topic Re: Plusnet Firewall issue in Everything else

Plusnet Firewall issue

kissinuk — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 17:05:46 GMT

I'm getting an error when I try to change the PN firewall settings - "An error occurred. Please try again soon."

It was working fine when I changed it last week, any idea what is going on? I've tried mobile devices & my desktop.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

dvorak — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 17:09:38 GMT

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Fibre to Everything Else

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

TheMightyAJ — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 11:51:31 GMT

Hi @kissinuk,

I'm sorry to hear you've run into this issue. When you attempt to change the firewall settings, how far can you get before you receive this error message? If you're using the same browser on your mobile devices and the desktop, sometimes they'll have a shared cache and cookies - please could you try clearing the cache and cookies and then attempt this again?

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

kissinuk — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 17:06:49 GMT

Hi @TheMightyAJ,

It happens as soon as you press the 'Save changes' button (it spins for a while then says "An error occurred").

Happens on all the browsers I have tried - desktop & mobile.

Tony on the Twitter support team managed to recreate this issue, however it is still happening for me and it appears my firewall has now been turned off and I can't turn it back on!

Thanks,

Paul.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

adam945 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 20:29:18 GMT

Thanks a lot for getting back to us on this. I've just been made aware that this issue will be affecting a number of customers, and has been raised on our end. We don't have an estimated resolution time just yet, but our team are working on resolving the issue as soon as possible.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

akrypzs — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 09:08:58 GMT

I have the same issue that I cannot modify the broadband firewall settings. In my case I wish to turn the firewall off entirely to prove if Plusnet are blocking certain ports/sites (e.g. salus-it500.com) which I have been unable to access since the morning of 2nd November. Disconnecting Plusnet connectivity and using a tethered connection to my mobile allows the site to be reached immediately. I have also tried different routers and performed a factory reset of the router to no avail.

Could the issue with the firewall adjustment and my difficulty in reaching the desired site be related?

Is there any update as to progress in resolving the firewall issue?

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

kissinuk — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 16:50:27 GMT

I have been told it is ongoing but that's it. This is a real problem now, my firewall says it is off but port 443 is still blocked so I can't access my own VPN. I think it is still set to High, and changing still gives the same error.

Please can we have an update?

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

james33 — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 11:10:53 GMT

I am having same problem. Plusnet firewall configuration is off. Shields up shows port 443 is close (still block). Previously I was able to access my home vpn when plusnet firewall is set to Block common ports except HTTP and HTTPS. I cannot change and save setting, error message.

I am getting annoyed because I am unable to surf safely when on public wifi without vpn. Perhaps it is time to move isp.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

LaurenB — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 14:25:52 GMT

I am really sorry for the ongoing issues with the firewall. Our teams are aware of this and working to investigate further.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused in the meantime.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

james33 — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 10:47:39 GMT

How long does the team need to solve this firewall problem. One, two or three months?

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

TheMightyAJ — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:25:18 GMT

I'm afraid that we don't have any updates available to share at this time, however our teams are aware of the issue and are continuing to investigate the matter. Please accept my deepest apologies for any inconvenience that may have been caused in the meantime.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

Dan_the_Van — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 16:03:24 GMT

port 443 is still blocked so I can't access my own VPN

Is it possible to change the VPN Client connection port on the devices you are using to connect to your VPN Server? say from 443 to 50000?

Then set up a port forward rule on your router to map outside connections on 50000 to 443 on the LAN side of the router.

So the VPN Client connection would follow this path. Your Public IP Address port 50000 to Static IP Address of VPN Server on port 443.

This would bypass the firewall restriction for port 443.

Hope this helps?

Dan.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

james33 — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:54:55 GMT

Thanks for your interesting answer which I have considered. I understand that port 443 is most unlikely to be block from public wifi, hotels etc, whereas other ports might be block. My current setup is to open the plusnet firewall (block common ports but allow https and http) and close it at my account level for addition security if not needed. Port 443 is forwarded to 1194 on my vpn router which worked perfectly until plusnet firewall develop a problem. The current setting on plusnet firewall is OFF. Shieldsup show that all common ports are still block.

I am sure other people who play on line games are having problems because of this firewall problem.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

Dan_the_Van — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:34:22 GMT

Firewalls are in place to BLOCK INBOUND connections to a private LAN from the Internet and I would expect all the commons ports to be closed unless a port forward rule has been setup. My Members Centre Firewall is set to LOW and I see these common ports closed.

If you have a port forward rule set up then the device to which the port forward rule is pointing must be listening for connections.

A shields up check for www.bbc.co.uk you get.

For the BBC Port 80 and 443 are open for http and https connections.

I use WireGuard VPN running on a raspberry pi it uses UDP and works very, I'm not using the default port of 1194.

Dan.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

kissinuk — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:41:29 GMT

Thanks for the reply, I'm pretty sure my firewall is set to "high" so presumed all other ports such as 50000 would be blocked too?

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

Dan_the_Van — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:20:01 GMT

other ports such as 50000 would be blocked too

The short answer is no they wouldn't

When a application establishes a remote connection it uses an random port between 49152 to 65535 to contact the port the application is listening to, for a web browser http is 80 and https is 443, example of my pc with https connection

TCP 192.168.1.106:58908 34.120.67.236:443 ESTABLISHED
So the link established between the two hosts is port 58908 on my LAN connection to port 443 at the remote end, this connection is maintained until the application closes it. So in the above example the INBOUND connection to my network is on port 58908. This is how TCP/IP works.

Where all this can go wrong is when Modem/Router like a Hub One is connected to a second router and double NAT comes to play, not the end of the world but adds a level of confusion. Second Router could have be added to improve wifi coverage, for this the second router should be setup as a Wireless Access Point.

TCP/IP is a multi layered subject.

Dan

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

kissinuk — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:25:13 GMT

But surely it would be the vpn client trying to connect to 50000 which would be blocked by PN? No outbound connection from my router to the client has been established at this stage.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

james33 — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:51:35 GMT


GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2021-11-24 at 11:37:48

Results from scan of ports: 0, 21-23, 25, 79, 80, 110, 113, 
                            119, 135, 139, 143, 389, 443, 445, 
                            1002, 1024-1030, 1720, 5000

    0 Ports Open
    0 Ports Closed
   26 Ports Stealth
---------------------
   26 Ports Tested

ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH.

TruStealth: PASSED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH,
                   - NO unsolicited packets were received,
                   - NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.

This is my current shieldsup results. The current setting on plusnet account broadband firewall is "DISABLED". Cannot change settings to any high low etc because of error message when trying to save settings.

If I initiate a new outgoing connection to BBC. I am able to get BBC iPlayer without any problems because current setting allow ESTABLISHED and RELATED connections.

But NEW in coming connections are drop.

Previously when plusnet broadband firewall was working. Shieldsup would show https and http as open.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

james33 — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:54:35 GMT

Would be grateful if you could test changing and saving your plusnet firewall settings. Mine just comes up with error message.

Re: Plusnet Firewall issue

pjmarsh — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:57:40 GMT

Wouldn't they only show as open if there was something listening on those ports? Do you have anything? I don't know what router you are using (sorry if you've stated it higher up), but if it's the Hub One then I'm pretty sure it doesn't allow remote management so doesn't listen on those ports itself. The only way they would be open with it is if you port forwarded them to something that was listening.