Firewall is totally baffling.

Avast Mobile Security Avast Mobile Security for Android
1

avast! Mobile Security 2.0.4993
Boxchip Allwinner A13 (Cortex A8) Tablet - WiFi Only
Android 4.0.4 - ROOTED

As far as I can tell, the Firewall is dysfunctional and also fails to respond to what one would conclude are logical settings.

In Firewall GUI assume:
•3D “extended” light grey selector with icon selector is same as “checked” - enabled.
•3D “sunken” darker selector with icon and little orange pointer at bottom is same as “unchecked” - disabled.

Tested as mode Allow selected checked and unchecked.
Tested as move Deny selected checked and unchecked.

Testing with App, AccuWeather - checked and unchecked:
No matter what combination of mode and checked and unchecked the App was allowed to connect and render content.

Testing with App, Sigalert - checked and unchecked:
No matter what combination of mode and checked and unchecked the App was allowed to connect and render content.

Testing with Android Browser, checked and unchecked:
At one point all I could get is…
Got the error: Server Error
while trying to obtain http://etc.
Connection refused
Is this the default return for a blocked App?
Now this persists matter how I reset the combinations Mode/App checked.
The only way the Browser works now is to disable the Firewall.

Nothing gets logged. Ever. On that subject: “The log will be cut off automatically after a few minutes.” What??

What is difference between Deny selected unchecked and Allow selected checked?
What is difference between Allow selected unchecked and Deny selected checked?
If Deny selected is checked, what does checking the App do? Unchecking the App?
If Deny selected is unchecked, what does checking the App do? Unchecking the App?
If Allow selected is checked, what does checking the App do? Unchecking the App?
If Allow selected is unchecked, what does checking the App do? Unchecking the App?

With over 20 years of experience with firewalls and security in the private and enterprise sectors in Windows, Linux, Novell and Cisco, this firewall has me completely flummoxed.

Though I am completely confident in the AV components, I hope some positive changes can be made in version 3. Better yet, how about some serious and legitimate documentation above and beyond your current FAQ and blog posting? Might I suggest versions AV and AV+FW?

Good luck and thank you!

2

Works here, on the same version as yours, 2.0.4993,
Firewall logging is enabled
Main setting is to Deny selected, meaning it’s a dark looking icon in the WiFI column (the only one I have)
I selected few applications to be blocked, one of them was The Weather Channel. Also tried on browser.
All were blocked, no connection, and the firewall log reflected it.

I think the differences between deny selected and allow selected has to do with workflow for the user, as in how many things you need to click.

Re: “•3D “extended” light grey selector with icon selector is same as “checked” - enabled.
•3D “sunken” darker selector with icon and little orange pointer at bottom is same as “unchecked” - disabled.”

what is 3D ?? perhaps we aren’t talking about the same feature

3

By default, the mode is “deny selected” and all apps are “unchecked” = light grey. When you select an app, thus making the button dark grey, its internet access is then denied. Be sure to select both Wifi and 3G buttons.
If the mode is “allow selected”, then you have to specifically select an app (making its button dark grey) to allow its access to the internet. Unselected apps will have their access denied.

When an app has its internet access denied, it can cause a lot of things - most likely some kind of “connection refused” errors.

If this doesn’t work, then there’s something wrong and we’d need some more information about your device and system. We can talk about that later.

4

Thanks for the replies. I’m no longer quite so baffled.

@cooby
By 3D, as in three dimensional like the HDTVs and Blu-ray, I mean the shaded nature of the graphic by use of shadows suggesting depth (extended, sunken) as opposed to a featureless flat graphic, 2D.

Your comment about work flow makes sense.

@Ondrej
I had the nature of the buttons reversed in that I considered light grey denying access.

So now I find when in Deny selected mode and Block All Apps is light grey, individual apps set to dark grey are denied access.

But in testing when I verified dark grey settings with the browser and gmail that blocking was enabled, I still see “You have no history yet” in the Firewall log. That’s not a deal breaker as I actually prefer to keep logging disabled.

Cheers!