URL Filter apply to https pages?

[greengeek]

I just bought an ASUS RT-AC68P router. I noticed that with the stock firmware that the firewall url filter rules do not work against urls that start with https, It states under the firewall section in the UI:

Limitations of the filtering function :

1. Compressed webpages that use HTTP compression technology cannot be filtered. See here for more details.
2. Https webpages cannot be filtered.

Will the Merlin firmware allow me to get past this limitation or are there any other custom firmwares that will?

Thank you.

 

[RMerlin]

I just bought an ASUS RT-AC68P router. I noticed that with the stock firmware that the firewall url filter rules do not work against urls that start with https, It states under the firewall section in the UI:

Limitations of the filtering function :

1. Compressed webpages that use HTTP compression technology cannot be filtered. See here for more details.
2. Https webpages cannot be filtered.

Will the Merlin firmware allow me to get past this limitation or are there any other custom firmwares that will?

Thank you.

No. This is a technical limitation, since HTTPS encrypts the communication between the browser and the server, the router has no way of accessing that information. That's the whole idea of HTTPS.

 

[red_pope]

No. This is a technical limitation, since HTTPS encrypts the communication between the browser and the server, the router has no way of accessing that information. That's the whole idea of HTTPS.

I agree with Merlin.
HTTPS is done mainly at the browser level, still using the same port, but encrypted. Considering, If your destination is accepting HTTPS other wise will set back to HTTP only. I use Firefox as my browser, my only plugging forcing HTTPS is "HTTPS everywhere" from the free software Foundation.

But if you are using a Microsoft design Browser, HTTPS is not allowed. It restricts my freedom and privacy.

 

[greengeek]

Thank you for the replies. I understand that https encrypts the page, so the filtering would not be able to filter against content on that page. I am somewhat confused as to why it wouldn't work on the url name that one types in the address bar. If I put "example" for the url filtering, why would it only block http://example.com and http://anotherexample.com but not https://example.com ? My goal is not to block https in general, as most pages I visit use it and should use, but rather to block only certain adult sites that I do not want my kids to be exposed to.

Might there be a better solution for what I am trying to accomplish? Thanks again.

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you for the replies. I understand that https encrypts the page, so the filtering would not be able to filter against content on that page. I am somewhat confused as to why it wouldn't work on the url name that one types in the address bar. If I put "example" for the url filtering, why would it only block http://example.com and http://anotherexample.com but not https://example.com ? My goal is not to block https in general, as most pages I visit use it and should use, but rather to block only certain adult sites that I do not want my kids to be exposed to.

Might there be a better solution for what I am trying to accomplish? Thanks again.

The URL is also encrypted, not just the page content. All the router can see is the IP address your browser is trying to connect to (and possibly the hostname of the target server if the query uses SNI).

 

[red_pope]

greengeek

For more information about HTTPS you could read the following articles:
https://www.eff.org/encrypt-the-web
https://www.eff.org/pages/https
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere/faq
http://robertheaton.com/2014/03/27/how-does-https-actually-work/

I hope you read those links, it will help you solve and understand HTTPS.

 

[red_pope]

Thank you for the replies. I understand that https encrypts the page, so the filtering would not be able to filter against content on that page. I am somewhat confused as to why it wouldn't work on the url name that one types in the address bar. If I put "example" for the url filtering, why would it only block http://example.com and http://anotherexample.com but not https://example.com ? My goal is not to block https in general, as most pages I visit use it and should use, but rather to block only certain adult sites that I do not want my kids to be exposed to.

Might there be a better solution for what I am trying to accomplish? Thanks again.

Allowing " URL Parental settings" in your router, will help you control and ban unwanted adult web sites not only that, but anything you want to block. Any URL web site from accessing your network. You would have to edit them manually.
You could block them.

http://www.howtogeek.com/167545/4-ways-to-set-up-parental-controls-on-your-home-network/

 

[greengeek]

Thanks for the information.

How would the asus router know which sites to block that are adult if they are on https if it can not see the urls? Does it just have a list of predefined ips? Or are you talking about using something like opendns?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the information.

How would the asus router know which sites to block that are adult if they are on https if it can not see the urls? Does it just have a list of predefined ips? Or are you talking about using something like opendns?

Those typically work at an IP/DNS level, yes.

 

[Hawk]

Thank you for the replies. I understand that https encrypts the page, so the filtering would not be able to filter against content on that page. I am somewhat confused as to why it wouldn't work on the url name that one types in the address bar. If I put "example" for the url filtering, why would it only block http://example.com and http://anotherexample.com but not https://example.com ? My goal is not to block https in general, as most pages I visit use it and should use, but rather to block only certain adult sites that I do not want my kids to be exposed to.

Might there be a better solution for what I am trying to accomplish? Thanks again.

Have you try using third party DNS server to achieve your goal. You can also set for individual client, if you have mac address or at least if they are connected