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vt460's avatar
vt460
Aspirant
Sep 20, 2018
Solved

R6230 not requiring password to login

My R6230 is in Wireless Access Point mode, connected by Ethernet cable to a Nighthawk X4S. I want to be able to mange the R6230 remotely, which is apparently not an option in Wireless Access Point mode (it is greyed out), so I configured port forwarding on the X4S. I'm able to login via the X4S public IP address using the forwarded port, but with this setup the R6230 no longer requires a password for login, regardless of whether I use the public address with port forwarding or I login directly on the local subnet. If I disable port forwarding on the X4S I am again required to enter a password on the R6230. I have no clues about why. Does not seem to be a browser cache issue. No I haven't tried a factory reset yet. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.

  • The setup I was hoping for would allow the following

      - X4S R7800 login via LAN IP from local network - this works of course, with caveat 1 below

      - X4S R7800 login via WAN IP (remote management) - this works, with caveat 1 below

      - AC1200 R6230 login via LAN IP from local network - this works of course, with caveat 2 below

      - AC1200 R6230 login via X4S WAN IP forwarded with PAT to R6230 LAN IP - this works, with caveats 2 and 3 below

    wrt my original post, I was using the same admin password on both routers, and I think ultimately this led to some authentication caching problems in the browser - I've found that if I'm very careful to always Logout I can't recreate the problem of a password not being required, regardless of how I reach the R6230

     

    Based on the discussion above and further consideration, I've realized this would be terribly insecure:

    caveat 1: local and remote management via https with the self signed R7800 certificate is not secure

    caveat 2: https is not supported on the R6230 LAN IP at all, regardless of local or forwarded connection

    caveat 3: if I login to the R6230 via the same WAN address as the R7800 I get a warning about another active login, which is wrong, and I think is related to my earlier belief that passwords were not being required because of auth caching problems and browser cookies

     

    Oh well, lessons learned, hopefully someday Netgear will add proper certificates with proper TLS support for admin login

    thanks to everyone who pitched in!

14 Replies

  • > [...] I want to be able to mange the R6230 remotely, which is
    > apparently not an option in Wireless Access Point mode (it is greyed
    > out), [...]

       Remote Management involves access through the router's WAN/Internet
    port, and, when in WAP mode, the R6230 is all LAN, so the option doesn't
    apply.  You should be able to reach the management web site of the
    R6230-as-WAP at the LAN IP address of the R6230-as-WAP.  That can
    wander, unless you reserve its address on the main-router DHCP server,
    or you assign it a static address.

    > [...] so I configured port forwarding on the X4S.

       How, exactly?

    > [...] I'm able to login via the X4S public IP address using the
    > forwarded port, but with this setup the R6230 no longer requires a
    > password for login, regardless of whether I use the public address with
    > port forwarding or I login directly on the local subnet. [...]

       Is that because your web browser is supplying saved credentials?
    Does a different web browser behave differently?  What are the actual
    URLs being used?  (You can hide your public IP address.)

    > [...] If I disable port forwarding on the X4S I am again required to
    > enter a password on the R6230. [...]

       If you're using the same URL (with a LAN IP address in it), then I
    can't explain why port forwarding, which you're not using, would make
    any difference.

    • vt460's avatar
      vt460
      Aspirant

      I enabled remote management on the X4S, allowing public WAN IP 1.2.3.4:8443 to reach the X4S.

      This behaves as expected, including X4S password required after X4S logout.

      I then added X4S port forwarding for 1.2.3.4:9999 forwarded to the LAN IP of the 6230 192.168.1.250:80

      (I might have also tried 192.168.1.250:443 but I don't think SSL worked, I forget)

      This works and I'm able to access the 6230 remotely via 1.2.3.4:9999, BUT 6230 password is NOT required, logout doesn't fix it

      Same behavior on multiple browsers, and not supposed to be saving credentials after logout, but haven't sniffed the traffic to confirm

      I always use the IP addresses, not routerlogin.net or any other DNS resolution

      Originally the password on the X4S and R6230 were the same, so I thought it might be an X4S credential cross-site caching mix up, but I changed the password on the R6230 and it didn't help

      I know it doesn't make any sense, but as soon as I enable port forwarding and login via the X4S forwarding the R6230 no longer requires a password whether I reach it by forwarding or local LAN, even after logout

      Maybe it's a caching problem, maybe it's a port problem, all clues welcome, I'll keep experimenting and report back

      IPs and ports changed to protect the innocent

      thanks

    • vt460's avatar
      vt460
      Aspirant

      this makes sense, there's no WAN port IP that remote management could reach, thank you, I'll focus on figuring out the password problem