Cannot access router - hacked?

[ags]

I recently setup OpenVPN using OEM ASUSWRT firmware. When attempting to access the router configuration (web GUI) from outside my LAN this is what is presented:

Settings have been updated. Web page will now refresh.
Changes have been made to the IP address or port number. You will now be disconnected from RT-N66U.
To access the settings of RT-N66U, reconnect to the wireless network and use the updated IP address and port number.​

I'm connecting using the port number that I assigned for the router web interface. (using another port, including the standard 8080 simply does not return any page, as expected).

What has happened?

 

[netware5]

I recently setup OpenVPN using OEM ASUSWRT firmware. When attempting to access the router configuration (web GUI) from outside my LAN this is what is presented:

Settings have been updated. Web page will now refresh.
Changes have been made to the IP address or port number. You will now be disconnected from RT-N66U.
To access the settings of RT-N66U, reconnect to the wireless network and use the updated IP address and port number.​

I'm connecting using the port number that I assigned for the router web interface. (using another port, including the standard 8080 simply does not return any page, as expected).

What has happened?

This a browser issue. Don't worry. Just clear the "offline web content and user data" and everything will be OK. If you use Firefox this is under Tools>Options>Advanced>Network. I don't know where it is under IE, Chrome or any other browser, but it should be somewhere.

 

[ags]

I was able to connect using OpenVPN once yesterday after setting it up for the first time. The next day (today) I had the problem accessing the router web interface (described in OP). I've cleared the browser (Chrome) as suggested and now I get the following message immediately:

Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to <domain: port>​

Trying any other port takes a while to timeout - so it almost seems as though the port I'm using (and domain name) is valid, but being rejected (as opposed to not forwarded at all or assigned to the router interface itself). BTW, it is the same domain: port that worked previously - for certain.

Any other ideas?

Edit: I rebooted the router and access is back to normal now. Seems to be related to attempting to establish a VPN connection.

Edit2: Again today I had the same problem. It appears that anytime I connect using the VPN server on the router, I'm unable to access the router web interface. I cannot access it from outside the LAN or even from machines local on the LAN. I've just setup the VPN sever and this is the first time I've seen this problem. Only a reboot fixes it. What can be the problem here?

 

[speedingcheetah]

I was able to connect using OpenVPN once yesterday after setting it up for the first time. The next day (today) I had the problem accessing the router web interface (described in OP). I've cleared the browser (Chrome) as suggested and now I get the following message immediately:

Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to <domain: port>​

Trying any other port takes a while to timeout - so it almost seems as though the port I'm using (and domain name) is valid, but being rejected (as opposed to not forwarded at all or assigned to the router interface itself). BTW, it is the same domain: port that worked previously - for certain.

Any other ideas?

Edit: I rebooted the router and access is back to normal now. Seems to be related to attempting to establish a VPN connection.

Edit2: Again today I had the same problem. It appears that anytime I connect using the VPN server on the router, I'm unable to access the router web interface. I cannot access it from outside the LAN or even from machines local on the LAN. I've just setup the VPN sever and this is the first time I've seen this problem. Only a reboot fixes it. What can be the problem here?

I am having the same issue with my AC56U. When I connect to it remotely via OpenVPN, the web GUI no longer is accessible. It has nothing to do with browser cache...clearing it or using a computer or browser still shows that "Settings have been update......."page.

 

[Kris404]

The message pops up when the HTTPd daemon crashes. You can check by Telnet/SSH and grep for http.

I used to get this when navigating to the 'Tools' page of the firmware after switching back & forth between Merlin's and Official.

The only way to fix the web server crashes is to reset to defaults and start setup from scratch (without restoring from a saved config backup)

 

[speedingcheetah]

The message pops up when the HTTPd daemon crashes. You can check by Telnet/SSH and grep for http.

I used to get this when navigating to the 'Tools' page of the firmware after switching back & forth between Merlin's and Official.

The only way to fix the web server crashes is to reset to defaults and start setup from scratch (without restoring from a saved config backup)

That screen shows up other times too...when u change certain settings. But it always reconnects fine. Only after a OpenVPN connection is established does it not respond.

I can telnet into the router just fine and enter reboot. What commands is it to check if the http server has crashed and is there a command to restart it.

I doubt resting to default and re-config it will help. The same values would be in config file. I reverted back one firmware version, and it worked fine, updated again, and it does this every time. A minor annoyance.

 

[Kris404]

That screen shows up other times too...when u change certain settings. But it always reconnects fine. Only after a OpenVPN connection is established does it not respond.

I can telnet into the router just fine and enter reboot. What commands is it to check if the http server has crashed and is there a command to restart it.

I doubt resting to default and re-config it will help. The same values would be in config file. I reverted back one firmware version, and it worked fine, updated again, and it does this every time. A minor annoyance.

Try before & after:

ps | grep httpd

You should get something like this:

 

[speedingcheetah]

Try before & after:

ps | grep httpd

You should get something like this:

Output looks the same before and after. (not sure why the date says Feb 20)

 

[ags]

Has anyone reported this to ASUS? From the other posts here, it seems:
a) more than one person is experiencing this
b) it is related to OpenVPN
c) it is a new problem in one of the recent firmware releases (although it may have first started with the first firmware to support OpenVPN)

 

[speedingcheetah]

Has anyone reported this to ASUS? From the other posts here, it seems:
a) more than one person is experiencing this
b) it is related to OpenVPN
c) it is a new problem in one of the recent firmware releases (although it may have first started with the first firmware to support OpenVPN)

I never noticed any issues before and I have used OpenVPN server on my router since they implemented it.

(I believe Merlin firmware uses a different implementation of OpenVPN than stock Asus)

Either way....it weird.....I just connected remotely this morning, and the web gui still works fine afterwards....so, I don't know why its not doing it now.

 

[mikeh2]

I experienced this error and have never used, or even enabled, the VPN.
Router is Asus RT-N56U.
Firmware is version 3.0.0.4.374_979
Router has been in use for over a year, but this problem happened about 10 days after upgrading the firmware to the latest and greatest.
It is *not* a web browser issue, tried three different browsers.

UPDATE: Best guess is that these errors were because the ISP changed the public IP address of the router (its a dynamic consumer broadband connection). The router shows that it has an uptime of many months. I did see a "phone home" to the DDNS provider but it was many hours after the user behind this router first reported problems.

 

[jlake]

I experienced this error and have never used, or even enabled, the VPN.
Router is Asus RT-N56U.
Firmware is version 3.0.0.4.374_979
Router has been in use for over a year, but this problem happened about 10 days after upgrading the firmware to the latest and greatest.
It is *not* a web browser issue, tried three different browsers.

That's odd. I don't think the latest firmware for the n56U is .979.
It seems like there's several firmware updates on asus website that have fixed numerous security vulnerabilities.

 

[speedingcheetah]

I experienced this error and have never used, or even enabled, the VPN.
Router is Asus RT-N56U.
Firmware is version 3.0.0.4.374_979
Router has been in use for over a year, but this problem happened about 10 days after upgrading the firmware to the latest and greatest.
It is *not* a web browser issue, tried three different browsers.

The firmware you are using is very old.

According to Asus website...current stock firmware for the N56u is 3.0.0.4.374.4561

I highly recommend Padavan firmware....it is so much better performing than stock (last I used my N56U).

http://code.google.com/p/rt-n56u/

 

[mikeh2]

That's odd. I don't think the latest firmware for the n56U is .979.

I updated the router firmware using the web GUI of the router. I did not manually visit the Asus website. Checking the Asus site, I see you are correct. Not sure why the router failed to notify of the latest firmware. It *might* be because the Jan 2014 firmware requires the router to be reset. Its not clear. This is no way to run things. I'm probably done with Asus routers.

 

[RMerlin]

I updated the router firmware using the web GUI of the router. I did not manually visit the Asus website. Checking the Asus site, I see you are correct. Not sure why the router failed to notify of the latest firmware. It *might* be because the Jan 2014 firmware requires the router to be reset. Its not clear. This is no way to run things. I'm probably done with Asus routers.

It's because the update checker does not go through the website, it goes through a special URL. Asus does not automatically publish every new firmwares for automatic update, most likely as they need to ensure first that the new release is stable enough.

 

[speedingcheetah]

I updated the router firmware using the web GUI of the router. I did not manually visit the Asus website. Checking the Asus site, I see you are correct. Not sure why the router failed to notify of the latest firmware. It *might* be because the Jan 2014 firmware requires the router to be reset. Its not clear. This is no way to run things. I'm probably done with Asus routers.

One of the newer firmwares...they listed an update to the GUI firmware update URL. Since that version, GUI update works fine for newer versions.

And I don't know of any other brand routers that do a good job with updating via GUI....you always go to the website to look. But even then, most of the time, you're lucky to get 1 or 2 updates since it was released....and none after a newer model comes out. I just love Asus for staying active with their firmware updates.

 

[rassi]

Newest stock firmware + RT-AC68U and when try to setup OpenVPN this will come around. Only way to access router again is reboot of it.
Can´t even connect via OpenVPN to it. It´s probably user error, but this connect to router is not. IE & Chrome wont even recognize it, firefox gives "Settings have been updated. Web page will now refresh."

 

[chapel]

My AC56U is doing the same thing.
I've only had it for 12 hours.

 

[Georgemc]

I have the same problem, but it has nothing to do with VPN or browsers because I tested it with multiple computers and various browsers. I used this router for nearly a year without a single problem and then it started randomly dropping my wireless connections and eventually dropping wired connections as well.

When I tried to connect to it to see what was going on all I could get out of it is that infamous message posted everywhere "Settings have been updated. Web page will now refresh.
Changes have been made to the IP address or port number. You will now be disconnected from RT-N66U.
To access the settings of RT-N66U, reconnect to the wireless network and use the updated IP address and port number"

which is pretty nonsensical since I was connected by a wired connection and had not changed anything. After much testing I determined it was just broken and started the process to get it fixed under warranty.

I spent about $25 or so to send it back under an RMA to Asus. I finally got it back after about 3 weeks and when I started to set it up via the wizard business I got to the third step and bang... same stupid message. So as far as I can tell they kept it for about a week and then sent it back via wagon train and did nothing towards fixing it.

To say I'm an unhappy camper would be a huge understatement and I have submitted my complaint/issue to their web site and am waiting for a response.

 

[allan]

Can't access web interface after setting SSH

Hi, I'm facing this issue too.
It was everything fine, I did setup a lot of things, like OpenVPN (with and now without pwd, only keys authentication), MAC filtering, port forwarding, etc...
I was playing with SSH now, tested with pwd auth and worked fine through OpenVPN, but I'd like to setup with keys authentication and restrict acces to a few clients only.
I simply selected the connected SSH client from the list and clicked Apply.
The router stoped responding the web interface (but browsing web was ok), I closed the tab and tried to login again, but got the message below:

Settings have been updated. Web page will now refresh.
Changes have been made to the IP address or port number. You will now be disconnected from RT-N66U.
To access the settings of RT-N66U, reconnect to the wireless network and use the updated IP address and port number.

That's weird as I didn't touched any setting that would change the router's IP address or port number.

I'd really need to reset the router to its fabric settings?
I have a settings backup, but it's from a different firmware version that I don't remember now.

Thanks.