[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#863463: network-manager: MAC address randomization delays connection to wifi networks

[t-pa at posteo.de]

Package: network-manager
Version: 1.6.2-3
Severity: normal

My no-name USB WiFi adapter with a Realtek chip (ID 0bda:8172 Realtek 
Semiconductor Corp. RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter) fails to scan for 
networks for several minutes, but after that it works fine. This seems 
to be a very similar problem to the one reported in bug #836351, with 
the only differences that it works after some time, that it affects 
another WiFi adapter, and that it is not resolved by the fix to #836351.

The logs report a failure to change the MAC address:

wlx0087331503f4): supplicant interface state: disabled -> inactive
May 27 10:12:36 alice NetworkManager[640]: <warn>  [1495872756.9456] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): set-hw-addr: new MAC address FA:84:2A:26:15:58 
not successfully set (scanning)
May 27 10:12:37 alice gpg-agent[1178]: scdaemon[1223]: 
pcsc_establish_context failed: no service (0x8010001d)
May 27 10:12:38 alice kernel: [   81.472205] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): 
wlx0087331503f4: link is not ready
May 27 10:12:38 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872758.4544] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): supplicant interface state: inactive -> 
disabled

This loops for two minutes (the above is not the first iteration) but 
then it somehow works:

May 27 10:13:17 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872797.9402] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): supplicant interface state: disabled -> 
inactive
May 27 10:13:18 alice NetworkManager[640]: <warn>  [1495872798.2456] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): set-hw-addr: new MAC address FA:84:2A:26:15:58 
not successfully set (scanning)
May 27 10:13:19 alice gpg-agent[1178]: scdaemon[1223]: 
pcsc_establish_context failed: no service (0x8010001d)
May 27 10:13:19 alice kernel: [  122.769066] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): 
wlx0087331503f4: link is not ready
May 27 10:13:19 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872799.7738] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): supplicant interface state: inactive -> 
disabled
May 27 10:13:19 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872799.7743] 
policy: auto-activating connection 'mywifi'
May 27 10:13:19 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872799.7757] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): Activation: starting connection 'mywifi' 
(54ad9af4-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
May 27 10:13:19 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872799.7765] 
device (wlx0087331503f4): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 
'none') [30 40 0]
May 27 10:13:19 alice NetworkManager[640]: <info>  [1495872799.7766] 
manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING


As a workaround, I have disabled MAC address randomization; after that 
everything is fine:

# cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/10-mac-randomization-off.conf
[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.0
   APT prefers testing
   APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64
  (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages network-manager depends on:
ii  adduser                3.115
ii  dbus                   1.10.18-1
ii  init-system-helpers    1.48
ii  libaudit1              1:2.6.7-2
ii  libbluetooth3          5.43-2
ii  libc6                  2.24-10
ii  libglib2.0-0           2.50.3-2
ii  libgnutls30            3.5.8-5
ii  libgudev-1.0-0         230-3
ii  libjansson4            2.9-1
ii  libmm-glib0            1.6.4-1
ii  libndp0                1.6-1+b1
ii  libnewt0.52            0.52.19-1+b1
ii  libnl-3-200            3.2.27-2
ii  libnm0                 1.6.2-3
ii  libpam-systemd         232-23
ii  libpolkit-agent-1-0    0.105-17
ii  libpolkit-gobject-1-0  0.105-17
ii  libreadline7           7.0-3
ii  libselinux1            2.6-3+b1
ii  libsoup2.4-1           2.56.0-2
ii  libsystemd0            232-23
ii  libteamdctl0           1.26-1+b1
ii  libuuid1               2.29.2-1
ii  lsb-base               9.20161125
ii  policykit-1            0.105-17
ii  udev                   232-23
ii  wpasupplicant          2:2.4-1

Versions of packages network-manager recommends:
ii  crda             3.18-1
ii  dnsmasq-base     2.76-5+b1
ii  iptables         1.6.0+snapshot20161117-6
ii  iputils-arping   3:20161105-1
ii  isc-dhcp-client  4.3.5-3
ii  modemmanager     1.6.4-1
ii  ppp              2.4.7-1+4

Versions of packages network-manager suggests:
pn  libteam-utils  <none>

-- no debconf information