Impatient me wanted a 3G router so I can create a mobile Wi-Fi for various devices when I’m out and about.
My first choice was the Netgear MBR624GU but I needed one by yesterday and was unable to find one in stock anywhe
The alternative was the Solwise NET-3G-3GWIFIMRD. This looked like a fairly anonymous no-brand badged up and as it supported my 3G dongle I decided to give it a go. Solwise were very efficient with their order and delivery process and the item was delivered to my place of work the next morning.
Setup of the device was fairly straightforward following the quick-start guide. One thing I failed to notice was that unlike most network switches and routers this one has a power switch on the front panel which took me ten minutes to find. Once setup I started to explore the menus and was surprised to find that the web server for the remote admin was set as open on the WAN (internet !) side be default. I quickly changed this and the admin password.
Being cautious I decided it would be worth a quick security check so I headed over to ShieldsUP to get a check. A port scan revealed that port 80 was stealthed, however, more worrying was that port 23 (telnet) was wide open! Also port 53 (DNS). I attempted a telnet connection via the internet and was able to connect – not only that but the default password was still set, not changed by the admin interface. More panic. Although I got a pek> prompt I was unable to get any other response so I’m unsure why it’s there.
I’ve not been able to find anywhere to turn off the telnet and DNS services I managed to find a work around to prevent connections. The Router has a port-forwarding configuration so I’ve set it to forward connections to port 23 and 53 from the WAN side to a (non-existent) host on the LAN. A further check with ShieldsUP shows the ports are now stealthed.
I think it’s rather unfortunate that such a versatile device should be spoilt by a few silly security holes. I’ve emailed Solwise with my findings and await their response…I’ll update here when I get one. I’ve also flashed to the latest firmware but the problem still exists.
Solwise have yet to respond to my email about this router.