AiMesh creates Open System connection on 6GHz range

[pierzogad]

My setup is:
TUF GAMING AX6000 as primary router and RT-AXE7800 as node (connected by 2.5G ethernet) - both updated to latest firmware version.

TUF GAMING AX6000 supports only 2.4 and 5 GHz and RT-AXE7800 has 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz.
I've created SSID "Home-Wifi" with WPA2-Personal authentication - and it works fine on 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. However, even though I've disabled 6GHz radio in web UI for RT-AXE7800 node I can see the "Home-Wifi" network on 6GHz band with no password! Anyone can join that network and gain full access to my home network with no password at all!.

Have anyone seen such behaviour? How to disable it?

 

[tgl]

AIMesh has a reputation for not handling node configuration very well if the node has radios that the primary doesn't. This sounds like just another one in a long line of bugs of that ilk.

Plausible solutions include swapping the primary and node, or removing the node from the mesh and configuring it as an independent AP. (You could still have it broadcast the same SSIDs as the primary.)

It's possible that you could configure it as you want standalone, then put it back into the mesh, and not have AIMesh mess with the extra radio's settings. I wouldn't trust that though.

 

[glens]

I've disabled 6GHz radio in web UI for RT-AXE7800 node

How, pray tell, did you access the web UI on an Aimesh node and through it make node configuration changes (or /attempt/ to, rather unsuccessfully as it seems)?

Or was this something within the controlling router's UI?

 

[Tech9]

I've disabled 6GHz radio in web UI for RT-AXE7800 node

Nodes have no Web UI. Your second router is perhaps in AP Mode.

Perhaps another TUF AX6000 is a better and cheaper match for your network.

 

[pierzogad]

Nodes have no Web UI. Your second router is perhaps in AP Mode.

Perhaps another TUF AX6000 is a better and cheaper match for your network.

Nodes have no web UI.
But router's webUI allows to manage bands of each node. Except - that it doesn't work - i.e. I see all bands of node, I can switch it on and off. But - even though it claims to be off - it's still on and allows connection

 

[Tech9]

This is AiMesh bug then and nothing you can do about it.

I would send this RT-AXE7800 back and get another TUF AX6000.

 

[glens]

Or rather use the RT as the router, or use it as an AP instead of a mesh node.

 

[sfx2000]

TUF GAMING AX6000 as primary router and RT-AXE7800 as node (connected by 2.5G ethernet) - both updated to latest firmware version.

TUF GAMING AX6000 supports only 2.4 and 5 GHz and RT-AXE7800 has 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz.

Have you tried flipping them around - letting the RT-AXE7800 device be the main router and root AIMESH node?

I can see how in your config that 6E goes Open, as Aimesh doesn't know what to do with 6E - recall that 6E has specific requirements regarding authentication - It's WPA3 only or Open - it can't do WPA2 or WPA2/3 for 6Ghz...

 

[pcl04dl3tt3r]

I had the same problem -- not cool ASUS, please fix in a future firmware update.

My main router is the RT-BE88U (WiFi 7 5Ghz) and my node is the RT-AXE7800 (WiFi 6e 6Ghz). I came accross this thread looking for an answer. I don't want to reverse them because the BE88U is overall more capable despite the 5Ghz limitation, and I refuse to accept there's nothing I can do about it.

I was able to fix it using the SSH CLI. If you are comfortable modifying NVRAM, you will need to enable SSH admin in the Web UI then log into the 6Ghz node to make the changes. Otherwise, please don't proceed and brick your router.

First, do an 'nvram dump' to compare the settings of your secured 5Ghz interface (wl1.1 in my case) to the unsecured 6Ghz interface (wl2.1):

ssh 192.168.100.2 -l adminusername -p 2222 "nvram dump" > dump.txt

Use something like Notepad++ to compare all the settings in each of the wlx.x sections.

Then ssh into the router to make the necessary changes to the unsecured network:

ssh 192.168.100.2 -l adminusername -p 2222
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram set wl2.1_akm="psk2 sae"
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram set wl2.1_auth_mode_x=psk2sae
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram set wl2.1_mfp=1
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram set wl2.1_ssid=yourssid
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram set wl2.1_wpa_psk=yourpasskey
adminusername@RT-AXE7800-BEEF:/tmp/home/root# nvram commit

You might need to toggle the radio or reboot the node for the changes to take effect.

 

[0ID]

I saw something similar on 5GHz when I switched the WPS on.
(when WPS is off, there is the entry Configured on a very confusing status "Enabled"....)
Switching off the WPS and rebooting the router the open WiFi is gone!