Passwords replaced with asterisks - maybe a winbox application's bug?

RouterOS General
1

Hi,

i would like to know how many users are experiencing this event and know if anyone can reproduce it in any way in order to send a complete report to Mikrotik.

This “bug” overwrites the asterisk fields of a window - after clicking the “OK” or “Apply” button of that window - with asterisks in place of the value.
I cannot say if this happens when INSERTING a new setting (ie adding a new wireless security profile), or EDITING an already set one.

In my experience, this event happens:

  • randomly, i haven’t found a procedure to reproduce it
  • using Winbox 3.0 or the 3.xbeta under Windows OS
  • with quite new firmware 6.2x/6.3x
  • when the “Hide password” main option is flagged (or not, cannot say, but when happened to us, it was checked for sure)
  • editing parameters in this windows: pppoe client and wireless security profile
  • in RB 912UAG, 411AH, 711G5Hnd (but i think the hardware is not the clue)

The way to check if this event happened, is to uncheck the “Hide password” option from the main window: the value field of the window will be full of asterisks (**************) instead of the value in clear text.
Also, using the /export command from a new terminal window, you will see a lot of asterisks again instead of the password. Ie:

[admin@rb711G] > /export 
# dec/02/2015 12:08:57 by RouterOS 6.28
# software id = Q9C9-BDTX
#
[...]
/interface wireless security-profiles
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk mode=dynamic-keys name=profile1 \
    supplicant-identity=Template wpa2-pre-shared-key=\
    ***************************************
[...]

The quick solution for this is to set the asterisk field value manually again; when it happened to me, there was no problem to restore the value immediately, changing the value and clicking Apply.
If the bug happens to a wireless security password when you are editing params in the remote side of a link, you’ve got to change the password to the right number of asterisks on the local side of the link to regain access to the remote routerboard. ← just a guess; never happened, lukily

In the forum, other people seems to have experienced it:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/big-bug-unicast-key-exchange-timeout/22912/71
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/l2tp-dial-out-issue/90929/1

Waiting for some feedback from the community.

Thankyou.

–
Giovanni

2

Go into your winbox 3.0 window, click on Settings in the upper left and uncheck hide passwords. Without doing this it was impossible for me to use the Quick Set page scan list in a Mikrotik device set as a CPE to make a connection to an AP.

I don’t know if this will clear up your problem but it solved mine and made the password in the Security Profile window visible.

3

Thanks for your contribution, but this reply doesn’t meet up with my post.

–
Giovanni