Connects to any available network without asking

Bug #118439 reported by Endolith
14
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
network-manager (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Wishlist
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: network-manager

When I first installed Ubuntu, network-manager connected to my neighbor's wireless internet connection without asking me. I thought Linux was supposed to be really secure? Lately, I had problems with my wireless router, so it has started doing the same thing again. I should be able to:

1. Tell the manager whether I want it to blindly connect to any network in the area or not
2. Tell it to prefer certain networks
3. Tell it to never connect to certain networks.

Currently it shows radio buttons in the drop-down from the icon. Maybe it should really show checkboxes. Then I can click any I am ok with it connecting to, and it will pick the best one available from those I have selected.

Endolith (endolith)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara) wrote :

Thank you for your report and helping to make Ubuntu better. In the latest 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon release you can disable roaming mode and manually configure your wireless connection to a specific network. This should resolve your first item you listed. Also, as far as I know, if you have connected to a network previously, it will try to connect to it again. This sort of addresses your second item. As far as blacklisting certain networks, I'm unaware of this capability. I'll leave this for the network-manager team to address. Thanks!

Changed in network-manager:
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Endolith (endolith) wrote :

> In the latest 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon release you can disable roaming mode and manually configure your wireless connection to a specific network.

I will try that again, but last time I checked it only supports WEP. And I'd still like to use "roaming mode" and the notification area network manager, but I'd just like it to NOT CONNECT if I've never connected to any of the visible nodes before. It should say "do you want to connect to any of these APs?" before it actually connects to one. Then after I've connected to one it can remember it and auto-connect in the future.

> Also, as far as I know, if you have connected to a network previously, it will try to connect to it again.

That's true, but if I have not connected to any of the local APs it just connects to any it can find.

Also, even if I have connected to a secure network before, if there is an unsecured network present, it tries to connect to that instead.

Thanks for your help.

Revision history for this message
Endolith (endolith) wrote :

And automatically connecting to an unsecured, unknown network is a security risk, no? Everything you do online is passing through an unknown wireless router and can be intercepted.

Revision history for this message
Endolith (endolith) wrote :

The way it *should* work:

* Upon logging into Ubuntu, it finds all the local wireless networks, but does not immediately connect to them.
* If no visible networks are on your whitelist, it pops up a notification balloon asking you to select your preferred network, and when you click on it, it gives you a list with details, with a little help explaining the implications of your decision, if your network is not shown here make sure the router is turned on, shows you your selection on the menu that pops up when you click the panel icon, etc.
* After you have successfully connected to a network, it should be on the whitelist, and will be connected to automatically any time it is seen in the future.
* If more than one whitelisted network is found, it should connect to the "better" one (connection speed, encryption?)
* But if you actively select one over the other, the one you selected should be preferred in the future.
* Any network not on the whitelist is therefore on the blacklist.
* If you change your mind about a network, there should be a way to blacklist it (= remove it from the whitelist).
* When connected to a non-encrypted network, the panel icon should be noticeably different from an encrypted one (and maybe distinguish between WEP and WPA, since WEP is easily crackable?)

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager - 0.6.6~rc2-0ubuntu1

---------------
network-manager (0.6.6~rc2-0ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  * new upstream release 0.6.6 RC (LP: #197538); fixes various bugs:
    - LP: #40232, #41134, #75554, #82113, #107598, #118439, #132473
  * drop patches applied upstream
    - drop debian/patches/04-if_fix.patch
    - drop debian/patches/11-man_page_sh_name.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2578-gnome354565-fix-ethernet-link-detection-races.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2579-sleep-1-second-to-stabilize-if.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2591_Ensure-the-device-is-up-stage3.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2604_Add-HAL-based-rfkill-support.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2605-gnome354565-dont-up-notwired-interfaces.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2618_set-hardware-RF-to-enabled-if-no-killswitches.patch
    - drop debian/patches/24pp_svn2754-lp101857-endianess.patch
    - drop debian/patches/41c_ubuntu-fixup--get_mode_always_fails_typo_fix.patch
    - drop debian/patches/41e_fix_vpn_ftbfs_dont_disable_gnome_deprecated.patch
    - drop debian/patches/41m_unref_dbus_connection_on_shutdown.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * refresh patch because of renamed NetworkManagerDispatcher manpage
    - update debian/patches/06-dispatch_more_events.patch
  * drop driver specific tweaks assuming that wext should be fine for most
    drivers nowadays
    - drop debian/patches/13-rml-wpa-workarounds.patch
    - drop debian/patches/14-j-hostap-supplicant-driver.patch
    - drop debian/patches/43b_lp181232_save_kernel_driver_check.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * simply unbittrotted patches
    - update debian/patches/41k_20_sec_wireless_link_timeout.patch
    - update debian/patches/41t_nm_device_wireless_index_ctrl_sockets_by_run_count.patch
    - update debian/patches/41u_custom_timeout_for_some_wpa_ctrl_operations.patch
  * don't use run count for global ctrl socket anymore
    - update debian/patches/41t_nm_device_wireless_index_ctrl_sockets_by_run_count.patch
  * try to drop hidden AP tweaks (lets hope that scan_capa patch in 2.6.24
    fixes this)
    - drop debian/patches/42a_lp50214_gnome464215_fix_hidden.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix manpage path for NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatcher
    - update debian/network-manager.manpages

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:06:19 +0100

Changed in network-manager:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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