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Google Tackles Chromecast Wi-Fi Blasting Bug

posted by martyb on Monday January 22 2018, @01:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the awake-from-sleep-and...-KA-BOOM! dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Google is rolling out a patch today which will fix a bug that slows down Wi-Fi networks connected to both Android and Chromecast built-in devices. According to a blog post, Google said a bug in its Cast software on Android phones may incorrectly send a large amount of network traffic, which can slow down or temporarily impact Wi-Fi networks.

[...] Google says it has identified the issue, and the fix will be issued via a Google Play service update. The company says users experiencing the problem should reboot their phones and check that their Wi-Fi router has been updated with the latest firmware.

Source: TheVerge

Also at: BBC and The Register.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by ledow on Monday January 22 2018, @01:28PM

    by ledow (5567) on Monday January 22 2018, @01:28PM (#626054) Homepage

    The devices shouldn't send those packets.

    But a router is your first defence against rogue / unknown / unwanted packets but can't handle a small burst of 10,000 or so packets on modern kit, without failling into a state that affects all users detrimentally?

    Both are at fault. But one is severely failing in its core purpose while the other just has a slight miscode as a local network device.

    P.S. I have a Chromecast. I've never seen this problem. Because I VLAN, QoS and rate-limit access, not to mention enable "wifi fair sharing" so things can't hog the wireless, to the Chromecast so it doesn't just run off and swamp my wifi, kill my Internet, slow down my games. That's what routers DO. That's their job. And because my router was working properly the Chromecast bug was probably unnoticeable (it probably showed up on the internal "DoS" list if it hit a packet limit, but that's about it).

    The point of a router is to route. If you send 10,000 packets to it, it acts upon them blindly, and in doing so gets itself into a tizzy including stopping other devices communicating, you really, urgently need a new router. Because it's only a matter of time before someone does that to you remotely and just knocks you off the net entirely.

    But if a Chromecast is just rude and sends out 10,000 announcement packets? Meh. Update the firmware when convenient or filter them out.

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