WiFi suddenly stopped working [solved]

Message

CrouchingTigger · Post by **CrouchingTigger** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 4:18 pm

Hello everyone,

Something funky seems to have happened to my WiFi connection. I'm not sure, but it might be connected to the recent update of wpa_supplicant. Since a reboot, there are no networks available/visible in plasma-nm and NetworkManager logs:

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<info>  [1647619409.0911] device (wlo1): supplicant interface state: interface_disabled -> inactive

Kernel module and firmware are loaded:

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stellar ~ # dmesg |grep iwlwifi
[    4.094861] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.096734] Loading firmware: iwlwifi-9000-pu-b0-jf-b0-46.ucode
[    4.097762] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 0
[    4.097764] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 1
[    4.097765] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 2
[    4.097765] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 3
[    4.097766] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 4
[    4.097767] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 6
[    4.097767] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 8
[    4.097768] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 9
[    4.097768] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 10
[    4.097769] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 11
[    4.097770] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 15
[    4.097770] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 16
[    4.097771] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 18
[    4.097772] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 19
[    4.097772] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 20
[    4.097773] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 21
[    4.097773] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 28
[    4.097891] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 46.fae53a8b.0 9000-pu-b0-jf-b0-46.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    4.153808] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz, REV=0x318
[    4.202330] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: base HW address: 50:76:af:a7:60:7a
[    4.275613] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3 wlo1: renamed from wlan0

The interface is unblocked:

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stellar ~ # rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

Manual scanning is unsuccessful:

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stellar ~ # iwlist wlo1 scan
wlo1      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Any ideas?

jburns · Post by **jburns** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 5:25 pm

I had the same problem with WiFi not working after the update, but I could see other routers when I looked for available routers just not mine. I used my phone's hot spot to connect to connect to the internet through the router. My solution was to replace my router that supported the ac standard with one that supported the ax standard.

Jean-Paul · Post by **Jean-Paul** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 7:00 pm

Hi,
I ran into the same error yesterday. no wifi after update to wpa_supplicant-2.10-r1.
BTW we have the same nic, maybe that mean something.

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dmesg |grep iwlwifi
[    2.003004] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    2.004747] Loading firmware: iwlwifi-9000-pu-b0-jf-b0-46.ucode
[    2.006413] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 0
[    2.006417] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 1
[    2.006419] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 2
[    2.006420] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 3
[    2.006421] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 4
[    2.006422] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 6
[    2.006423] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 8
[    2.006424] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 9
[    2.006425] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 10
[    2.006427] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 11
[    2.006428] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 15
[    2.006429] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 16
[    2.006430] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 18
[    2.006432] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 19
[    2.006433] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 20
[    2.006434] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 21
[    2.006436] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: WRT: Overriding region id 28
[    2.006712] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 46.fae53a8b.0 9000-pu-b0-jf-b0-46.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    2.053888] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: BIOS contains WGDS but no WRDS
[    2.053897] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz, REV=0x318

I found this issue in the journal

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journalctl -r | grep wpa_supplicant
Mär 17 15:26:04 thinkpad wpa_supplicant[498]: dbus: fill_dict_with_properties dbus_interface=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.BSS dbus_property=RSN getter failed
Mär 17 15:26:04 thinkpad wpa_supplicant[498]: dbus: Failed to construct signal
Mär 17 15:26:04 thinkpad wpa_supplicant[498]: dbus: wpa_dbus_get_object_properties: failed to get object properties: (org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed) failed to parse RSN IE
Mär 17 15:26:04 thinkpad wpa_supplicant[498]: dbus: fill_dict_with_properties dbus_interface=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.BSS dbus_property=RSN getter failed

There are a few pages on google, but there was nothing useful about the error.
I initially masked wpa_supplicant-2.10-r1.

CrouchingTigger · Post by **CrouchingTigger** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 7:45 pm

Jean-Paul wrote:Hi,
I ran into the same error yesterday. no wifi after update to wpa_supplicant-2.10-r1.
BTW we have the same nic, maybe that mean something.
[...]
I initially masked wpa_supplicant-2.10-r1.

According to the changelog some unsed patches were removed in 2.10-r1. Guess I'll mask and rollback, too.

Gentlenoob · Post by **Gentlenoob** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:00 pm

Hi all,

I also had troubles after todays wpa_supplicant upgrade from 2.10 to 2.10-r1

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hp14ma1 ~ # /etc/init.d/net.wlo1 start
 * Bringing up interface wlo1
 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on wlo1 ...
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Line 10: invalid cipher 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 10: failed to parse pairwise 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 11: invalid cipher 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 11: failed to parse group 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 12: failed to parse network block.
Line 24: invalid cipher 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 24: failed to parse pairwise 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 25: invalid cipher 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 25: failed to parse group 'CCMP TKIP'.
Line 33: failed to parse network block.
Failed to read or parse configuration '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf'.
: CTRL-EVENT-DSCP-POLICY clear_all
 *   start-stop-daemon: failed to start `/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant'                                                                      [ !! ]
 * ERROR: net.wlo1 failed to start

I got it working again by removing the offending lines in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, i.e. lines like

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   pairwise=CCMP TKIP
   group=CCMP TKIP

I had those lines in for ages and don't remember why, just once it seemed necessary to me, obviously.

Downgrading was my first thought, but it seems that 2.10 isn't in the tree anymore, which I find discomforting. May I ask for some more relaxed removal policy, please?

Cheers, Ralph

CrouchingTigger · Post by **CrouchingTigger** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 10:03 pm

Gentlenoob wrote: I also had troubles after todays wpa_supplicant upgrade from 2.10 to 2.10-r1
[...]
I got it working again by removing the offending lines in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, i.e. lines like
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   pairwise=CCMP TKIP
   group=CCMP TKIP

In my case there was no failure to start wpa_supplicant and the interface was up yet remained inactive ("WARNING: net.wlo1 has started, but is inactive") but then again out of offending lines I only have "pairwise=CCMP" in my wpa_supplicant.conf.

Gentlenoob wrote: Downgrading was my first thought, but it seems that 2.10 isn't in the tree anymore, which I find discomforting. May I ask for some more relaxed removal policy, please?

For now, I got around the issue by downloading the missing ebuild/patches from gitweb.gentoo.org and emerging 2.10 from a local repo.

unheatedgarage · Post by **unheatedgarage** » Fri Mar 18, 2022 10:25 pm

Also had the same problem. For now I switched back to net-wireless/iwd.

In my case I didn't notice the problem until a day after the update, after rebooting -- all my systems were affected -- thankfully I remembered that wpa_supplicant had been recently updated.

Glad to see I'm not the only one with the problem.

jburns · Post by **jburns** » Sat Mar 19, 2022 12:15 am

A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag. The default was tkip enabled until 2.10-r1 where the default was changed to disabled.

houtworm · Post by **houtworm** » Sat Mar 19, 2022 12:32 am

jburns wrote:A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag.

Yeah! That works, thank you!!
I did cost me a day of trying until I downgraded to 2,9 and my wifi started working again, but with tkip version 2.10 also works

paluszak · Post by **paluszak** » Sat Mar 19, 2022 12:21 pm

jburns wrote:A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag. The default was tkip enabled until 2.10-r1 where the default was changed to disabled.

Kudoz, I have an old router in my cabin and it's been working flawlessly for years so I'm reluctant to replace it. My media center suddenly stopped connecting to wifi after update and the culprit was removal of default TKIP support. Re-emerging wpa_supplicant with tkip flag enabled solved the problem.

CrouchingTigger · Post by **CrouchingTigger** » Sat Mar 19, 2022 12:55 pm

jburns wrote:A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag. The default was tkip enabled until 2.10-r1 where the default was changed to disabled.

Thank you, jburns. Marking the thread as solved.

MFG080xc0 · Post by **MFG080xc0** » Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:27 pm

jburns wrote:A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag.

Had the same issue after updating and rebooting, thank you for the fix.

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:33 pm

This begs the question: Why did the dev decide to do this default switch with an -r1 update without a NEWS item which could flash this?

All the folks who only have TKIP support in their routers will fail to connect, leaving them no resort to recover (how do you download the older ebuild if your wifi is down?).

Changes like this need to be thought out and announced so that folks know that the breakage is coming! Dev's concern for security is appreciated but a heads up NEWS item would be too!

jburns · Post by **jburns** » Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:52 pm

The problem was not caused by the router only having TKIP support although that would be a problem. One of the solutions was to disable TKIP support in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. The problem seems to also be related to using the iwlwifi driver.

The problem could be caused by 1. wpa_supplicant saying it supports TKIP when it does not and 2. The iwlwifi driver not being able to handle the case where wpa_supplicant says it supports TKIP when it does not support it. The problem is also related to the router capabilities. I solved my problem by replacing my 802.11ac router with a 802.11ax router. Befor I replaced the router I connected to the internet via a hot spot on my phone which supports 802.11ax which connected to my router.

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:04 pm

Yeah, there are several pieces involved in making the wifi communication happen. That's why we can't switch a piece off unilaterally! Taking tkip support away from wpa_supplicant without announcing it first was a bad idea!

I would have liked not needing to troubleshoot my kernel, drivers, recent firmware package update, router etc. Took a long time! If there was a news item for it, it would have saved me half day's worth of reverting and fiddling with different pieces.

Gentlenoob · Post by **Gentlenoob** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:49 am

Seconded.

Plus repeating my plea for some less strict removal policy. My knee-jerk reaction to sudden breakage is reverting back, which wasn't easily possible here, as the working version was gone (and I would have to read about local repos, git etc. first).

Cheers, Ralph

Post by Hu » Mon Mar 21, 2022 3:16 pm

I think emerge --usepkgonly =wpa_supplicant-2.10 should have been able to reinstall a binpkg of the older version, even without the ebuild.

I'm not surprised that TKIP was changed to default to disabled. According to equery use, it was deprecated in 2009.

As far as asking for a different removal policy, are you sure that the relevant developer(s) are even reading this thread? If not, it doesn't matter what you ask them to do. They'll never know you asked.

Gentlenoob · Post by **Gentlenoob** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 5:38 pm

I'll try to remember that option, but if I'm not mistaken, this only works if a binpkg is available, which I think it wasn't in my case. But the even simpler emerge =wpa_supplicant-2.10 should have done the trick, if ebuild (+ distfiles) still there.

pre-2009 sounds about right for my 1st wifi attempts. The router from these days was replaced 3y ago, with no apparent hiccups.

What's a better place to ask for a more recovery-friendly removal policy? Keeping 1 - 2 older versions doesn't seem too unreasonable to me, at least for more critical system stuff. I even vaguely remember having seen discussions on such issues? Any hints?

Cheers, Ralph

cavernico · Post by **cavernico** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:11 pm

You can downgrade to 2.9 emerging from libressl overlay and problem is fix. Also enabling the use flag mentioned above also works for me.

Gentlenoob · Post by **Gentlenoob** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:47 pm

sorry, if I didn't make that clear, the problem is fixed for me already. I've also set the tkip useflag now, just in case I'll run into some old router somewhere.

I was just bitching a bit since this was the 1st time with Gentoo that I wasn't able to revert easily to some working state (if I remember correctly).

Cheers, Ralph

ese002 · Post by **ese002** » Tue Mar 22, 2022 3:45 am

Hu wrote:I think emerge --usepkgonly =wpa_supplicant-2.10 should have been able to reinstall a binpkg of the older version, even without the ebuild.

I'm not surprised that TKIP was changed to default to disabled. According to equery use, it was deprecated in 2009.

I'm sort of surprised, given that the example config in the wiki for wpa_supplicant still uses TKIP and does not emphasize that a use change is needed to make it work. https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Wpa_supplicant

The man page examples also use tkip.

If tkip was deprecated in wpa_supplicant in 2009, shouldn't the documentation have been updated before tkip became disabled by default? Granted, they only had 13 years....

Post by Hu » Tue Mar 22, 2022 4:00 pm

The deprecation note is in equery use output, which makes it the domain of the Gentoo maintainer. The Wiki is community-maintained, and the Gentoo maintainer may or may not even read that page. The manual pages are maintained by upstream, which may or may not be the same group that maintains the Gentoo package.

According to Wikipedia, in 2009, IEEE resolved to deprecate TKIP. In 2012, a standard revision formally deprecated it.

Yes, the documentation should be updated accordingly. However, I see nothing in this thread to lead me to believe that the person who changed the default on the USE flag is the documentation maintainer for any of the documentation you cite. The people who maintain those documentation sources could be advised to add a deprecation note.

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Tue Mar 22, 2022 5:28 pm

Documentation gets ignored most of the time. I think this kind of change is best suited for a news item that appears in 'eselect news', a notification for which is shown at the end of each emerge. The tkip removal is EXACTLY what the news was designed for.

PS: I have always read the news items religiously because I know if I don't, pain follows.

ulcuber · Post by **ulcuber** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:19 am

jburns wrote:A possible workaround is to build wpa_supplicant with the tkip USE flag. The default was tkip enabled until 2.10-r1 where the default was changed to disabled.

Thank you very much. So much old routers around

ese002 · Post by **ese002** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 5:25 am

devsk wrote:Documentation gets ignored most of the time. I think this kind of change is best suited for a news item that appears in 'eselect news', a notification for which is shown at the end of each emerge. The tkip removal is EXACTLY what the news was designed for.

PS: I have always read the news items religiously because I know if I don't, pain follows.

Eselect news is important when existing installations need to be adjusted. However, documentation should not be discounted. People have been unnecessarily putting the tkip bomb in new configurations for 13 years following its depreciation. Why? Because the documentation told them to do that. I count myself among them. I cloned the recipe in the wiki in 2016, seven years after the tkip flag was deprecated.