TP-Link Easy Smart Switch security question
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@apocalypse I know that you created this over a year ago, but still, Have to say after finding and reading this just now, I am impressed and greatful that you have already gone through the work to do this. I have been doing my own research on this switch. has I have a few of them that I took home after replacing 3 of them at a Clients, and I want to repurpose them for a budget project I am working on for a friends Business, and I discovered the Major Flaw with the Security (All 3 of mine are TL-SG108E v1's, and all of them have that same flaw where you can access the management page, no matter what VLAN I isolate the port too. Of course I was just going to replace the switches outright with something new, but because I need 3 Small 8 Port Switches at different locations throughout the massive building, and he doesn't have the budget to get wiring done the way it should have been done in the first place, I would prefer to just make these essentially free switches work correctly.
So I was researching modifying the config file, when I just happened to come across your post. I already am familiar with the CH341a Mini Programmer, as this is what I use to flash "Bricked" Motherboards and GPU's for Clients. It will be a pretty simple matter to flash the Memory with your very detailed Instructions. I really thank you for that. Will be working on flashing all 3 this weekend and will try to remember to report back to show that I can now Make it so that the ports I don't want to have access to management, don't.
Thank You!
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@mattthetechlv said in TP-Link Easy Smart Switch security question:
I can now Make it so that the ports I don't want to have access to management, don't.
Are you using them as dumb and all just in 1 vlan, and you just want to prevent access to the gui..
Because while it is a security issue - its a bit more than just access to the admin gui :)
That they thought they could just leave every port in vlan 1, and let other ports be in other vlans is just beyond crazy.. How this got through any sort of review is just beyond crazy. I really wouldn't trust that company with anything other than a dumb switch..
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@johnpoz I agree, it is insane how this ever got past their Design team. Not the biggest TP-Link fan myself, just trying to make something happen with no budget as a favor to a friend. If this works as I hope it will, I intend to carry Multiple VLAN's to different ends of the property, going to these switches downstream in 3 different areas. 4 VLAN's Total. I have my management VLAN already sectioned off and am not sending that VLAN to any of these switches, I just didn't want anyone to be able to plugin to any empty ports on any of these switches to be able to reconfigure, as some of my friends employee's think they are smart, so I am just trying to avoid as much as possible. I am hoping with the Netgear firmware flashed onto these devices it will neutralize the security threat of VLAN's leaking over.
The Only Port that I will keep VLAN 1 Open on will be Boxes that I and my friend only have credentials too, so as long as no one switches ports out on me (And I intend Locking the switches behind a locked Cage to discourage this) it should be sufficient, as long as this firmware solves the VLAN Crosstalk issues. Not too impressed with Netgear either Mind you, but I have used the GSS108E as a cheap solution in the past and didn't have any VLAN related Security Issues, so I am hopeful this will work. Will find out soon enough though.
Is there some other Security Issue other than the VLAN Crosstalk/(Not being able to remove VLAN 1 Tags From Ports) that I should be aware of with this switch?
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Not that I am aware of - if you can fix their firmware to allow removal of vlan 1 from ports it shouldn't be on.. You should be ok.. I validated that their firmware they released for v3, and also works on v2 even though they never said it would, did allow for removal of vlan 1.
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@johnpoz OK Good to know. Yeah, If I had Version 2's I would just go that route, unfortunately I am stuck on Version 1, and unfortunately there is not enough room on the Flash to write the V3 to (V1 only has 1MB of Onboard Flash, and the V2 Firmware file size is much bigger than 1MB.)
Thats why I was happy to find @Apocalypse Post above. He Details successfully flashing Netgear's GSS108E's Firmware onto the TP-Link TL-SG108Ev1, and because both Model's Use the same Hardware internally, it actually works well according to @Apocalypse . It looks like the only issues he noticed were that the Lights Flash the Wrong Color (Gb Flashes Orange instead of Green), but in this case that doesn't bother me at all. And Most Importantly, while he doesn't flat out say that you can't access management when you remove VLAN1, He Does say that you can remove VLAN 1 (Just like you can on the GSS108E), so it leads me to believe it will solve the issue, and for me its not hard at all to do as I already have the ROM Flasher, and am familiar with editing Firmware's to swap out MAC Addresses already (As this is also what you have to do when Recovering Bricked Motherboard's and GPU's). Also, just to double check, while at a clients yesterday that has a GSS108E on site that wasn't in use I hooked it up and played with it for a bit and confirmed that when you remove VLAN 1 from a Port, you can no longer access the Management, either from the Netgear Easy Config Software or from the Web Interface, so as long as it works that way when flashed on the TP-Link, it should be all good.
Anyways, I have written enough already, sorry for talking so much. I will test this out either tomorrow or Sunday, and will report back here to let everyone know if this worked for me as well. If it does, it should give V1's a longer lease on Life, without having to deal with the pain of editing Config Files. (I know some would consider this more painful, but in my opinion this is actually much less painful because you only have to deal with the editing of the Firmware and flashing once, after that all Config can be done through normal means, and you don't have to edit a Config file every single time you want to make a VLAN Change, so I definitely much prefer this route personally.)
Anyways, I will shut up now.
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Thanks for the info dude.. I have been known to throw out some books of posts myself.. So yours is really short to be honest ;)
Looking forward to hearing how it turns out.. Good luck with the project.
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@mattthetechlv said in TP-Link Easy Smart Switch security question:
I hooked it up and played with it for a bit and confirmed that when you remove VLAN 1 from a Port, you can no longer access the Management
You can access the management from any VLAN, which is why I returned both my V5 and V6.
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@thiasaef Right, this is true with the Stock Firmware. I am doing what @Apocalypse did above and Flashing my V1 With Netgear's GSS108E's Firmware (The Netgear switch runs the same exact Hardware under the hood as the V1). What you quoted me saying above was in relation to me checking the Netgear GSS108E at a clients earlier today and confirming that it does not in fact suffer from the same problem that the TP-Link TL-SG108E does. This means if @Apocalypse is correct (and considering his detailed write up above I am inclined to believe him) and I can easily flash the Netgear GSS108E Firmware onto the TL-SG108E, then its likely this firmware will take care of that stupid VLAN Bug. Will let you guys know how it works for me tomorrow.
Also, appreciate the kind words @johnpoz !
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i have two V2.0s, is there any reason to reflash them to the GSS108E firmware as the above poster has accomplished ? some people say that the GSS108E doesnt even have a webgui, you have to use their tool ??? i don't care that the management interface is accessible via any VLAN really, but the webgui does seem weird on these
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@rajkosto said in TP-Link Easy Smart Switch security question:
i don't care that the management interface is accessible
That is not the issue... The issue is if all ports are still in vlan 1, you don't have an actual vlan capable switch..
I have a v2 switch.. And I was able to use the v3 firmware, now the device thinks is a v3 hardware ;)
https://forum.netgate.com/post/987193
And v2 has a web gui, and after flash to v3 firmware they released - you can remove vlan 1 via the gui.
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@johnpoz i was talking about switching them from TP-Link to Netgear GSS108E firmware (which would require me to open them up and break out the soldering iron), they're already upgraded to v3.0 ;)
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Ah.. Use of the other makers firmware.. My bad. Misread that.
But if you have a tplink one, v2 you can just use the fix they released for v3 hardware to be able to remove the vlan 1 from ports it shouldn't be on.
this is a much "easier" fix ;) Or just trash the thing, or just use it as dumb and get a better vlan capable switch.. Where the makers are not completely clueless to how vlans are suppose to work ;)
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@johnpoz well supposedly netgear is such a maker thus why using their firmware would be a good idea ?
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@rajkosto Netgear's firmware can only be flashed to TL-SG108E v1.0.
v1.0 does not allow modifying or removing VLAN 1, it also does not have web interface. While Netgear's yes.
Advantages over TP-Link firmware:
- Configuration web in TL-SG108E v1
- You can modify VLAN1, leave it without any port and even delete it.
- You can disable the configuration access with the Netgear ProSAFE Plus Utility tool, which will prevent the Switch from being discovered by broadcast packets.
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@apocalypse well you said
It is really simple, I think it could also be done in a v2/3.so i assumed it was a no brainer, probably just put the mac address in both places of 0xFC000 and 0x1FC000 so it uses one of them
if you have tried it and it doesnt work, then i shouldnt bother at all, of course -
@rajkosto what happens if you use DHCP client on TL-SG108E btw ? which VLAN does it take the dhcp IP from ?
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I had a few netgear switches over the years - and have never seen such a blunder like tplink where you could not remove vlan 1 from ports.
In a post they stated on their own forums they stated it was on purpose to allow access to the web gui from every port.. Clearly showing a complete and utter lack of basic grasp of what a vlan is.. Do you have such examples of netgear doing the same nonsense?
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@johnpoz that statement is a lie anyway since you can access the management IP from any VLAN, not just VLAN 1 (once you remove ports from VLAN1 on v3.0+ firmware)
so i guess it gets DHCP from VLAN 1 always ? why is the default Port VID 1 instead of 0 anyway ? -
@rajkosto v1 has different chip than v2/v3.
Anyway v3 does allow to remove ports from VLAN1. And this firmware can be flashed in v2 directly (I did so).
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@apocalypse what chip is the v1 ? i assume the v2/v3 are RTL8370M ? or is it the other way around (in your first post you said it was RTL8370N which cant be because those are unmanaged)
