Weird entry on my Forward page of Verizon router

[Verizoned2]

I just noticed a weird entry in the Port Forwarding page of my "red" ActionTec Verizon router:

192.168.1.4:50000

Application UDP Any -> 53145

Broadband Connection (Ethernet/Coax)

Active

192.168.1.4 is the internal address of one of my computers, the one that I use (others are wife's and daughters').

The weirdness of this entry is because I cannot delete it. It is in the top of the list along with a few more entry that have no Delete checkbox.

What is this entry? Why can't I delete it?

Thank you.

[CaptainSTX]

Nothing weird.   It is just how Verizon using this router routes traffic from the WAN  to any device connected to your network.   The entries can't be deleted because the port forwarding is created automatically.  Only manually created port forwards can be deactivated or deleted.

[Verizoned2]

What's weird for me is not that I cannot delete. I have seen these unremovable entries for a long time and I never cared about them because they all always involved only Verizon equipment, the set top boxes, which have an internal IP range of their own. This is the first time that I see such entry but involving one of my own computers.

Right now I have this:

localhost 127.0.0.1	Verizon FiOS Service Tcp Any -> 4567	All Broadband Devices	Active
192.168.1.102:7547	Application TCP Any -> 35000	Broadband Connection (Ethernet/Coax)	Active
192.168.1.100:7547	Application TCP Any -> 35001	Broadband Connection (Ethernet/Coax)	Active
192.168.1.4:50000	Application UDP Any -> 53145	Broadband Connection (Ethernet/Coax)	Active
192.168.1.100:63145	Application UDP Any -> 63145	All Broadband Devices	Active

You see, aside from the localhost, 3 out of the 4 entries that are unremovable have to do with the set top boxes (IP >= 100), and it has always been like that. Now I see my computer's IP there too. I thought at first that this was some "unauthorized" entry, maybe my computer had some virus, malware, root kit that somehow added this entry to the router, an entry that I cannot remove, so I got worried.

I am planing on using the Windows Firewall to block ports 50000 and 53145, just in case...

[Hubrisnxs]

If I'm not mistaken, that's the port for remote dvr. Do you ever do scheduling or watch TV online? Do a factory reset and see if it comes back after accessing that feature

[Verizoned2]

I barely watch TV, I mean, almost never (my wife watches mostly the Tennis channel, kids are too busy with other stuff), but I did watch some online TV (in my computer) during the World Cup. I have never done "scheduling". I have never recorded anything in our DVR. I don't even know how to use it. By the way, how do I do this reset? It should be done only in the set top box that is a DVR or I should also do it in our other set top box (that is a regular one, no DVR)?

Thank you.

[Verizoned2]

I could not find how to do a factory reset in the set top boxes (google was not my friend this time) but I found how to do a reset. We simply turn off the equipment and wait 15 seconds. So I removed the power cord from my router, then from my DVR set top box, then from my non-DVR set top box. No need to wait 15 seconds because the equipments are far enough from each other so I go back to the router and reconnect its power cable. Wait until all the green lights are back and I check to see if the weird entry is still there and it is. I reconnect the power to the set top boxes. No solution.

[Hubrisnxs · Accepted solution]

I  had meant to do the factory reset in the router.  the set top box's aren't required.

So to do that in the router, it's similar to what you did but slight difference.

So to factory reset the router, you want to find the reset button in the back where all the cables are inserted. It's TINY usually red circle.  You'll need a paper clip/safety pin or fine point pen/pencil.

you hold THAT in for 15 + seconds (I usually do 20-30, some people count fast) and that will restore it to the settings that the router has out of the box.   That means if you personalized any port forward rules, those would be whipped, it means if you personalized the wireless password, that it will revert back to what is on the sticker.

Give that a shot, I believe you'll see all PF rules go away, and as the set top box's come online you'll see those auto configure themselves.  

This ALSO could be the in home agent software, or message center.  So maybe check to see if those are installed in your add/remove programs.

[Verizoned2]

Oh, ok, I see now, a hard reset in the _router_!

I am not sure I want to do that. I have too many forwarded ports, a few parental rules, static addresses, password, etc, defined there. I know I can save the configuration file and I do this every now and then but I never really "tested" to see if restoring a configuration file would work fine. I am afraid this operation may mess up things.

I did have the in-home agent installed. Following your tip, I uninstalled it but the entry is still there. I also had Verizon Media Manager installed.and I also uninstalled it and, unfortunately, the entry is still there.

I cannot reboot the router right now but I will reboot it again later. Maybe the uninstallation of those two apps will do the trick once the router is rebooted although I have very little hope.

About the factory reset, I guess I will not do it. I'd rather leave this entry there, since I now understand that it is nothing to worry much about, than run the risk of messing with my router settings.

But if I decided to do it, I will post here the result.

[Hubrisnxs]

If you have all of that configured, I Would definitely back up the configuration under the advanced tab just in case.  And I understand the reluctance, so if you choose to do it let us know.

Also you can block that port in the router if you want to, or at the PC level.

Those instructions show a different port, but you just substitute the number for the appropriate port.  But those are the instructions if it's helpful.

[Verizoned2]

I think I may have found the problem. It is caled IHA_MessageCenter.

I was browsing the many options of my router and found something interesting. I can group ports that forward to the same computer in one custom application (i.e., define an application) and then I can decrease the number of entries in my Port Forwarding page. So I did and 16 entries were condensed into only 2. Upon looking at the many other entries I have (I have around 60-70 entries now), I found that most of them are due to only two applications that are probably opening these too many ports using UPnP. Skype is one of them, it opens a few ports but since we have Skype in a few computers here, there are 12 of them. The other application is Deluge, a torrent downloader, that floods my rounter with entries: I counted 20 of them! Still a lot left for other things.

But then, while looking at the entries carefully, I found this one:

192.168.1.4:50000

IHA_MC_CLIENT:DELCAPO UDP Any -> 54000

All Broadband Devices

As you can see, it is related to that unremovable entry. So, after some research, I found that IHA_MC is an application by Verizon (had to be!) called IHA_MessageCenter and I do have this application in my list of installed programs. So this application not only creates an unremovable entry but also this other entry that can be deleted.

So I removed it from my computer and guess what? Both entries are still there. I then removed the one that can be removed. Well, I tried, selected the box and clicked Delete but it won't go away!

Maybe now it is time to do a hard reset! I will reboot the router first and see if they go away but I guess only the hard reset would do it. Darn Verizon, why to make such intrusive applications. That is when we start NOT trusting the company and afraid of installing anything now that is "by Verizon".

Since many of my entries are automatic (UPnP), I will probably try the hard reset. But one question that I have is: if I save the configuration file so to later, after the hard reset, I can restore my configuration, problably these two unwanted entries will also come back. If they don't, it means the config file save/restore feature is faulty!

So I will probably have to print all my configuration and then enter with all of them manually. What a mess Verizon does with MY router (yes, it is mine, I paid full price for it!).