2

Clarification:
Every couple of minutes, I receive a notification telling me that authentication is required. Clicking it prompts me to enter my network's password, but all I do is click "Continue" as the password is saved. In between these occurrences, my internet connection performs normally.

Current Potential Issues:

  • Being deauth Attacked (Unlikely as nothing on our home network would do this. Also, there are no deauth packets detected by Wireshark.
  • Interference/Weak Connection (Unlikely as this happens within 1 foot of the router.)
  • Bad Driver (Unlikely as I've been using this device with 20.04 since this April, and the issues started this month)
  • Issue with the Router (Unlikely as nothing has been changed in a while)

I've been using my home network for a while and it's been fairly reliable. We've never done much to the router except a bit of port forwarding, but all that happened a while ago.

I don't recall when this started, but every couple of minutes, I get this notification. Authentication required
It only happens on my laptop running Ubuntu 20.04. I have 2 other devices on the network running Ubuntu 20.04 (1 desktop and 1 server) and neither have issues like this nor does anything else on the network. I can click on the notification and it asks me to put in the password (which is saved, so all I do is click "Connect"). It can range from anywhere between 10 minutes (maybe more) to 30 seconds.

And the worst part is that a reboot won't fix it. I've checked for updates, installed them, and it says everything is up-to-date.

EDIT: I have logs for NetworkManager: https://pastebin.com/jCGwwXzJ Additionally, I've tried erasing the connection a couple of times from gnome-settings and nm-connection-editor. I've also made my gateway forget my device.

I tried using WPS on my latest attempt, and I still am asked every once in a while for my password.

EDIT 2: I have another partition running 18.04. The issue does not show on that partition. Additionally, I used my phone as a hotspot and the issue did not appear on my main partition running 20.04. This seems to be an issue when running 20.04 connected directly to my home network...

EDIT 3: I don't think I'm missing any firmware. I'll be running a few more tests, but I think this may be related to gaming. It happens frequently when on Minecraft, Among Us, or on a Discord call. Yes, I play Among Us on Ubuntu. Sometimes this happens on YouTube as well.

EDIT 4: I've noticed that the area with my wireless card is rather hot. Could overheating be the cause?

EDIT 5: Output from nmcli general permissions: | PERMISSION | VALUE | | ---------- | ----- | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-network | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wifi | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wwan | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wimax | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.sleep-wake | no | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.network-control | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.protected | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.open | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.system | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.own | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.hostname | auth | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.global-dns | auth | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.reload | auth | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.checkpoint-rollback | auth | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-statistics | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-connectivity-check | yes | | org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.scan | unknown |

NOTE: I have limited access to the laptop due to another issue (unrelated to Ubuntu). Please be patient if I do not respond in time. Best of luck to all trying to help me with this!

CStafford-14
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  • Look at the logs! sudo journalctl -b 0 -u NetworkManager. – waltinator Dec 07 '20 at 18:57
  • Just rebooted (for something else). Will wait for something to come up. – CStafford-14 Dec 07 '20 at 19:01
  • @waltinator Here's the logs. https://pastebin.com/jCGwwXzJ – CStafford-14 Dec 07 '20 at 20:22
  • try to delete the connection using nm-connection-editor and then connect again and check if the issue is still there – kannzzmm2 Dec 09 '20 at 19:33
  • Nope, didn't work. – CStafford-14 Dec 09 '20 at 19:46
  • Search this site for "weak wifi" and/or disconnects. Many answers are found, some of which may help you. Check signal strength/interference with sudo iwlist scan. – ubfan1 Dec 09 '20 at 22:41
  • For reference, I get this when I'm sitting right next to my gateway. Also, none of my connections support scanning, according to that command. – CStafford-14 Dec 09 '20 at 22:42
  • Have you put the laptop in the direct vicinity of the wifi access point and observed if it behaved the same? Have you tried moving to a different channel?(is there other RF interference?)...What if you turned all other RF producers off??? Does the same thing happen if you use your phone as a hotspot and connect to that instead? Do you have a separate usb wireless adapter that you can use on that laptop? I've seen usb wifi adapters pretty low in price, might be worth testing.... I believe reason 15 is a timeout, so you are probably losing signal for whatever reason.. – WU-TANG Dec 10 '20 at 02:24
  • @WU-TANG It happens when I'm within one foot of the gateway, I'm unsure of other RF interference, and I don't have a USB adapter and doubt I'll be able to get one. I'll try it with 18.04 (on another partition) and then on my phone (as I have limited data).

    As I've said, this has happened all of a sudden, I'm unsure of anything that would have changed...

     – CStafford-14 Dec 10 '20 at 14:10
  • if you are going to try on your phone and data limitation, dont configure dns and/or dont go to the internet. You are having a problem with your "connection", you dont need the internet to check that.... you just want to observe the pc staying connected (unless passing data is somehow the thing that is causing your connection to fail)..... Not to mention... Now that I'm thinking about it, you can create hotspots with other computers.. I havent done it, but I am pretty sure that i saw you can do it on ubuntu pretty easy – WU-TANG Dec 10 '20 at 20:02
  • Is the network you're connecting to, hidden? – Stormlord Dec 11 '20 at 14:45
  • Nope. It's broadcasting the SSID. – CStafford-14 Dec 11 '20 at 15:19
  • What's the wifi card you're using? Some wifi cards are known to misbehave under Linux. – Thomas Ward Dec 11 '20 at 15:22
  • I'm not sure if that's relevant... I've been using Ubuntu for well over a year and it's been perfectly fine (and the fact that I have no issues on 18.04 or hot-spotting from my phone). Regardless, it's an Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 [Rainbow Peak]. @ThomasWard – CStafford-14 Dec 11 '20 at 15:59
  • Please add the additional information in your comments to your original posting (comments may be deleted). Your card should support scanning. egrep the dmesg output for -i "iwl|fw|firm", look for missing firmware. Try another wifi card. See https://askubuntu.com/questions/1051149/intel-centrino-wireless-n-1030-wireless-drop-after-reboot-ubuntu-16-04 – ubfan1 Dec 11 '20 at 17:15
  • I've got this behavior in a testlab, when analyzing wireless network attacks. A deauther is illegal, but some skriptkiddies are using it anyway. You should see the deauth for example in Wireshark. Filter: (wlan.fc.type eq 0) && (wlan.fc.type_subtype eq 12) ... It is just a lucky guess, what could be a cause. – LupusE Dec 14 '20 at 13:44
  • @LupusE that seems plausible... would you mind helping me with this?

    Also to clarify, would this be an attack on me or me attacking someone (malware)?

     – CStafford-14 Dec 14 '20 at 18:43
  • At first start wireshark, (hope you're card/driver is able to use the monitor mode) use the Filter (wlan.fc.type eq 0) && (wlan.fc.type_subtype eq 12) to see if the deauth packages are visible. If you're seeing deauth packages, that are not from your device, the first step is to change the MAC of your wireless card. (you also can perform the last step first, but you don't get the reason ... If it works, it could also be a double used IP or MAC or anything like that) – LupusE Dec 15 '20 at 08:21
  • you can test/isolate all that you learned against installing 20.04 on another partition... (additionally maybe even a live/install USB)... you may want to read what this https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi says about "graphics", since you mentioned gaming... if a newer firmware and driver is available, you could install them on the 2nd 20.04 partition and test it... – WU-TANG Dec 15 '20 at 11:15
  • This is similar to this. I think this might help. – Mansoor Ahmed Memon Dec 16 '20 at 11:21
  • nmcli general permissions please. And when you reconfigured the connection make sure in general tab all user can use this connection. – nobody Dec 16 '20 at 12:45
  • I'm the only user on this PC. – CStafford-14 Dec 16 '20 at 20:08

2 Answers2

0

Because I can't commend I will just post it here, I know it's wrong but I'm trying to help.

Try ubuntu-drivers devices it will run for a while but if it detects a missing wifi driver it will let you know, if it does, execute sudo apt install <name of driver>

You said that it only happens to your home AP? try setting your phone the same name (SSID) and password as your home router and wait to see if it will happen again (be sure to be out of range of your actual wifi router of turn it off).

Additionally, you can try changing your routers SSID to see if the name was cusing the problem (quite rare!), try deleting your network from the memory and connect again, this should resolve any issues.

Also you can try a live iso from a usb to see if the problem will continue to exists even on a different "installation".

Michael Angel P.
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-1

I think this is problem/misconfiguration in your router. First I would disable all security on the router and check if this problem is gone. If so you located the problem in your router.

Then you can enable security again and set a new password. I would suggest to use WPA2 + AES since that delivers good protection against entruders.

Thomas Aichinger
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  • If it was an issue with the router, everything would have that issue, right? My laptop is the only device with this issue – CStafford-14 Dec 09 '20 at 19:36
  • Not in every case. If password and/or encryption keys are ok other devices may work. To make sure the problem is your router I would recommend turn off security first connect your laptop and enable it again. – Thomas Aichinger Dec 09 '20 at 19:44
  • It's an XFINITY router... I can't disable security – CStafford-14 Dec 09 '20 at 19:46
  • @CStafford-14 how far away from your router are you? – Thomas Ward Dec 11 '20 at 15:21
  • I'm normally about 10-12 feet below the router, but this happens when I'm within 1 foot with nothing between them. – CStafford-14 Dec 11 '20 at 15:55
  • @CStafford-14 I think the problem comes from your router too. Do your Ubuntu 18 & 20 access the same wifi? Your wifi already spit into 2 types 2.GHz & 5GHz?(normal them same and merge into 1 wifi 2.4/5GHz). Do you try config your network mode to Wireless g, WPA2 personal, channel width 20/40 MHz only, or specific channel to 1? And if someone tries to attack you, your connection will interrupt. – N. Bien Dec 15 '20 at 07:53
  • Yes, same SSID (2.4GHz band, can't access 5GHz due to older hardware). No changes have been made to the router in a long time. – CStafford-14 Dec 16 '20 at 20:12