topic Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers in Broadband & Landline

Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 11:48:56 GMT

Hi community,

This is an informative post more than a question. I have been having issues with parental controls not blocking adult websites including those with obvious related words in their names, (e.g. p***hub.com) and EE have been investigating for a number of weeks now.

They have provided a workaround while they are looking for a proper fix, but essentially it comes down to newer versions of browsers like Edge or Chrome having a new experimental feature called TLS 1.3 hybridized Kyber support enabled which breaks the parental controls feature. My loose understanding is that this is because the feature uses a new type of cryptographic algorithm in the browser session that makes it more private and instead of getting the EE banner *Access to this website has been blocked* page, the browser will display its own inbuilt "The connection for this site is not secure" page because EE's parental control systems can't intercept it properly. However, with TLS 1.3 hybridized Kyber support enabled (which it is by default in the latest browser updates) the user can hit the refresh button repeatedly until the browser complies and loads the site that should be blocked.

I am putting EE's workaround here as I understand it is not just my account that is affected, but likely anybody using this the parental controls may be affected. The current workaround is to disable this experimental browser feature as follows:

1. In your browser, type or paste the following setting URL into the address bar and hit enter: chrome://flags/#enable-tls13-kyber

2. Change the TLS 1.3 hybridized Kyber support flag to *Disabled*.

3. Close and re-open the browser.

Best of luck.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 08:40:54 GMT

Update: Still no word on a proper fix and EE now say they won't call me unless they have a system update ready which they admit could be some time and cannot give an ETA. It's disappointing that they know and acknowledge their customers using this service are affected and would not necessarily know they are unprotected because the parental control filtering isn't working as expected but yet have not informed those same customers by way of any public communication about it so EE are leaving children and families unprotected and parents with a false sense of security. And of course they still charge the full price of the service each month.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Chris_B — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 08:59:04 GMT

@Ben570 They’ll not drop the price because of a loophole. It’s the same principal as buying a phone and a security risk has been found and not fixed, the price doesn’t come down until it’s fixed and then goes back up. There will probably always be work arounds a VPN for example or using private browsing from a device are known work arounds. Coding isn’t a 5 minute job and any fix has to make sure it doesn’t affect anything else that should be ok.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 09:51:45 GMT

@Chris_B This isn't just a "loophole", the service does not work with the OS and browsers that have a majority share in their default settings, no vpn or proxy needed. It's not a vulnerability that someone can exploit, it's a broken product. Would you be happy paying for your broadband service if say the https protocol specifically was broken and not working, or if DNS lookups were broken (you cannot change the DNS server on the Smart Hub) but you could still reach websites by adding in their IP address into your hosts file first?

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 09:41:36 GMT

5 weeks since I made this post, and at least 2 months since I reported the problem to EE and parental controls still broken. If you are a parent using this service, know that your children can still access pornography and other inappropriate websites. EE's parental controls do not work and I am drafting a letter to the communications ombudsman about this.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

dellybeanhead — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:38:12 GMT

This is a major major issue.
Please can EE escalate this. And can we have access to change the DNS on the router in the interim please.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

dellybeanhead — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:23:43 GMT

Did this workaround work for you.
it made no difference to me.
plus a browser based setting is by no means an acceptable fix.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:32:37 GMT

Hi @dellybeanhead, it seems to have worked for me as long as the device is in the right device group with strict/moderate parental controls and using Edge or Chrome browser on Windows. Not sure about making the change in other browsers or operating systems. I did reboot Windows after making the change too so that I knew the browser would be reloaded for sure and I did check the setting had been saved after rebooting.

Also, you're absolutely right that this isn't an acceptable fix and was only supposed to be a workaround while EE investigated, but they're dragging their feet and it's been 3 months for me now. Have you reported that your parental controls aren't working to them as well?

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

dellybeanhead — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:40:43 GMT

No I’ve not reported it. I did try but the wait on hold was just too long.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

JordanTA — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:30:54 GMT

Hi @Ben570

We're aware of the issue, I've spoken with our broadband team and they expect a fix to be rolled out in a software update soon. Apologies I can't be more specific on a date, but it'll hopefully be sorted soon. If I find out anything else I'll update the thread.

Thanks

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

dellybeanhead — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:48:47 GMT

That’s great news thank you.
Are we talking days or weeks or months?

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 08:59:04 GMT

Hi @JordanTA,

With all due respect the TMC have been aware of the issue for months now and have given really poor (read unacceptable) correspondence about it for the last 3 months now.

The workaround originally given that I posted here no longer works as the TLS 1.3 experimental flag is no longer available in updated Chromium based browsers. I have now emailed EE/TMC about this too.

I am writing to the communication ombudsman about this situation and also going public to tech news sites now with the info as EE has knowingly left parents thinking their service is protecting their children when it is not and EE have been silent on the issue.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

JordanTA — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 16:26:38 GMT

Hi there, sorry for the delay. Just to let you know that I am trying to get a more definitive date for the fix other than just "soon". As soon as I get anything I'll drop a reply. Appreciate this is far from ideal.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

charlienormand — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 11:01:49 GMT

I've tried following the thread here, testing on browsers and older computers without TLS 1.3, or disabling it, or VPN, or Apple private relay. But whilst the groups and iOS controlling App and moderate filtering was working fine (it would seem) for the first 2 months of my broadband contract with EE (since October 2024), it stopped working over Christmas as we only found out after one child followed a dubious link.

I have been on the phone with EE three times in the last 24 hours and explained how disappointing this is, on their instruction I have reset the router to factory, uninstalled and reinstalled the app, re-paired it to the router, left the app uninstalled and router and BT box off for an hour (as engineer instructed a reset/unsync). Deleted all the groups and devices and redefined them in the app from scratch, but even after all of this none of the DNS/Parental filtering is working.

The only way to get DNS filtering (or a kind) to work, is to setup an old router on the LAN, put it in charge of DHCP, and get it to use OpenDNS addresses for parental filtering. So this technology clearly still works with my array of browsers and operating systems, but the BT/EE equivalent, on their DNS addresses they own is not filtering, or not taking 'Parent Controls: On' or moderate, and implementing it via the backend services when paired with its inbuilt DNS settings. It would be better, in my view that EE took a leaf out of OpenDNS setup, where there are specific DNS IPs you can use that can never be set below 'family/moderate', and then only update people's routers, to no filter, with different DNS IPs, if that is specifically what they opt down to, then there wouldn't be such a big consequence of the technology breaking when backends and apps go haywire.

Aside from that pausing devices works, when the traffic routes through the EE router (presumably by MAC address), but parental filtering is broken and seems impossible to recover. At one point over Christmas I think one of my tests showed that even on EE cellular, no broadband, (where I have the parental filter on), it was not working, but that now seems restored (or a mistaken test).

To add insult to injury, there is no way to set any of this on the web server on the router itself, it has to be done via the app, there is no way to set OpenDNS on the router as the preferred DNS service, and there is no way to block DNS traffic going to other addresses/dns services, from client devices on the network, from choosing their own, e.g. 8.8.8.8 (I'm not sure, when it was working, if this was blocked or not - according to a previous post I made, I had tested this - https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Broadband-Landline/Parental-Control-Block-List-Details/m-p/1460550/highlight/true#M104780)

I'm considering going back to my 5 year + old router, with OpenWRT on it, so that I have all the control mentioned, but then I will loose the features of the new wireless technologies and the ease of the quite helpful pause/scheduled pause option.

Can anyone update on what the state of things is? And does anyone still have a working setup? Because EE told me 'no one else is reporting this issue' - to which I asked them if they had a 'lab' where they have the same router as me, with similar settings and can verify its working... and they said no..

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 09:59:18 GMT

How can they say no one else is reporting the issue while I've had a case open with them about web filtering not working for over 7 months now? Also, as of today I've still had no real update apart from "they're working on it". Their web filtering solution flat out doesn't work.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:00:45 GMT

Any update on this @JordanTA? Web filtering is still not working correctly and the only update I ever get is "they're still working on it" over 7 months into the contract now.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

JordanTA — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:03:47 GMT

I'll chase it today, I was told that the fix update was rolling out at the beginning of the year. I honestly thought it was sorted. Will chase it up

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

dellybeanhead — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:25:12 GMT

Any news on this.

come on Ee.

this just does not work. It is not fit for purpose. Not sold as advertised. This is a breach of contractual services.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

Ben570 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

Thanks @JordanTA. I just tested it this morning and the original issue still exists. This was on a windows 10 laptop and a brand new this past week Win11 laptop with all latest updates. Both devices are in a device group with moderate or strict filtering but I (and so technically my children also) are able to access Pornhub and other common adult sites by repeatedly clicking the browser refresh button to get past the initial "The connection for this site is not secure" message. At no point did the EE blocked site banner page appear.

Re: Information: Smart Hub Parental Controls not working properly with some browsers

charlienormand — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:10:11 GMT

I concur, I've had a case open since the start of Jan, a phone call every 4-5 days or a text saying ' working on it' but then to keep me busy, i have to uninstall the app, reset my router... only to tell them, it still persists, and my EE app is still downloading all my historical devices and groups etc.

I think my App profile is corrupt and if they just removed me from broadband and readded me the same day with a fresh profile, it would probably fix it... but for how long, until it breaks again?

I'm keen to get some compensation because i have to leave my network setup on simple setup (no extra extenders etc) to be believed that I haven't introduced a breaking configuration myself. But all this time my kids are basically vunerable to a lack of filter.

I moved to EE from community fibre, for this feature, at a bit of a loss to be honest, and now I'm feeling let down.