How to send the & (ampersand) character in the Wifi password field

[leoheck]

Hi, I am using the command line to set my camera wifi.

I can do that with "curl" and "httpie" successfully with:

Code: Select all

curl -s --digest \

	-u admin:mycampass \

	-o /tmp/response \

	-w "%{http_code}\n" \

	-G "http://amc03462ee3144ebb6.local/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi\

	?action=setConfig \

	&WLan.eth2.SSID='myWifi' \

	&WLan.eth2.Keys[0]='myWifiPassword' \

	&WLan.eth2.Encryption=WPA2-PSK-AES \

	&WLan.eth2.KeyID=0 \

	&WLan.eth2.Enable=true \

	&WLan.eth2.KeyType=Hex \

	&WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=true \

	&WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=true"

Code: Select all

http \

	--auth admin:mycampass \

	--auth-type digest \

	GET http://amc03462ee3144ebb6.local/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi \

	action=='setConfig' \

	WLan.eth2.SSID=='myWifi' \

	WLan.eth2.Keys\[0\]=='myWifiPassword' \

	WLan.eth2.Encryption=='WPA2-PSK-AES' \

	WLan.eth2.KeyID=='0' \

	WLan.eth2.Enable=='true' \

	WLan.eth2.KeyType=='Hex' \

	WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=='true' \

	WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=='true'

If the Wifi network has a simple password it works just fine. However, if it has a password with the ampersand (&) character the command fails.

I believe it is due to the CGI in an Http GET method that behaves strangely with the & character. I tried many ways to encode this character and nothing seems to work. However when setting the Wifi password thought the web interface of the camera, I am able to set a password with the &.

When using &, the error I get is:

Code: Select all

Error

ErrorID=2, Detail=Invalid Request!

How can I overcome this issue?
Is it possible to change the Wifi password with an Http POST method?
Why I can set this password from the website but I can't do that with curl or httpie?
Do you know any other client/way that makes this "configManager.setConfig" request work?

[leoheck]

I am also wondering if this is an issue with the camera cgi itself.

[jack7]

You may have a camera firmware problem. See this thread: https://amcrest.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... fig#p28902

[leoheck]

I was thinking about that.

This is the current version of my cameras.

1. Software Version 2.400.AC02.15.R, Build Date: 2017-07-31
2. Software Version 2.420.AC01.3.R, Build Date: 2018-02-06

This is the firmware's version reported

I updated to the latest firmware yesterday V2.420.AC00.18.R

The numbers don't match exactly so I think I can discard this idea.

What happens, is that the & is lost/discarded when the value reaches the CGI.

If I set the WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable flag to false, I can send the data avoiding de error.
So I can check the value stored in the camera. For example, if I send the "a&b" what is stored is "ab".

However, to be honest, I was not able to see if this is a bug in curl/httpie or in the camera itself.

[leoheck]

It looks like a bug in the CGI itself that must decode the &.
Many passwords have this & character since the passwords generators can use it a lot.

Where do we report bugs like that?

[longedge]

Just thinking out loud but since it's an http interface, is the & perhaps being interpreted as an ascii character about to be sent (which is not completed). What about trying "&#38" instead.

[leoheck]

Thanks for the suggestion.

But, when I use the `&` character I receive this invalid request.

Code: Select all

➜ http --auth admin:admin --auth-type digest \

        http://$ip/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi \

        action=='setConfig' \

        WLan.eth2.SSID=='mywifi' \

        WLan.eth2.Keys\[0\]=='a&b' \

        WLan.eth2.Encryption=='WPA2-PSK-AES' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyID=='0' \

        WLan.eth2.Enable=='true' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyType=='Hex' \

        WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=='false' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=='true'



HTTP/1.1 200 OK

CONNECTION: close

CONTENT-LENGTH: 43

Content-type: text/plain;charset=utf-8



Error

ErrorID=2, Detail=Invalid Request!



---------------------



➜ http --auth admin:admin --auth-type digest \

        http://amc03462_44ebb6.lan/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi \

        action=='setConfig' \

        WLan.eth2.SSID=='mywifi' \

        WLan.eth2.Keys\[0\]=='a&#38b' \

        WLan.eth2.Encryption=='WPA2-PSK-AES' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyID=='0' \

        WLan.eth2.Enable=='true' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyType=='Hex' \

        WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=='false' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=='true'



HTTP/1.1 200 OK

CONNECTION: close

CONTENT-LENGTH: 43

Content-type: text/plain;charset=utf-8



Error

ErrorID=2, Detail=Invalid Request!

If I encode the & by myself, it is also wrong

Code: Select all

~ 

➜ http --auth admin:admin --auth-type digest \

        http://$ip/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi \

        action=='setConfig' \

        WLan.eth2.SSID=='mywifi' \

        WLan.eth2.Keys\[0\]=='a%26b' \ 

        WLan.eth2.Encryption=='WPA2-PSK-AES' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyID=='0' \

        WLan.eth2.Enable=='true' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyType=='Hex' \

        WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=='false' \

        WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=='true'



HTTP/1.1 200 OK

CONNECTION: close

CONTENT-LENGTH: 4

Content-type: text/plain;charset=utf-8



OK





~ 

➜ http \                                      

        --auth admin:admin \                                  

        --auth-type digest \ 

        http://$ip/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi \

        action==getConfig \            

        name==WLan                            

        

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

CONNECTION: close

CONTENT-LENGTH: 1034

Content-type: text/plain;charset=utf-8



table.WLan.eth2.Authentication=WPA/WPA2

table.WLan.eth2.ConnectEnable=false

table.WLan.eth2.DataEncryption=AES

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.AnonymousID=admin2

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.AuthType=NONE

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.CaCert=abc

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.Identity=admin

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.Method=TLS

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.Password=admin

table.WLan.eth2.EAP.UserCert=def

table.WLan.eth2.Enable=true

table.WLan.eth2.Encryption=WPA2-PSK-AES

table.WLan.eth2.KeyFlag=true

table.WLan.eth2.KeyID=0

table.WLan.eth2.KeyType=Hex

table.WLan.eth2.Keys[0]=a%26b <== WRONG_PASSWORD SHOULD BE a&b

table.WLan.eth2.Keys[1]=

table.WLan.eth2.Keys[2]=

table.WLan.eth2.Keys[3]=

table.WLan.eth2.LinkEnable=false

table.WLan.eth2.LinkMode=Auto

table.WLan.eth2.Linkable=false

table.WLan.eth2.Network.DefaultGateway=192.168.0.1

table.WLan.eth2.Network.DhcpEnable=true

table.WLan.eth2.Network.DnsServers[0]=8.8.8.8

table.WLan.eth2.Network.DnsServers[1]=8.8.4.4

table.WLan.eth2.Network.IPAddress=192.168.0.108

table.WLan.eth2.Network.SubnetMask=255.255.255.0

table.WLan.eth2.SSID=mywifi

It is also possible that the Curl and Httpie are removing the & before sending values with `&`