How can I configure my router to serve the captive portal even without an internet connection? GL.iNet GL-MT300N-V2

[sedans3]

I have set up a GL.iNet GL-MT300N-V2 router with an RT5370 Wi-Fi adapter and installed the Evil Portal module. The router (running Evil Pineapple) requires an internet connection to my home network or hotspot for the Evil Portal to serve my custom captive portal page.

When I connect to my SSID “pineapple-3736” network on my iPhone, it correctly displays my custom captive portal and logs the credentials I submit. However, when I disconnect the router from the internet and connect to the same “pineapple-3736” SSID from my iPhone, the custom captive portal does not display.

All of my custom captive portal files are stored locally on the router in the “portal” directory.

Has anyone encountered this issue? How can I configure the system to serve the captive portal even without an internet connection?

[yammit420]

I was running into the same issue. I don't know if it's viable on this DIY version but I think due to the main router always being set to the management role and the second one setup as an AP that leaves no adapter to make the bridge connection to allow access to the internet.

[sedans3]

A flipper with a Wi-Fi board does it flawlessly. I don’t need to bridge connection to allow internet. I just want it to serve the captive portal locally, which it does if you navigate to the evil portal up address after connecting to the broadcasted ssid. I just can’t figure out why it does not automatically display the evil portal pop up when connecting to the ssid. If I get navigate to the IP and see it , why is it not automatically serving the portal the router has internet

[xchwarze]

You are comparing a "gpl" hardware with one that is worth more than 200 dollars plus add esp and shipping.
It is as easy as going to the module https://github.com/xchwarze/wifi-pineapple-community/tree/main/modules/src/EvilPortal and make a pr fixing this.

Also on the internet there are other variants of this module that surely do not have this bug.

[sedans3]

Do you have a link to a module without this bug? I’ll have to learn how to fix it for the pr. I’m not a programmer so not as easy as you say.

All I know is I can connect to the ssid and navigate to the captive portal IP when the router does not have internet. I just don’t understand why it’s not automatically popping up the captive portal like it does when the router is connected to the internet.

like you said seems like an easy fix to get it to serve the captive portal automatically. Thanks for the discussion.

[sedans3]

You are comparing a "gpl" hardware with one that is worth more than 200 dollars plus add esp and shipping. It is as easy as going to the module https://github.com/xchwarze/wifi-pineapple-community/tree/main/modules/src/EvilPortal and make a pr fixing this.

Also on the internet there are other variants of this module that surely do not have this bug.

Can you tell me which file I need to edit? Me and ChatGPT will do the rest thanks

[xchwarze]

The documentation is clear that you must also have a usb adapter for everything to work the same as the original hardware. The plugins are designed for that specific hardware so it is normal that this happens with some of them.

The plugins have their own repo so if you want to modify its operation you can send a PR to it to add new features like this one you mention.

[sedans3]

I have an adapter a usb rt5370. After more troubleshooting, when the router is not connected to the internet, my phone will still connect to the broadcasted ssid “pineapple-3736” but I have to manually navigate to 172.16.42.1 to see the captive portal. If the router is connected to the internet the portal pops up automatically each time I connect my phone or computer. So it kinda of works it’s just not automatically popping up the captive portal unless connected to internet. Is this a dns routing issue?

[xchwarze]

two things I will mention: a) I did not make that plugin I have no idea how it works beyond conjectures that I will not go into. b) I understand that any modern OS verifies that the connection has internet and if it does not, it usually DISCONNECTS. So it would not work without internet!

[sedans3]

Looks like this is the line in the “executable” that is causing the problem. Even without internet I can access the active captive portal through the broadcasted ssid.

Exempt traffic which does not originate from the client network. $IPTABLES -t mangle -I PREROUTING -p all ! -s $CLIENTNET -j RETURN

[sedans3]

I updated the code in the executable. I created a branch in my repo. How to I test it compiled with the router firmware ?

[xchwarze]

there is no compilation on that platform, update the binaries by ftp and your code should work. maybe the one you ran runs when installing so keep that in mind.