI as registered - are allowed to use a network. Radomized MAC and OUI will be banned. Just like random hacked ESN, IMEI, SIM, MSN, ... on mobile networks.
If Apple (and Google's Android) manages to _correctly_ identify a network built from different wireless access points and Mesh systems as a single network (typical on many consumer homes, small businesses, ...) then we can discuss radomized MAC - only the non-OUI part - again. Until then this "feature" is a breach of IEEE and RFCs and must be banned.
I'm wondering if this is related to my issue. If not, then can someone re-direct me to the right place or solution?
I'd like to understand why is it that in a WiFi system that has 'access control' turned on to' block all new devices from connecting', any apple device can connect without authorization.
Interestingly... yesterday I ttried to disallow '(block)' one of these, and the router responded that I 'cannot block using the same device I'm logged in with' - an android! Yet the device I was blocking was an iPhone identified by MAC association to vendor. But that aside, I cant seem to block any Apple devices using access control.
