WIFI won't disable

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remo
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 6:28 pm

WIFI won't disable

Post by remo »

Hello,
On both IP3M-941B and IP2M-841 model cameras with latest firmware (2.520.AC00.18.R) the WIFI disable is not working.

Even tough the web interface shows the wifi as disabled i can still login over the wifi IP. Reboots etc has not helped.

Network > Wifi > enable NOT CHECKED.

When i sniff the air interface I can see the camera continues to broadcast as if it was on.

HOW DO I REALLY TURN THE WIFI RADIO OFF ???

I had originally used wifi to connect these. But as my camera count grew (7 so far) due to bandwidth, security and health concerns i had them wired directly to ethernet switches and all worked fine. During a security scan however i saw that these cameras were still connected to the network over wifi. I've tested accessibility over wifi even with ether cable removed. When i reboot i saw that the devices would once again connect to the wifi network and request IP.

How would i turn wifi off so that it does not only not-connect over wifi but does not even broadcast, radio fully off!?

Thanks,
omer.
remo
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 6:28 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by remo »

I seem to have found a workaround for this bug by sheer luck aka trial and error.

Problem:
You could not turn wifi off on 941B and 841 model cameras. The admin interfaced showed wifi as off but in the background both wifi radio would be on, and if previously configured connect to an AP and visible on network.
Besides the security risk this eats up bandwidth, air time and processing resources on your local wifi access point.

Solution:
1- Go to the Network > Wifi and make sure 'enable' is not checked.
(Normally this should be all you need to turn wifi off, but there is a bug so continue)
2- Exit interface
3- Log back in. ***Make sure you use the ethernet IP not wifi IP***.
4- Go to Network > Wifi again and this time check the 'enable' tick box.
5- The system will do something and then on the bottom (under where you would see SSID list) it will say "disconnected".
6- Now once again un-tick/un-check the 'enable' tick box.
7- In about 20seconds the wifi radio finally really shuts down.

NOTEs:
* If you do this in admin interface over the wifi IP, while it again says "disconnected" it in fact still is not. Wifi continues connection and broadcasting.
* You have to do this for every camera one by one from the cameras own web interface. Any other interface (such as NVR admin, desktop or phone app) does not seem to work.
remo
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 6:28 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by remo »

Update: the above fix breaks when the camera reboots. it starts broadcasting over wifi again.

this is bad. there were several other issues all security impacting which i hope to resolve on a support call soon will update here.
remo
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 6:28 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by remo »

the support is yet to call. i got a "support" email saying to disable from the web interface. which does not work to begin with....
jack7
Posts: 904
Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:46 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by jack7 »

If you want to stop wifi transmissions between the router and camera, you could try removing the camera antenna or putting a good small metal plate at the camera antenna shielding it from the router location. In my experience, no wifi signal disconnects the camera wifi network specified. Unchecking wifi in the PC program works for me without your solution. Make sure a message says "saved" after unchecking. Then my router says no activity for the camera MAC. Reboot does turn wifi back on, but it may be for some reason like making sure all paths are on for a restart if the default path happens not to work.
Also, what is it you are concerned about with wireless security, if you have good passwords and encryption?
Thanks
remo
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 6:28 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by remo »

Given that Amcrest suggests that you regularly reboot the camera ("auto maintain") and your wifi comes back up on every reboot you seem to have the same problem. And why should it bother you ?

2 main group of issues.

Performance -

-When the radio is communicating it eats up bandwidth and airtime from the rest of your network. There are limited wifi frequencies (2.4ghz very polluted, 5ghz better) which your devices as well as nearby neighbors share.

- It also eats into your access point/routers capacity both in the air and on the switching load. Think of it as cpu load.

- Running wifi services eats up resources on your camera (think ram and cpu).

Security -

- Amcrest has no lock out policy so someone can continously try passwords (brute force) your interface.

- Rogue AP can have your camera connect to someone elses access point (or laptop) that pretends to be your access point. (google rogue ap)

- they can have YOU (laptop/pc) connect to the Rogue AP and give them your camera password thinking you are logging into the camera interface. (google wifi impersonation)

- Even with WPA2 if you capture enough packets in the air it is possible to ascertain your wifi password. Cameras create a lot of continuous traffic. (google hacking wpa2)

Strong passwords and encryption are your friends but only if they are implemented well and attack surface is minimized. Wifi is one hell of an attack surface.
jack7
Posts: 904
Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:46 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by jack7 »

Thank you for sharing the wifi security information.

I have wired and wireless on two cameras(LAN), so I was curious. Each normally uses wired. Today, I did another test on the 4M-1026.

I used IE View Pro and the following report programs:
Amcrest IP Config
android Network Scanner app
realtime statistics from my TP-Link router

I found:

With View Pro wifi checked, all programs report wifi MAC used by wifi IP address.

With View Pro wifi unchecked, all programs report wifi MAC not used anywhere. Wifi IP address can't be logged in.

After an auto reboot, wifi IP can be logged on. Amcrest IP Config and Router report wifi IP address not connected, but android app initially reports both the wired and wifi IPs have the same MAC(wired). Router also reports no wifi MAC used.

I think this may be your problem with reboot. I believe reboot(with wifi unchecked) changed something so that wired and wireless IPs both go to wired MAC, and wifi MAC is not used. So wifi is really not being used. In my other post, i said reboot caused wifi to come on. I believe that was because after reboot I was able to log on the wifi IP, but it was actually using the wired MAC.

My conclusion at this time is camera wifi MAC is not used anytime after wifi is unchecked in View Pro. Let me know what you think.

On your other post, I've found that initial contact email communication thru [email protected] works best, at least for me.
scod
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:47 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by scod »

Resurrecting thread to include my observations of the same issue on IP4M-1051. Disabling WiFi does not down the logical interface (this is back end terminology not exposed to the user). So, however the wireless interface is configured, it will use any physical interface it can. If DHCP is enabled and you have an active wired connection, it will obtain a lease for an IP address giving you two accessible IP addresses for the device over the wired connection despite one being configured in the wireless section of the web UI. This can cause unexpected behavior in a number of scenarios specifically when there is any sort of filtering by IP address on your network (NFS permissions, firewall, etc.) and the camera could theoretically send out of either IP address. Since I see no way to disable the logical interface, the best practice would be to set the WiFi IP address as static to a non-existent subnet after disabling WiFI.
FusionScott
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:52 am

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by FusionScott »

Wow this is super annoying. I ended up setting the wifi interface to a static IP on a subnet that doesn't exist.
tedcooper78
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:48 pm

Re: WIFI won't disable

Post by tedcooper78 »

I'm having the same issue. Anybody found the solutions?
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