[Novalug] closing Verizon FiOS router back door (blocking firmware upgrades)?

Dan B. danb@kempt.net
Fri May 27 21:49:54 EDT 2011


Does anyone know how to really close Verizon's back door(s) into the
ActionTec routers for their FiOS service?

I thought that I had successfully blocked their port 4567 back door, but
evidently I didn't or there's another hole.


(Verizon keeps forcing upgrades to new router firmware.

In the _process_ of upgrading, they have twice broken things in my
configuration (e.g., DDNS setup).

Mainly, though, the new firmware encrypts downloaded configuration files.
A _result_ of this "upgrade" is that I can no longer see the configuration
as text (e.g., can no longer identify the differences between two
configuration files)--I can no longer load any of my previously saved
configuration files.

At least for the first upgrade they pushed, there was no way (in the Web
UI) to turn off the encryption and no information about how to
decrypt/encrypt saved configuration files.

I've been lucky enough so far to detect the upgrades in time to revert
to the previous (non-encrypting) firmware version (that is, before
Verizon pushed a second upgrade and deleted the non-encrypting version
from the one-generation firmware backup).)


Is their any way to really keep Verizon's f---ing hands off the router
settings--the settings that control the firewall between the Internet and
_my_ home data?  (That is, other than buying a second wireless
router/firewall.)

Thanks,
Daniel






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