Bug 461028 - All Wi-Fi networks shown as "Active" when the current user lacks permission for the actual active connection
Summary: All Wi-Fi networks shown as "Active" when the current user lacks permission f...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Networks widget (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 5.26.4
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords: usability
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-10-26 17:34 UTC by hexchain
Modified: 2026-07-15 14:50 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In: 6.8.0
Sentry Crash Report:


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Description hexchain 2022-10-26 17:34:10 UTC
SUMMARY
If the user does not have permission for the current active Wi-Fi connection (e.g. "All users may connect to this network" unchecked by another user), all available wireless networks will appear as "Connected" in the "Active" section in the applet.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
0. Connect to a Wi-Fi network
1. Log in to another user, and uncheck "All users may connect to this network" for the current network
2. Switch back and look at the applet

OBSERVED RESULT
All available Wi-Fi networks are now shown in the "Active" section.

EXPECTED RESULT
Only the actual active network should appear as "Connected".

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Arch Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 5.26.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.99.0
Qt Version: 5.15.6
Kernel Version: 6.0.3-zen2-1-zen (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland

networkmanager 1.40.2-1
Comment 1 Ben Cooksley 2024-12-23 18:26:06 UTC
Bulk transfer as requested in T17796
Comment 2 Alexander Potashev 2025-02-18 19:32:35 UTC
This is annoying. I started using "nmcli" as a workaround to see which Wi-Fi network I'm currently connected to.
Comment 3 Sergey Katunin 2026-02-25 08:43:04 UTC
Related MR: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-nm/-/merge_requests/364
Comment 4 Marc 2026-06-14 10:16:39 UTC
I can confirm this bug is still present in plasma-nm 6.5.2 (KDE Plasma 6.5.2, KDE Frameworks 6.19.0, Qt 6.9.2, Wayland).

Reproduction confirmed with full reversibility proof:

The active WiFi connection profile had connection.permissions set to a different user than the current KDE session user (the default when another user originally created the connection). Running nmcli connection show --active, iw dev link, wpa_cli status, and querying org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.ActiveConnections over D-Bus all confirmed only one connection was actually active. Yet the plasma-nm applet showed neighboring access points (with different BSSIDs, no saved profile) under "Connected", and the actual active connection under "Available".

Adding the current session user to connection.permissions via:

immediately fixed the display. Reverting to the single-user permission immediately reproduced it.

MR !364 (https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-nm/-/merge_requests/364) addresses this exactly. As of today (2026-06-14) it has passed CI, all review threads are resolved, and it is only blocked by needing a rebase and final merge approval. It would be great to see this merged — the bug has real security implications since users may believe they are connected to an unknown or untrusted network.
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2026-06-15 15:09:14 UTC
Thanks for the ping. I'll look into it.
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2026-07-08 19:09:44 UTC
Git commit 84c432d7c310fb351cc56ebc988d0ba148e915aa by Nate Graham, on behalf of Sergey Katunin.
Committed on 08/07/2026 at 19:09.
Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'.

networkmodel: fix case when NM D-Bus `GetSettings` returns empty connection

#### Short description

NM D-Bus `GetSettings`:
```
qdbus --system --literal org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/1 org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection.GetSettings
```

can return empty connection if user has no permission to perform this operation (for example, if this connection is not public).

So, we need read public settings (id, name, type) from `ActiveConnection` object.

#### Current behaviour

And for example, if you connect to non-public (not for all users) Wi-Fi under one `userA`, and then switch to another `userB`, then there is a bug when the Wi-Fi widget displays as if we are connected to all Wi-Fi at the same time (all Wi-Fi connections is active).

<details>
<summary>Video before patch</summary>

![wi-fi_bug_before_patch](/uploads/785f32666d40751da9b6ac4ca6d8a3f3/wi-fi_bug_before_patch.mp4)

</details>

#### Expected behaviour

`userB` should only see an active connection in the widget, but should not be able to turn it off or change it.

<details>
<summary>Video after patch</summary>

![wi-fi_bug_after_patch](/uploads/47d0f9f5c3277586afaceea35c42b5a8/wi-fi_bug_after_patch.mp4)

</details>

M  +12   -6    libs/editor/connectioneditorbase.cpp
M  +75   -7    libs/models/networkmodel.cpp
M  +1    -0    libs/models/networkmodel.h
M  +4    -1    libs/models/networkmodelitem.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-nm/-/commit/84c432d7c310fb351cc56ebc988d0ba148e915aa