Comcast DNS servers returning bogus information

Kasimir Gabert kasimir.g at gmail.com
Sun Aug 24 18:30:10 UTC 2008


On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 12:23 PM, Scott Bennett <bennett at cs.niu.edu> wrote:
>     On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:10:27 -0500 Drake Wilson <drake at begriffli.ch>
> wrote:
>>Quoth Scott Bennett <bennett at cs.niu.edu>, on 2008-08-24 12:03:13 -0500:
>>>      The only problem is that that explanation doesn't explain why their
>>> name servers give out the identically wrong information to computers
>>> elsewhere on the Internet.
>>
>>Those name servers may only be shown by DHCP to users who are placed
>>in this bogus state; other users may be directed to other nameservers.
>
>     Yes, I understood your point the first time.  The problem is that
> that explanation doesn't cover the responses to queries coming from
> elsewhere.
>
>>Possibly nobody should or would be querying those ones normally, and
>>those ones (and only those ones) are configured to always respond that
>>way.
>>
>     I guess I don't understand.  The name server data are supposed to
> be accurate in order for the Internet to function properly.  I found that
> the two servers in question respond with the same address for every A RR
> that is requested, without regard to whether the name and domain should
> resolve to a Comcast IP address, an NIU IP address, or a UW Madison IP
> address.  Further, they both give out that same wrong IP address on the
> Comcast net for each of those queries, and they give them out that way
> without regard to the source address of the query.  If they didn't want
> to respond to such queries, they should do that by either forwarding the
> query to an appropriate server for the domain queried or returning a no
> answer response.

Hello Scott,

I believe that you might have missed Drake's second explanation: that
your DNS servers are the default bad servers for Comcast, and that
when your DNS servers were delivered to your router via DHCP, the DNS
servers changed from being the correct ones to being the incorrect
ones.  Of course, this is only possible if you use DHCP (or something
similar), and can easily be checked if you remember your previous DNS
settings, or if this occurred after initiating a new DHCP session, or
by asking a neighbor using Comcast what their DNS values are and
assuming that they would be the same for that area.

Hopefully this will clear things up!
Kasimir

>
>
>                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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>




-- 
Kasimir Gabert



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