Unable to log into Vodafone Hub (THG3000g)

[Wellington]

I an unable to log into my Vodafone Hub (THG3000). I did change the password to one of my choosing soon after I received it, and I know that this worked because I have successfully logged into it since then.

Now, when I enter the password, I get the message 'Login currently blocked' and a countdown timer lasting for 20 seconds. I tried a restart, but no change. I also tried a known wrong password, and I get the same 'blocked' message. What does this countdown message mean? Is it saying it's busy doing something (e.g. updating) and can't let me on, or is that the usual message one get's in response to an incorrect pw?

I suppose the next thing would be a factory reset 🙁 

[Anonymous]

I would have bitten the bullet by now and performed a factory reset.  If you are sure the password is correct then I'd also keep an eye on the router and its logs just in case something is failing!

*By the nature of being always on, and dealing with highspeed electronics, routers (of all brands) do fail more often than many of the devices we as consumers are used to!

[Wellington · Accepted solution]

I was sure the password was correct…

…and I was WRONG. 🙁

Ah, well. At least I know how it responds to an incorrect pw, now. 🙂

Thanks for the advice, Keith.

[MartynBest]

Although not with this device, I experienced the same on a different router some years ago. It turned out the router had been hijacked by malicious intrusion. This was possible because the internal firewall had been disabled and that particular model had a vulnerability to hacking via telnet. In that case a default username "root" was still available through telnet access and the hacker was able to change the normal user password to prevent authorised access. It seems the purpose of the hack was to set the DNS to a malicious IP address, so when the user was browsing, the hacker was able to access the user's computer.

Hopefully the THG3000g doesn't suffer from the same vulnerability, and the issue is due to a more benign reason, but who knows?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/04/05/consumer-routers-dns-hijacking/

[Wellington]

This is what I was worried about, Martyn.

It turns out I should've been more worried about not being able to tell the difference between upper and lower-case characters. D'oh 🙈

Time for an eye test, methinks…