[Bug 1735002] [NEW] Allow configuring Wi-Fi MAC Randomization feature from GUI

Jeremy Bicha jeremy at bicha.net
Tue Nov 28 21:56:05 UTC 2017


Public bug reported:

Recent versions of NetworkManager have a feature enabled by default to
use a random MAC address when scanning for available Wi-Fi networks for
privacy. My understanding is that the spoofed MAC address is not used
when actually connecting to a network.

This feature was disabled in Ubuntu 17.10 because it broke scanning with
some Wi-Fi drivers. My understanding is that there is a bug in some
drivers when attempting to change the MAC address. See LP: #1681513.

The bug might not be as big of an issue with the latest version of NetworkManager because
1) There are helpful commits like this (it was not backported to 17.04):
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/?id=46d53e1
2) It is also possible now to selectively disable Wi-Fi MAC Randomization for specific drivers.
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/?id=b869d9

However, I'm really hesitant to re-enable this feature as long as
A) we don't know for sure which drivers are affected,
B) and more importantly, there is no GUI way to turn the feature on or off. Asking users to edit config files isn't very nice.

The MAC Address Randomization feature is really nice (Windows 10 has a
similar feature) but I think we need a GUI on/off switch in Settings >
Wi-Fi or Settings > Privacy.

** Affects: gnome-control-center
     Importance: Unknown
         Status: Unknown

** Affects: network-manager
     Importance: Unknown
         Status: Unknown

** Affects: gnome-control-center (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Wishlist
         Status: Triaged

** Affects: network-manager (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Wishlist
         Status: Triaged


** Tags: bionic

** Also affects: gnome-control-center (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Changed in: gnome-control-center (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Wishlist

** Changed in: gnome-control-center (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Triaged

** Bug watch added: GNOME Bug Tracker #781295
   https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=781295

** Also affects: gnome-control-center via
   https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=781295
   Importance: Unknown
       Status: Unknown

** Bug watch added: GNOME Bug Tracker #790961
   https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=790961

** Also affects: network-manager via
   https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=790961
   Importance: Unknown
       Status: Unknown

** Tags added: bionic

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1735002

Title:
  Allow configuring Wi-Fi MAC Randomization feature from GUI

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