Bug in Telus Router - Can't handle device name with a quote in it

[theteluspanda]

There is a bug with the Actiontec T3200M firmware where if one of the devices connected to the router has a quote (") in it's name the DHCP reservation page no longer works. It displays empty and the buttons do nothing. It's possible that other pages may be broken also. I suspect that other Telus routers have the same bug.

The reason is some javascript code stops working. Here is an example:

var StaticAddress = [{"DeviceName": "55" Hisense Roku TV", "MACAddress": "e8:e8:e8:e8:e8:e8", "IPAddress": "192.168.1.100", "Icon": 0}];

Please fix the firmware and provide the upgrade.

[rc]

I don't think it is a bug as there are limitations on symbols are valid in a host name ,

Extracted from a wiki

The Internet standards for protocols mandate that component hostname labels may contain only the ASCII letters 'a' through 'z' (in a case-insensitive manner), the digits '0' through '9', and the minus sign ('-'). The original specification of hostnames in RFC 952, mandated that labels could not start with a digit or with a minus sign, and must not end with a minus sign. However, a subsequent specification (RFC 1123) permitted hostname labels to start with digits. No other symbols, punctuation characters, or white space are permitted.

[theteluspanda]

Interesting, I missed the fact that this is a list of hostnames. Thanks for that.

However, I think this is still a bug:

1) It's a bug with the TV (or whatever device is using a hostname with a quote in it). I've emailed Hisense already.

2) I still feel there is some inconsistency in the Actiontec router. If it handles the connection and DHCP with that faulty device, then why can't the DHCP reservation page continue to work? It shouldn't be so fragile. After all, it's likely using the MAC address for it's other business with it. A quote in the hostname shouldn't break the firmware (even if it doesn't conform to the standard).

Still hoping that Telus/Actiontec see this and make the fix which to be honest will be trivial for them.

[rc]

Found another reference to the dhcp host name issue.

https://support.crestron.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/4079

The simplest fix to the issue would be for actiontec to ignore any invalid hostname, in a dhcp request, and set the name to null.  This may cause other problems but would be complient with it ITEF standards 

[theteluspanda]

I disagree. That would not really be a fix, more of a step backwards that would break compatibility with some devices (even if they aren't standard conforming).

It isn't even the simplest fix.

The actual simplest fix would be to fix the JavaScript code that I mentioned earlier. Very easy for actiontec to do this, and it would increase device compatibility and customer satisfaction.

Hoping this info can be forwarded to the right technical people at Telus/actiontec.

[rc]

The proper fix would be to enforce the standard, and reject an invalid name effectively giving the device a null name.

[theteluspanda]

rc, are you a Telus employee? It says "ambassador" under your user name but I'm not sure if that means you work for Telus.

[rc]

@theteluspanda I'm not a telus employee or contractor.

[NFtoBC]

@theteluspanda

  The occasional employee who stops by here would be indicated by the term 'Employee' or 'Moderator' as part of their ID.