topic Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp! in Broadband

Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 09:31:16 GMT

Hi,

I have the same issues as others in that the recent, not published, update of my routers firmware has once again broken some services!

This is the third time over recent years that the firmware has been updated in the early hours of the morning and things do not work, the first time I had to have a new router sent out the second the firmware had to be downgraded!

I have seen that other people have had the same issue and one 'Work around' is to change the firewall to 'Medium' however that isnt going to work in my instance as I use the 'Custom' option and have a number of rules enabled for specific services.

Is there some other option/fix available for those of us that don't use the basic Low/Medium/High firewall configurations?

SAGECOM Fast 5364 router

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

KeithFrench — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 10:24:47 GMT

It is not a workaround changing the firewall to Medium at all, that is its correct setting. For some reason, currently under investigation, the upgrade process to V158 has changed a few router's firewall levels to High.

If you need to use Custom that is fair enough, has it stripped out the changes you made within Custom then?

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 10:53:11 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for the response but I believe that at least one person wants to run their firewall in High so any change to Medium to get past problems is a workaround in my book, however no my Custom rules still exist but WhatsApp doesn't currently work.

I have tried adding all the common WhatsApp ports for TCP and UDP access to my Custom rules however the result is still the same.

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

KeithFrench — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 10:56:57 GMT

The default Firewall level setting is Medium. So setting it back to Medium is hardly a workaround to this problem. You are just setting it back to where the vast majority of customers have it set to.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:11:41 GMT

Hi,

Ok for arguments sake I set the FW back to medium what happens with the Custom rules I have in place?

Will that not result in those rules no-longer being available and therefore I loose the functionality that was working fine before the upgrade just to get WhatsApp working again.

As mentioned in my original post this is the third time I have had issues when the firmware has been updated without my knowledge and it's very frustrating!!

If we should all be using Medium then why offer other options just lock it down and don't give people the ability to manage their own services!

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

KeithFrench — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:23:58 GMT

I said that most people use medium, if you want to use custom, that is perfectly fine.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Karl-TalkTalk — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:43:45 GMT

Hi,

just to add, Medium is the default setting for the firewall and this is what it is supposed to be set to. In a handful of cases, we have seen the firewall incorrectly set to high during the update process, and our teams are working to correct this for future updates.

When set correctly to medium, applications will work as expected, but if a customer sets this to high themselves, then some applications may be blocked. This is the correct behavior and to be expected.

I always do advise that any device, PC or Laptop etc should also have it's own firewall and other additional security software.

Thanks

Karl.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:54:16 GMT

Hi Karl,

Thanks for the feedback but I'm still no further forward as Ive been using the Custom option for years without issue, it's only when the firmware is auto updated that things go wrong and once again after the last upgrade I have issues.

So for those of us who are not 'Normal' or 'Average' users and have a decent understanding of IT what are we supposed to do when we have dedicated rules configured in Custom and the firmware breaks a standard application, in this case WhatsApp?

Are we just expected to switch to medium and not be allowed to use our home services/applications/configurations because Talk Talk deem this so?

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 08:57:40 GMT

Hi,

Still waiting for someone to provide a resolution to this issue which isn't setting the firewall to medium?

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Chris-TalkTalk — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 11:18:49 GMT

Hi Kevin,

I'm sorry for any inconvenience but I'm not sure what else we can do, as advised the firewall is set to medium by deault, if you want to use different settings then this isn't really something that we can help with

Chris

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 11:28:26 GMT

Hi Chris,

Given that the issue started with the new firmware would it be possible to downgrade to the previous version?

How can this be my issue to solve when it's your router and firmware that have broken what was working?

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Chris-TalkTalk — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 14:25:29 GMT

I'm sorry Kevin, downgrading to an earlier firmware version isn't currently an option. The medium setting is the setting that we recommend, using a custom setting can cause issues as you are experiencing. Nearly all our customer use the medium setting, there are only very very small percentage who use a custom setting.

Chris

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Kevin_1 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:33:07 GMT

Hi Chris,

Ok I will give that a go but seems a tad frustrating that a rule set that's worked for years is now broke because of a firmware update.

Regards

Kevin

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

AllyM — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 19:33:21 GMT

You always have the option to use a different router if you don't like the features of the TalkTalk one.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 06:26:00 GMT

Morning,

Apologies, our Devices Team are looking into this. Please let us know how you get on.

Thanks

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 10:54:43 GMT

Hello,

UPDATE - Your router firmware has now updated to V174. This should resolve the firewall issue. Please let us know if you experience any further issues.

Thanks

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

scsmedia — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 22:53:11 GMT

Hi,

I have the same problem as you and had the same problem last May too. After several weeks of pointless to and fro with this forum last year, I eventually got the firmware reverted to my previous version and the config started working properly.

Despite what some people on this forum say, the firmware can be reverted to a previous version by TalkTalk and I use my config for a reason and don't care what random opinions are about what is default etc. It was working, it was fine, do not mess with it and thanks for wasting 15 hours of my day today so far (including my entire working day) which has involved me ripping apart my entire LAN to identify why my internet doesn't work properly. This is simply because TalkTalk did not notify me of this change to yet another poorly tested firmware for this router.

Now I have to go through the whole stupid support thing again for weeks no doubt to get it put back to the previously installed firmware.

I specifically told TalkTalk to never modify my router ever again for exactly this reason. I am livid.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

scsmedia — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 22:55:45 GMT

why isn't downgrading an option? It was perfectly possible last year when another poor firmware upgrade was deployed.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

Karl-TalkTalk — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 06:15:39 GMT

firmware can contain security updates and our devices teams tell us not to downgrade firmware, so this ties our hands in this case. TalkTalk routers will always be subjected to periodic updates and this will always be the case. A customer is free to use their own router if they do not wish this to happen.

Regards,

Karl.

Re: Firmware update SG4K100158 has broke some services including WhatsApp!

scsmedia — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 10:36:05 GMT

Hmmm, I don't believe there is any security update that can have more benefit than being forced to reduce the security profile from high to medium. Looks like you are telling me I have to buy my own router if I don't want TalkTalk arbitrarily trashing my internet connectivity without any warning or accountability. Whilst you may claim that TalkTalk have a responsibility to ensure customers are safe, what you are really doing is absolving yourself of responsibility by forcing me to buy and manage my own router when in fact the one I had from TalkTalk was perfectly fine and secure before these updates. Since there are no release notes published for this firmware update, we have no idea whether it is more or less secure than it was before, especially since we are forced to reduce the security profile from high to medium. The main problem for me though is that I had no idea you were going to push an update that would trash my connectivity and cause almost two days of diagnosing and rebuilding a network whilst not being able to work and whilst children are nagging constantly about their Xbox not working at the start of the Easter holidays. You didn't test the update properly, you didn't warn the customers and you aren't taking responsibility. It is simply poor change and impact management and much of the frustration could have been avoided for affected customers with a simple three line email or web article explaining that there is going to be a rollout and there will be an impact to customers who use the built-in high security profile of their router. A business wouldn't treat its own employees like that so why should a business treat its paying customers so disrespectfully?