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Forum Discussion
chunkyks
May 29, 2017Guide
Access Control doesn't Control Access
There are discussions on this forum going back several years [I'll paste a few links at the bottom], but the resolution still seems unclear and dissatisfactory.
I went into access controls, and blocked a specific device. In the "Attached Devices" page, the device shows as connected to the router's wireless, but with a red "Blocked" tag. It's clearly connected to the network, and other devices on the network are able to connect to it. That's the opposite of what I expect when I put this in a blocked list.
Can I just configure the wireless so that this mac address is completely unable to connect to the wireless network at all?
I could change the SSID or password and leave this one device in the dark, but that doesn't fix the fact that the access control doesn't appear to be controlling access - is Netgear's proposed solution that owners of these routers need to change wireless passwords on all "allowed" devices every time that a security-conscious owner decides it's time to block one specific IoT device?
I have the current firmware at time of writing, V1.0.3.46_1.1.32
Other threads:
From 2014: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Wireless-N-Routers/Access-Control-Block-not-working/td-p/447416
Thanks,
Gary
I eventually contacted Netgear's security support email, and got the reply that this is as expected. Apparently this is a feature, and not going to be fixed.
Netgear should be ashamed.
11 Replies
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- JamesGLNETGEAR Employee Retired
Hi chunkyks,
Access control is working using my R8000. You can try to reset it and manually reconfigure.
- chunkyksGuide
I did reset and reconfigure. The symptoms remain the same as before, and as the previous owners have been asking about for the last three years in the posts I linked.
Please can you confirm what you mean by "working" on your R8000; is the blocked device able to connect to your wifi but unable to reach the internet? Or is it unable to to connect to the wifi at all? If it's able to connect to your wifi but not able to reach the internet, can it still reach other devices on your network?
In the end, a documentation reference would really be a big help. Is access control supposed to completely stop devices from connecting to the network, like other vendors' devices? Or is it only supposed to stop it from reaching the network or internet, while allowing it to connect to wifi?
Thanks,
Gary
- chunkyksGuide
... JamesGL? Can you confirm that the behaviour I'm seeing is expected?
- JamesGLNETGEAR Employee Retired
Hi chunkyks,
Let me check on your inquiry. I will get back to you.
- chunkyksGuide
Hey JamesGL
What's the good news? I assume there's a simple fix so that blocking devices will actually block devices?
Cheers
Gary