Client name is listed as an asterisk

[voteformnmontrl]

Hello. Total noob here. I don't know a whole lot about the technical side of this stuff. I searched the forums and other websites as best as I could, but I could not find the answer to my problem.

I have a weird issue with my client list on my router. I'm using an ASUS RT-N66U with the Asus Merlin firmware version 378.55. I have been having internet issues for a while now. Speed keeps dropping. After trying lots of things to fix the internet, I decided to play around in my wifi to see what was in there. I changed my wifi password first thing to kick anyone off who may have been on it (though no one should have been). Upon looking at the client listing, I'm noticing a strange entry. There is a client listed that has a client name of *. Yes, it's just an asterisk. It only stays connected for a few seconds at a time and then goes away, but it comes back after a few more seconds. I'm not sure what RSSI is, but it howevers around 18 dBm, which is lower than everything else. The Rx/Tx rate is 1 / 1 Mbps. The flag is only listed as A.

Does anyone know what this might be? My roommate and I cannot think of any devices that it could be, especially since the password was just now reset. I know it's probably a really obvious noob question, but any help would be appreciated

Also if this is the wrong forum entirely for this, where should I go?

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

A means associated. If there's no U, it means it never authenticated itself, therefore it failed to access your network. This is most likely something trying to scan the network, or trying to connect with the wrong WPA2 key.

There's no hostname because the device never got access to the network.

 

[voteformnmontrl]

A means associated. If there's no U, it means it never authenticated itself, therefore it failed to access your network. This is most likely something trying to scan the network, or trying to connect with the wrong WPA2 key.

There's no hostname because the device never got access to the network.

Thanks for the info! It's weird that it keeps coming and going after a few seconds. Could it be something trying to brute force the password? Is it worth blocking the MAC address over?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the info! It's weird that it keeps coming and going after a few seconds. Could it be something trying to brute force the password? Is it worth blocking the MAC address over?

Could be someone from outside trying, could also be one of your own devices having the wrong WPA2 key.

You could blacklist its MAC, but just the fact you have a secure WPA2 key should normally be good enough.