Claims to be wired device ( i have no wired devices)
IP address seems legit Wyze one 7c:78:b2:a3:67:1a (but could be spoofed)
Anyone shed any light on this?
if i block it my cameras start failing to connect
EDIT - seems only one v3 pro camera fails to connect after a brief time
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WOW! What a find! Thank you for sharing this!
I may not have concrete ANSWERS for you, but I confirmed that it looks like I also have a Wyze MAC address that starts with this prefix on my UniFi network and it says it is Wired, but I haven’t previously categorized it on my network. There are no logs for the device, but it says it’s connected and there is no traffic with 0.00B used since I last rebooted my system and it connected nearly 13 days ago. Here is what I found on my UniFi network which is REALLY Strange:
If I was under extreme pressure to guess, I would make the following hypothesis:
Firstly, I recently setup proxmox and then virtual machines such as ubuntu, and a bunch of dockers and even though that was just one computer running them all, I noticed that some of the virtual systems actually created a separate fake virtual device/computer on my network even though it’s still running off the same computer. I suspect it’s possible Wyze is doing something similar here from one or more of their devices. This would also explain why the network THINKS it’s wired when it’s not using any of our known Ethernet ports. Since it is directly connected to one of the other Wyze devices, it is saying that even though it’s host is wireless, it is wired directly to it’s primary source (as a virtual machine).
My suspicion would be one of the following:
- Cloud Connectivity: Even though our cameras connect directly to our Wi-Fi without a hub/base station, they still need to communicate with Wyze’s servers for features like remote viewing, notifications, and firmware updates. This mystery device might be a sort of virtual placeholder facilitating some part of that communication.
- Local Network Discovery: Wyze devices use various network protocols to discover each other on our local network. The unknown device could be related to this discovery process in some way.
- Wyze might be using this MAC address for something related to our local streaming capabilities within our network. This seems like a likely candidate since you found your streaming gets totally blocked if you block this.
- Could be related to some other feature
- Could be a bug or something they used during QA testing but forgot to remove when they launched something.
Now if we could just narrow it down. I have over 50 cameras and like 300 or 400 total Wyze devices, so I don’t think it’s in the cards for me to shut down devices one by one until I figure it out that way. I would love for someone with fewer devices to do some testing though. This is really interesting.
I know most routers and networks wouldn’t even show people this kind of thing, but my UniFi Dream Machine SE did, so I’m going to at least call-tag someone else I know who is using UniFi and see if he can find something similar on his network.
@cyberdog_17 can you find a weird Wyze device on your UniFi network that probably starts with a MAC address of 7c:78:b2:a3 and shows something similar to the screenshots I posted?
Can anyone else with a different network verify any of the above? I’d love to figure out what’s going on.
@Mavens can any of you see anything similar on whatever routers you are using? I never saw this on my Wyze routers back when I used them, so I doubt those will show it, and I suspect many other basic routers will show it either, but I’d like any input we can get on this. With enough gathered info I’d like to present it to some Wyze devs and see if they can answer any questions about this.
I didn’t test blocking this MAC address, I believe OP that it stops the cameras from streaming, though if anyone else wants to test and see if it affects other devices too, that would be interesting input. I suspect it’s mostly for Cameras, but it’s possible it also involves the smart bulbs and their local functionality because I have a LOT of smart bulbs that start with the MAC address prefix of 7c:78:b2 too, as well as a bunch of plugs and V3’s, the VDB, Sprinkler controller, air purifier, routers (all offline and disconnected since April though), the Robot Vacuum, VDBPro, and more. Those 1st 6 digits are a general Wyze designation, but the a3 for the 7th and 8th character are apparently reserved for this special virtual device that says it has zero activity but will block camera streams if it’s blocked. VERY interesting.
@madusmacus did you discover this on a Ubiquiti Unifi network?
How many Wyze products do you have? If it’s not a lot, do you mind listing them for us so we can see if it helps us narrow things down? I know you said you have 2xV3s and 2xV4’s, you are confirming you have NO other Wyze devices at all? We can assume it has to be related to those 4 options?
I’m extremely interested in your findings here.
@madusmacus do you by chance use any dockers or Virtual machines? Such as something like “Docker Wyze Bridge”?
Secondly, do you by chance happen to have a Video Doorbell Pro? (Asking because I have a weird theory based on what I think is just a coincidence I saw on my network, but if you don’t have a Video Doorbell Pro then that theory is shut down).
Or, do you have any of your 4 cameras offline or disconnected from power?
the first 3 Mac octets normally define which company owns the device. If nothing is shown, it is probably an alias. Because it comes up as Wyze, I would assume it may be a Wyze Device.
My Wyze Devices with Matching Octets are as follows:
- Wyze Robot Vacuum
- Wyze Color Bulbs
- Wyze Light Strips
- Wyze Doorbell Pro (Chime connects to the network)
- Wyze Air Purifier
- Wyze Wall Switches
- Wyze Mesh Router
- Wyze Mesh Router Pro
If you have the Wyze Mesh Router system, you may be seeing one of the Mesh Nodes. This would also explain why when you block it, cameras have issues connecting. you can see what the Mac Addresses are per Node by going into the Wyze App, select the Router and then go to each node. It will list each Mac per Node. I believe there will be 4 Mac’s per Node.
With that said, I have TPLink for my Router setup currently. I do not see any erroneous connections with the exception of one Espressif WiFi connection. I have been trying to find that one for some time now.
I have also found that device may show up as Wired if using a Backhaul and the device is connected to a Satellite Node. This is particularly the case when it is a Wired Backhaul. Basically meaning, some devices could be WiFi devices but show up as Wired when looking at your router.
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I only have 4 cams 2x v3 pro and 2x v4 and 1 wyze doorbell cam (wifi)
I have an ASUS router and it shows 17 devices connected most of the time but once in a while i get 18 devices then i check the connection table to see this “Wyse Labs Inc” wired device - the 4 cams and 1 doorbell also show up as expected so this is an extra rogue
interestingly if i look at it too much it disappears :¬P
if i block that MAC Addy it seems to disabled ONLY 1 of my V3 pro cameras
so i probably found the rogue - but all my cams have newest FW (auto)
its probably ok but its extremely weird
AI copilot (for what its worth thinks its a FW bug) hehe
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yes i have a wyze doorbell cam wifi
no bridges or hardware hubs
all cameras were online but i found if i reject the wired rogue mac address one of my v3 pro cams wont connect after a short while
is not all the cams (explained earlier reply)
to m,uch for my brain :¬)
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hi :¬)
strangely enough i have an ASUS Wifi 6 mesh (2 nodes) and
the camera that glitches if i block the “wired” ip is on a remote node (backhaul)
but nothing in my home is wired in any way
to complicated for my brain :¬)
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Wild puzzle.
I once found a pixel making a wired connection but it turned out to be bluestacks. I only use Samsung phones and tablets.
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The only devices I’m currently seeing with those first six digits are my 8 Bulb Colors, and none of those matches “a3” for the 7-8 digits. 
I actually dig this feature and the way it can tell me at a glance which WAP a device is connected to. In my case, I’m using the ISP’s gateway as my main WAP, but it’s connected via Ethernet to a HomePlug/Powerline Ethernet adapter that uses the home’s electrical wiring as network cabling to talk to another adapter on a different floor of the home, and that adapter has an Ethernet connection to a range extender that I’m using in WAP mode. Glancing at the device list in the gateway’s Web interface quickly tells me what’s connected via that second WAP, because all of those show up as “Ethernet”. 
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First of all, if your router is claiming it’s a wired device, it is lying to you.
Second, your router is likely attempting to assign a device description to the device (likely what the “wired device” is) and it can use all sorts of this to derive that best guess. If the device has and is announcing a device name, it should use that. For example, if you name you cellphone “Bob’s phone” it will most likely show up in the router as “Bob’s phone”. Same thing with a computer. IoT devices often do not have useful names. For example maybe all brand X cameras may send Brand X. Looking at my router, I see that the Wyze cameras have changed somewhere over time as they used to be very generic, and now include the MAC in the device name given to the DHCP server. Different models are different (my OG-Tele cameras all ID as WYZE_CAM_OG). If the device does not give any device information, then the router may just display the MAC, or maybe nothing.
With all that said, over the years, there have been some Wyze cameras that have reportedly sent a different MAC than the one printed on the label - and sometimes it will change. I have seen that myself.
Which doorbell model? The small white one (Original VDBv1)? The large white one with a fisheye view (VDBPro)? The black Version 2 that can connect to a chime? Or the newest one with 2 lenses?
I no longer think it’s related to the doorbell, just being thorough and ruling something out.
Since you think you’ve narrowed it down to V3Pros, That’s a more manageable test for me. I’m going to try testing on those later.
I have been using Asus routers for a long time and can tell you that what they show in the “client list” can sometimes be buggy. They’ve made a lot of improvements but things will still confuse it as it is relying on a number of factors. This can be compounded when running mesh. I wouldn’t worry about it. To see what is actually connected (and how) just go into the wifi details/status instead of using the client list on the main page.
If you see a rogue wireless device, that warrants a second look, but a rogue wired device, I mean unless someone broke in and you didn’t notice a cable dangling, not much concern.
“What the…Pwn Plug?!” 
I’m not concerned about the security, I am interested in an explanation for something that is extremely abnormal and not being caused by other companies. I have cameras from 5 other companies and don’t seem to have this showing up for them. Again, not necessarily complaining about it, just would love Wyze to explain what the cause could be on their end when at least 4 people I know of now have confirmed this happening with Wyze, many of us using different router systems. The only thing in common is that they’re all reporting it’s a weird rogue fake Wyze device. That’s a heck of a coincidence that is only happening with Wyze.
Again, I’m not concerned about the security, but it feels fair to ask Wyze WHAT it is on their end doing this, if for no other reason than my curious nature.
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Seems to be v3 specific?
The only thing I could think that would cause it is if the chipset was acting as a bridge with the second MAC coming from behind that. When I run a wired AP obviously clients connected to that show up as wired on the main one. But the question is why would the camera chipset be doing that and what is the second MAC for. Possibly just some odd firmware glitch.
Or perhaps the camera occasionally sends a frame with the wrong MAC address. The router sees that MAC is not associated with an active wireless client and assumes it must be wired.
Does the MAC have an IP associated, like does it make DHCP requests etc?
The only time I’ve seen a wireless device show as wired is when running off a remote AP, typically a wired one, usually repeater (wireless node) devices show up as wireless but every router interprets things differently.
But fi this is an extra MAC/device, that’s not the cause here, and my main suspicion would be some chipset bug causing it to occasionally use the wrong MAC.
Been running a lot of tests…
I think my mystery device is related to the VDBPro and the associated Chime even though they’re both merged in the Wyze app and it doesn’t give the MAC for both of them. I’m reasonably confident at this point that’s what it is for me. I’ve been able to force it online/offline by connecting/disconnecting the Chime Pro.
I still can’t explain what OP is experiencing though (or a couple of other people I’ve been talking to about outside of the forums), but it seems to me mine is likely related to the double Device WiFi setup of the VDBPro, even though the App only lists one of them. That would explain why I missed it when I went through every device in the app when I setup my new network. The Wyze app didn’t list both in it.
Yeah makes sense, every device on your network has a MAC - the Wyze app may not list it separately but 2 devices = 2 MACs at the network level.
But the v3/v4 cams with no other devices and an extra MAC is odd. I suspect it is just a glitch in their router and the “phantom” device is just one of the cams incorrectly reporting a wired connection (possibly going through a repeater etc).
The question for @madusmacus is do they see 5 wyze MACs in their router or 4?
OP also said he has a doorbell, so now I am curious if it is also a VDBPro.
Still doesn’t explain why Blocking it makes a V3Pro stop working unless they mislabeled the MAC on their network or something. Wonder if they can block the MAC for the V3Pro and ALSO make the same camera stop working as blocking the mysterious device.
I don’t know if this applies here or not, but now I’m curious, because in the case of something like Video Doorbell Pro, you’re talking about a combination product (when you include Chime Pro) that has at least three MAC addresses, right?
- Wi-Fi radio for Video Doorbell Pro
- Bluetooth radio for Video Doorbell Pro (to communicate with Chime Pro)
- Bluetooth radio for Chime Pro (to communicate with Video Doorbell Pro)
Is it possible that a Bluetooth MAC address is being passed to your router and that’s what you’re seeing as the weird wired connection?
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It doesn’t make much sense to me, but at this point who knows what’s possible. (edit: It makes more and more sense by the end of my rambling) The only thing I’m fairly confident of is that the MAC address that the app says is for the VDBPro is online on my network, and now there is a second MAC Address for the VDBPro that says it is wired.
So yes, I expect that the original Mac address showing in the app is for the chime and the second surprise address is probably the video doorbell connecting to the chime that the network thinks is a wired device to the chime acting as a hub or a sort of AP. This would kind of make sense. Back when I used the wyze routers in bridge mode for my UniFi controller, any devices that connected to the wyze routers showed up on the UniFi controller as wired devices. So, it stands to reason that’s the same thing that is happening here. The chime is acting as a hub to the VDBPro And so the UniFi controller thinks anything connected to it is wired to that hub/AP But it can’t report a specific ethernet port , because it’s not using one of its ports.
It would be interesting to run a Bluetooth scanning app near the video doorbell Pro, and see if I can grab the MAC address for it in the Bluetooth signals around my house, and see if that matches up with one of the two Macs showing on my Wi-Fi network. That’s not a bad idea. Maybe it is passing through the Bluetooth Mac address onto the Wi-Fi network through the chime as a hub/AP in a sort of bridge mode the same way my Wyze routers did the same thing when I had them in bridge mode before I bought U7Pros.
That makes a lot of sense.
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