4 Copyright (c) 2003-2010, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and contributors
7 This program is dual-licensed under both the GPL version 2 and BSD
8 license. Either license may be used at your option.
17 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
18 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
19 published by the Free Software Foundation.
21 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
22 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
23 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
24 GNU General Public License for more details.
26 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
27 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
28 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
30 (this copy of the license is in COPYING file)
33 Alternatively, this software may be distributed, used, and modified
34 under the terms of BSD license:
36 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
37 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
40 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
41 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
43 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
44 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
45 documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
47 3. Neither the name(s) of the above-listed copyright holder(s) nor the
48 names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
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51 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
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53 LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
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59 THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
60 (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
61 OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
68 Supported WPA/IEEE 802.11i features:
69 - WPA-PSK ("WPA-Personal")
70 - WPA with EAP (e.g., with RADIUS authentication server) ("WPA-Enterprise")
71 The following authentication methods are supported with an integrated
72 IEEE 802.1X Supplicant:
74 * EAP-PEAP/MSCHAPv2 (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)
75 * EAP-PEAP/TLS (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)
76 * EAP-PEAP/GTC (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)
77 * EAP-PEAP/OTP (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)
78 * EAP-PEAP/MD5-Challenge (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)
79 * EAP-TTLS/EAP-MD5-Challenge
82 * EAP-TTLS/EAP-MSCHAPv2
95 * LEAP (note: requires special support from the driver for IEEE 802.11
97 (the following methods are supported, but since they do not generate keying
98 material, they cannot be used with WPA or IEEE 802.1X WEP keying)
103 - key management for CCMP, TKIP, WEP104, WEP40
104 - RSN/WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i)
108 Supported TLS/crypto libraries:
112 Internal TLS/crypto implementation (optional):
113 - can be used in place of an external TLS/crypto library
115 - X.509 certificate processing
120 - minimal size (ca. 50 kB binary, parts of which are already needed for WPA;
121 TLSv1/X.509/ASN.1/RSA/bignum parts are about 25 kB on x86)
127 Current hardware/software requirements:
128 - Linux kernel 2.4.x or 2.6.x with Linux Wireless Extensions v15 or newer
131 - Microsoft Windows with WinPcap (at least WinXP, may work with other versions)
133 Linux drivers that support WPA/WPA2 configuration with the generic
134 Linux wireless extensions (WE-18 or newer). Even though there are a
135 number of driver specific interfaces included in wpa_supplicant, please
136 note that Linux drivers are moving to use generic wireless extensions,
137 and driver_wext (-Dwext on wpa_supplicant command line) should be the
138 default option to start with before falling back to a driver specific
141 Host AP driver for Prism2/2.5/3 (development snapshot/v0.2.x)
142 (http://hostap.epitest.fi/)
143 Driver needs to be set in Managed mode ('iwconfig wlan0 mode managed').
144 Please note that the station firmware version needs to be 1.7.0 or newer
147 Linuxant DriverLoader (http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/)
148 with Windows NDIS driver for your wlan card supporting WPA.
150 Agere Systems Inc. Linux Driver
151 (http://www.agere.com/support/drivers/)
152 Please note that the driver interface file (driver_hermes.c) and
153 hardware specific include files are not included in the
154 wpa_supplicant distribution. You will need to copy these from the
155 source package of the Agere driver.
157 madwifi driver for cards based on Atheros chip set (ar521x)
158 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/)
159 Please note that you will need to modify the wpa_supplicant .config
160 file to use the correct path for the madwifi driver root directory
161 (CFLAGS += -I../madwifi/wpa line in example defconfig).
163 ATMEL AT76C5XXx driver for USB and PCMCIA cards
164 (http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/).
166 Linux ndiswrapper (http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/) with
169 Broadcom wl.o driver (old version only)
170 This is a generic Linux driver for Broadcom IEEE 802.11a/g cards.
171 However, it is proprietary driver that is not publicly available
172 except for couple of exceptions, mainly Broadcom-based APs/wireless
173 routers that use Linux. The driver binary can be downloaded, e.g.,
174 from Linksys support site (http://www.linksys.com/support/gpl.asp)
175 for Linksys WRT54G. The GPL tarball includes cross-compiler and
176 the needed header file, wlioctl.h, for compiling wpa_supplicant.
177 This driver support in wpa_supplicant is expected to work also with
178 other devices based on Broadcom driver (assuming the driver includes
179 client mode support). Please note that the newer Broadcom driver
180 ("hybrid Linux driver") supports Linux wireless extensions and does
181 not need (or even work) with the specific driver wrapper. Use -Dwext
185 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2100/)
188 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2200/)
190 In theory, any driver that supports Linux wireless extensions can be
191 used with IEEE 802.1X (i.e., not WPA) when using ap_scan=0 option in
194 Wired Ethernet drivers (with ap_scan=0)
196 BSD net80211 layer (e.g., Atheros driver)
197 At the moment, this is for FreeBSD 6-CURRENT branch and NetBSD-current.
200 The current Windows port requires WinPcap (http://winpcap.polito.it/).
201 See README-Windows.txt for more information.
203 wpa_supplicant was designed to be portable for different drivers and
204 operating systems. Hopefully, support for more wlan cards and OSes will be
205 added in the future. See developer's documentation
206 (http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/devel/) for more information about the
207 design of wpa_supplicant and porting to other drivers. One main goal
208 is to add full WPA/WPA2 support to Linux wireless extensions to allow
209 new drivers to be supported without having to implement new
210 driver-specific interface code in wpa_supplicant.
212 Optional libraries for layer2 packet processing:
213 - libpcap (tested with 0.7.2, most relatively recent versions assumed to work,
214 this is likely to be available with most distributions,
216 - libdnet (tested with v1.4, most versions assumed to work,
217 http://libdnet.sourceforge.net/)
219 These libraries are _not_ used in the default Linux build. Instead,
220 an internal Linux specific implementation is used. libpcap/libdnet are
221 more portable and they can be used by adding CONFIG_L2_PACKET=pcap into
222 .config. They may also be selected automatically for other operating
223 systems. In case of Windows builds, WinPcap is used by default
224 (CONFIG_L2_PACKET=winpcap).
227 Optional libraries for EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, and EAP-TTLS:
228 - OpenSSL (tested with 0.9.7c and 0.9.7d, and 0.9.8 versions; assumed to
229 work with most relatively recent versions; this is likely to be
230 available with most distributions, http://www.openssl.org/)
232 - internal TLSv1 implementation
234 TLS options for EAP-FAST:
235 - OpenSSL 0.9.8d _with_ openssl-0.9.8d-tls-extensions.patch applied
236 (i.e., the default OpenSSL package does not include support for
237 extensions needed for EAP-FAST)
238 - internal TLSv1 implementation
240 One of these libraries is needed when EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, EAP-TTLS, or
241 EAP-FAST support is enabled. WPA-PSK mode does not require this or EAPOL/EAP
242 implementation. A configuration file, .config, for compilation is
243 needed to enable IEEE 802.1X/EAPOL and EAP methods. Note that EAP-MD5,
244 EAP-GTC, EAP-OTP, and EAP-MSCHAPV2 cannot be used alone with WPA, so
245 they should only be enabled if testing the EAPOL/EAP state
246 machines. However, there can be used as inner authentication
247 algorithms with EAP-PEAP and EAP-TTLS.
249 See Building and installing section below for more detailed
250 information about the wpa_supplicant build time configuration.
257 The original security mechanism of the IEEE 802.11 standard was not
258 designed to be strong and has proven to be insufficient for most
259 networks that require some kind of security. Task group I (Security)
260 of the IEEE 802.11 working group (http://www.ieee802.org/11/) has worked
261 to address the flaws of the base standard and has in practice
262 completed its work in May 2004. The IEEE 802.11i amendment to the IEEE
263 802.11 standard was approved in June 2004 and published in July 2004.
265 The Wi-Fi Alliance (http://www.wi-fi.org/) used a draft version of the
266 IEEE 802.11i work (draft 3.0) to define a subset of the security
267 enhancements that can be implemented with existing wlan hardware. This
268 is called Wi-Fi Protected Access<TM> (WPA). This has now become a
269 mandatory component of interoperability testing and certification done
270 by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi provides information about WPA at its web
271 site (http://www.wi-fi.org/OpenSection/protected_access.asp).
273 The IEEE 802.11 standard defined the wired equivalent privacy (WEP) algorithm
274 for protecting wireless networks. WEP uses RC4 with 40-bit keys,
275 24-bit initialization vector (IV), and CRC32 to protect against packet
276 forgery. All these choices have proven to be insufficient: key space is
277 too small against current attacks, RC4 key scheduling is insufficient
278 (beginning of the pseudorandom stream should be skipped), IV space is
279 too small and IV reuse makes attacks easier, there is no replay
280 protection, and non-keyed authentication does not protect against bit
281 flipping packet data.
283 WPA is an intermediate solution for the security issues. It uses
284 Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to replace WEP. TKIP is a
285 compromise on strong security and the possibility to use existing
286 hardware. It still uses RC4 for the encryption like WEP, but with
287 per-packet RC4 keys. In addition, it implements replay protection,
288 keyed packet authentication mechanism (Michael MIC).
290 Keys can be managed using two different mechanisms. WPA can either use
291 an external authentication server (e.g., RADIUS) and EAP just like
292 IEEE 802.1X uses or pre-shared keys without need for additional
293 servers. Wi-Fi calls these "WPA-Enterprise" and "WPA-Personal",
294 respectively. Both mechanisms will generate a master session key for
295 the Authenticator (AP) and Supplicant (client station).
297 WPA implements a new key handshake (4-Way Handshake and Group Key
298 Handshake) for generating and exchanging data encryption keys between
299 the Authenticator and Supplicant. This handshake is also used to
300 verify that both Authenticator and Supplicant know the master session
301 key. These handshakes are identical regardless of the selected key
302 management mechanism (only the method for generating master session
310 The design for parts of IEEE 802.11i that were not included in WPA has
311 finished (May 2004) and this amendment to IEEE 802.11 was approved in
312 June 2004. Wi-Fi Alliance is using the final IEEE 802.11i as a new
313 version of WPA called WPA2. This includes, e.g., support for more
314 robust encryption algorithm (CCMP: AES in Counter mode with CBC-MAC)
315 to replace TKIP and optimizations for handoff (reduced number of
316 messages in initial key handshake, pre-authentication, and PMKSA caching).
323 wpa_supplicant is an implementation of the WPA Supplicant component,
324 i.e., the part that runs in the client stations. It implements WPA key
325 negotiation with a WPA Authenticator and EAP authentication with
326 Authentication Server. In addition, it controls the roaming and IEEE
327 802.11 authentication/association of the wlan driver.
329 wpa_supplicant is designed to be a "daemon" program that runs in the
330 background and acts as the backend component controlling the wireless
331 connection. wpa_supplicant supports separate frontend programs and an
332 example text-based frontend, wpa_cli, is included with wpa_supplicant.
334 The following steps are used when associating with an AP using WPA:
336 - wpa_supplicant requests the kernel driver to scan neighboring BSSes
337 - wpa_supplicant selects a BSS based on its configuration
338 - wpa_supplicant requests the kernel driver to associate with the chosen
340 - If WPA-EAP: integrated IEEE 802.1X Supplicant completes EAP
341 authentication with the authentication server (proxied by the
342 Authenticator in the AP)
343 - If WPA-EAP: master key is received from the IEEE 802.1X Supplicant
344 - If WPA-PSK: wpa_supplicant uses PSK as the master session key
345 - wpa_supplicant completes WPA 4-Way Handshake and Group Key Handshake
346 with the Authenticator (AP)
347 - wpa_supplicant configures encryption keys for unicast and broadcast
348 - normal data packets can be transmitted and received
352 Building and installing
353 -----------------------
355 In order to be able to build wpa_supplicant, you will first need to
356 select which parts of it will be included. This is done by creating a
357 build time configuration file, .config, in the wpa_supplicant root
358 directory. Configuration options are text lines using following
359 format: CONFIG_<option>=y. Lines starting with # are considered
360 comments and are ignored. See defconfig file for an example configuration
361 and a list of available options and additional notes.
363 The build time configuration can be used to select only the needed
364 features and limit the binary size and requirements for external
365 libraries. The main configuration parts are the selection of which
366 driver interfaces (e.g., hostap, madwifi, ..) and which authentication
367 methods (e.g., EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, ..) are included.
369 The following build time configuration options are used to control IEEE
370 802.1X/EAPOL and EAP state machines and all EAP methods. Including
371 TLS, PEAP, or TTLS will require linking wpa_supplicant with OpenSSL
372 library for TLS implementation. Alternatively, GnuTLS or the internal
373 TLSv1 implementation can be used for TLS functionaly.
375 CONFIG_IEEE8021X_EAPOL=y
377 CONFIG_EAP_MSCHAPV2=y
392 The following option can be used to include GSM SIM/USIM interface for the
393 GSM/UMTS authentication algorithm (for EAP-SIM/EAP-AKA). This requires
394 pcsc-lite (http://www.linuxnet.com/) for smart card access.
398 The following options can be added to .config to select which driver
399 interfaces are included. The Hermes driver interface needs to be downloaded
400 from Agere (see above).
402 CONFIG_DRIVER_HOSTAP=y
403 CONFIG_DRIVER_HERMES=y
404 CONFIG_DRIVER_MADWIFI=y
405 CONFIG_DRIVER_ATMEL=y
407 CONFIG_DRIVER_RALINK=y
408 CONFIG_DRIVER_NDISWRAPPER=y
409 CONFIG_DRIVER_BROADCOM=y
414 The following example includes all features and driver interfaces that are
415 included in the wpa_supplicant package:
417 CONFIG_DRIVER_HOSTAP=y
418 CONFIG_DRIVER_HERMES=y
419 CONFIG_DRIVER_MADWIFI=y
420 CONFIG_DRIVER_ATMEL=y
422 CONFIG_DRIVER_NDISWRAPPER=y
423 CONFIG_DRIVER_BROADCOM=y
427 CONFIG_IEEE8021X_EAPOL=y
429 CONFIG_EAP_MSCHAPV2=y
445 EAP-PEAP and EAP-TTLS will automatically include configured EAP
446 methods (MD5, OTP, GTC, MSCHAPV2) for inner authentication selection.
449 After you have created a configuration file, you can build
450 wpa_supplicant and wpa_cli with the 'make' command. You may then install
451 the binaries to a suitable system directory, e.g., /usr/local/bin.
455 # build wpa_supplicant and wpa_cli
457 # install binaries (this may need root privileges)
458 cp wpa_cli wpa_supplicant /usr/local/bin
461 You will need to make a configuration file, e.g.,
462 /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, with network configuration for the networks
463 you are going to use. Configuration file section below includes
464 explanation fo the configuration file format and includes various
465 examples. Once the configuration is ready, you can test whether the
466 configuration work by first running wpa_supplicant with following
467 command to start it on foreground with debugging enabled:
469 wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -d
471 Assuming everything goes fine, you can start using following command
472 to start wpa_supplicant on background without debugging:
474 wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
476 Please note that if you included more than one driver interface in the
477 build time configuration (.config), you may need to specify which
478 interface to use by including the -D<driver name> option on the command
479 line. See the following section for more details on command line options
488 wpa_supplicant [-BddfhKLqqtuvwW] [-P<pid file>] [-g<global ctrl>] \
489 -i<ifname> -c<config file> [-C<ctrl>] [-D<driver>] [-p<driver_param>] \
490 [-b<br_ifname> [-N -i<ifname> -c<conf> [-C<ctrl>] [-D<driver>] \
491 [-p<driver_param>] [-b<br_ifname>] ...]
494 -b = optional bridge interface name
495 -B = run daemon in the background
496 -c = Configuration file
497 -C = ctrl_interface parameter (only used if -c is not)
499 -d = increase debugging verbosity (-dd even more)
500 -D = driver name (can be multiple drivers: nl80211,wext)
501 -f = Log output to default log location (normally /tmp)
502 -g = global ctrl_interface
503 -K = include keys (passwords, etc.) in debug output
504 -t = include timestamp in debug messages
505 -h = show this help text
506 -L = show license (GPL and BSD)
507 -p = driver parameters
509 -q = decrease debugging verbosity (-qq even less)
510 -u = enable DBus control interface
512 -w = wait for interface to be added, if needed
513 -W = wait for a control interface monitor before starting
514 -N = start describing new interface
517 hostap = Host AP driver (Intersil Prism2/2.5/3) [default]
518 (this can also be used with Linuxant DriverLoader)
519 hermes = Agere Systems Inc. driver (Hermes-I/Hermes-II)
520 madwifi = MADWIFI 802.11 support (Atheros, etc.) (deprecated; use wext)
521 atmel = ATMEL AT76C5XXx (USB, PCMCIA)
522 wext = Linux wireless extensions (generic)
523 ralink = Ralink Client driver
524 ndiswrapper = Linux ndiswrapper (deprecated; use wext)
525 broadcom = Broadcom wl.o driver
526 ipw = Intel ipw2100/2200 driver (old; use wext with Linux 2.6.13 or newer)
527 wired = wpa_supplicant wired Ethernet driver
528 roboswitch = wpa_supplicant Broadcom switch driver
529 bsd = BSD 802.11 support (Atheros, etc.)
530 ndis = Windows NDIS driver
532 In most common cases, wpa_supplicant is started with
534 wpa_supplicant -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0
536 This makes the process fork into background.
538 The easiest way to debug problems, and to get debug log for bug
539 reports, is to start wpa_supplicant on foreground with debugging
542 wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -d
544 If the specific driver wrapper is not known beforehand, it is possible
545 to specify multiple comma separated driver wrappers on the command
546 line. wpa_supplicant will use the first driver wrapper that is able to
547 initialize the interface.
549 wpa_supplicant -Dnl80211,wext -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0
552 wpa_supplicant can control multiple interfaces (radios) either by
553 running one process for each interface separately or by running just
554 one process and list of options at command line. Each interface is
555 separated with -N argument. As an example, following command would
556 start wpa_supplicant for two interfaces:
559 -c wpa1.conf -i wlan0 -D hostap -N \
560 -c wpa2.conf -i ath0 -D madwifi
563 If the interface is added in a Linux bridge (e.g., br0), the bridge
564 interface needs to be configured to wpa_supplicant in addition to the
567 wpa_supplicant -cw.conf -Dmadwifi -iath0 -bbr0
573 wpa_supplicant is configured using a text file that lists all accepted
574 networks and security policies, including pre-shared keys. See
575 example configuration file, wpa_supplicant.conf, for detailed
576 information about the configuration format and supported fields.
578 Changes to configuration file can be reloaded be sending SIGHUP signal
579 to wpa_supplicant ('killall -HUP wpa_supplicant'). Similarly,
580 reloading can be triggered with 'wpa_cli reconfigure' command.
582 Configuration file can include one or more network blocks, e.g., one
583 for each used SSID. wpa_supplicant will automatically select the best
584 network based on the order of network blocks in the configuration
585 file, network security level (WPA/WPA2 is preferred), and signal
588 Example configuration files for some common configurations:
590 1) WPA-Personal (PSK) as home network and WPA-Enterprise with EAP-TLS as work
593 # allow frontend (e.g., wpa_cli) to be used by all users in 'wheel' group
594 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
595 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
597 # home network; allow all valid ciphers
602 psk="very secret passphrase"
605 # work network; use EAP-TLS with WPA; allow only CCMP and TKIP ciphers
613 identity="user@example.com"
614 ca_cert="/etc/cert/ca.pem"
615 client_cert="/etc/cert/user.pem"
616 private_key="/etc/cert/user.prv"
617 private_key_passwd="password"
621 2) WPA-RADIUS/EAP-PEAP/MSCHAPv2 with RADIUS servers that use old peaplabel
622 (e.g., Funk Odyssey and SBR, Meetinghouse Aegis, Interlink RAD-Series)
624 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
625 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
631 identity="user@example.com"
633 ca_cert="/etc/cert/ca.pem"
635 phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
639 3) EAP-TTLS/EAP-MD5-Challenge configuration with anonymous identity for the
640 unencrypted use. Real identity is sent only within an encrypted TLS tunnel.
642 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
643 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
649 identity="user@example.com"
650 anonymous_identity="anonymous@example.com"
652 ca_cert="/etc/cert/ca.pem"
657 4) IEEE 802.1X (i.e., no WPA) with dynamic WEP keys (require both unicast and
658 broadcast); use EAP-TLS for authentication
660 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
661 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
667 identity="user@example.com"
668 ca_cert="/etc/cert/ca.pem"
669 client_cert="/etc/cert/user.pem"
670 private_key="/etc/cert/user.prv"
671 private_key_passwd="password"
676 5) Catch all example that allows more or less all configuration modes. The
677 configuration options are used based on what security policy is used in the
678 selected SSID. This is mostly for testing and is not recommended for normal
681 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
682 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
686 key_mgmt=WPA-EAP WPA-PSK IEEE8021X NONE
688 group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
689 psk="very secret passphrase"
691 identity="user@example.com"
693 ca_cert="/etc/cert/ca.pem"
694 client_cert="/etc/cert/user.pem"
695 private_key="/etc/cert/user.prv"
696 private_key_passwd="password"
698 ca_cert2="/etc/cert/ca2.pem"
699 client_cert2="/etc/cer/user.pem"
700 private_key2="/etc/cer/user.prv"
701 private_key2_passwd="password"
705 6) Authentication for wired Ethernet. This can be used with 'wired' or
706 'roboswitch' interface (-Dwired or -Droboswitch on command line).
708 ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
709 ctrl_interface_group=wheel
724 Some EAP authentication methods require use of certificates. EAP-TLS
725 uses both server side and client certificates whereas EAP-PEAP and
726 EAP-TTLS only require the server side certificate. When client
727 certificate is used, a matching private key file has to also be
728 included in configuration. If the private key uses a passphrase, this
729 has to be configured in wpa_supplicant.conf ("private_key_passwd").
731 wpa_supplicant supports X.509 certificates in PEM and DER
732 formats. User certificate and private key can be included in the same
735 If the user certificate and private key is received in PKCS#12/PFX
736 format, they need to be converted to suitable PEM/DER format for
737 wpa_supplicant. This can be done, e.g., with following commands:
739 # convert client certificate and private key to PEM format
740 openssl pkcs12 -in example.pfx -out user.pem -clcerts
741 # convert CA certificate (if included in PFX file) to PEM format
742 openssl pkcs12 -in example.pfx -out ca.pem -cacerts -nokeys
749 wpa_cli is a text-based frontend program for interacting with
750 wpa_supplicant. It is used to query current status, change
751 configuration, trigger events, and request interactive user input.
753 wpa_cli can show the current authentication status, selected security
754 mode, dot11 and dot1x MIBs, etc. In addition, it can configure some
755 variables like EAPOL state machine parameters and trigger events like
756 reassociation and IEEE 802.1X logoff/logon. wpa_cli provides a user
757 interface to request authentication information, like username and
758 password, if these are not included in the configuration. This can be
759 used to implement, e.g., one-time-passwords or generic token card
760 authentication where the authentication is based on a
761 challenge-response that uses an external device for generating the
764 The control interface of wpa_supplicant can be configured to allow
765 non-root user access (ctrl_interface_group in the configuration
766 file). This makes it possible to run wpa_cli with a normal user
769 wpa_cli supports two modes: interactive and command line. Both modes
770 share the same command set and the main difference is in interactive
771 mode providing access to unsolicited messages (event messages,
772 username/password requests).
774 Interactive mode is started when wpa_cli is executed without including
775 the command as a command line parameter. Commands are then entered on
776 the wpa_cli prompt. In command line mode, the same commands are
777 entered as command line arguments for wpa_cli.
780 Interactive authentication parameters request
782 When wpa_supplicant need authentication parameters, like username and
783 password, which are not present in the configuration file, it sends a
784 request message to all attached frontend programs, e.g., wpa_cli in
785 interactive mode. wpa_cli shows these requests with
786 "CTRL-REQ-<type>-<id>:<text>" prefix. <type> is IDENTITY, PASSWORD, or
787 OTP (one-time-password). <id> is a unique identifier for the current
788 network. <text> is description of the request. In case of OTP request,
789 it includes the challenge from the authentication server.
791 The reply to these requests can be given with 'identity', 'password',
792 and 'otp' commands. <id> needs to be copied from the the matching
793 request. 'password' and 'otp' commands can be used regardless of
794 whether the request was for PASSWORD or OTP. The main difference
795 between these two commands is that values given with 'password' are
796 remembered as long as wpa_supplicant is running whereas values given
797 with 'otp' are used only once and then forgotten, i.e., wpa_supplicant
798 will ask frontend for a new value for every use. This can be used to
799 implement one-time-password lists and generic token card -based
802 Example request for password and a matching reply:
804 CTRL-REQ-PASSWORD-1:Password needed for SSID foobar
805 > password 1 mysecretpassword
807 Example request for generic token card challenge-response:
809 CTRL-REQ-OTP-2:Challenge 1235663 needed for SSID foobar
815 status = get current WPA/EAPOL/EAP status
816 mib = get MIB variables (dot1x, dot11)
817 help = show this usage help
818 interface [ifname] = show interfaces/select interface
819 level <debug level> = change debug level
820 license = show full wpa_cli license
821 logoff = IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logoff
822 logon = IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logon
823 set = set variables (shows list of variables when run without arguments)
824 pmksa = show PMKSA cache
825 reassociate = force reassociation
826 reconfigure = force wpa_supplicant to re-read its configuration file
827 preauthenticate <BSSID> = force preauthentication
828 identity <network id> <identity> = configure identity for an SSID
829 password <network id> <password> = configure password for an SSID
830 pin <network id> <pin> = configure pin for an SSID
831 otp <network id> <password> = configure one-time-password for an SSID
832 passphrase <network id> <passphrase> = configure private key passphrase
834 bssid <network id> <BSSID> = set preferred BSSID for an SSID
835 list_networks = list configured networks
836 select_network <network id> = select a network (disable others)
837 enable_network <network id> = enable a network
838 disable_network <network id> = disable a network
839 add_network = add a network
840 remove_network <network id> = remove a network
841 set_network <network id> <variable> <value> = set network variables (shows
842 list of variables when run without arguments)
843 get_network <network id> <variable> = get network variables
844 save_config = save the current configuration
845 disconnect = disconnect and wait for reassociate command before connecting
846 scan = request new BSS scan
847 scan_results = get latest scan results
848 get_capability <eap/pairwise/group/key_mgmt/proto/auth_alg> = get capabilies
849 terminate = terminate wpa_supplicant
853 wpa_cli command line options
855 wpa_cli [-p<path to ctrl sockets>] [-i<ifname>] [-hvB] [-a<action file>] \
856 [-P<pid file>] [-g<global ctrl>] [command..]
857 -h = help (show this usage text)
858 -v = shown version information
859 -a = run in daemon mode executing the action file based on events from
861 -B = run a daemon in the background
862 default path: /var/run/wpa_supplicant
863 default interface: first interface found in socket path
866 Using wpa_cli to run external program on connect/disconnect
867 -----------------------------------------------------------
869 wpa_cli can used to run external programs whenever wpa_supplicant
870 connects or disconnects from a network. This can be used, e.g., to
871 update network configuration and/or trigget DHCP client to update IP
874 One wpa_cli process in "action" mode needs to be started for each
875 interface. For example, the following command starts wpa_cli for the
876 default ingterface (-i can be used to select the interface in case of
877 more than one interface being used at the same time):
879 wpa_cli -a/sbin/wpa_action.sh -B
881 The action file (-a option, /sbin/wpa_action.sh in this example) will
882 be executed whenever wpa_supplicant completes authentication (connect
883 event) or detects disconnection). The action script will be called
884 with two command line arguments: interface name and event (CONNECTED
885 or DISCONNECTED). If the action script needs to get more information
886 about the current network, it can use 'wpa_cli status' to query
887 wpa_supplicant for more information.
889 Following example can be used as a simple template for an action
897 if [ "$CMD" == "CONNECTED" ]; then
898 SSID=`wpa_cli -i$IFNAME status | grep ^ssid= | cut -f2- -d=`
899 # configure network, signal DHCP client, etc.
902 if [ "$CMD" == "DISCONNECTED" ]; then
903 # remove network configuration, if needed
908 Integrating with pcmcia-cs/cardmgr scripts
909 ------------------------------------------
911 wpa_supplicant needs to be running when using a wireless network with
912 WPA. It can be started either from system startup scripts or from
913 pcmcia-cs/cardmgr scripts (when using PC Cards). WPA handshake must be
914 completed before data frames can be exchanged, so wpa_supplicant
915 should be started before DHCP client.
917 For example, following small changes to pcmcia-cs scripts can be used
918 to enable WPA support:
920 Add MODE="Managed" and WPA="y" to the network scheme in
921 /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts.
923 Add the following block to the end of 'start' action handler in
924 /etc/pcmcia/wireless:
926 if [ "$WPA" = "y" -a -x /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant ]; then
927 /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf \
931 Add the following block to the end of 'stop' action handler (may need
932 to be separated from other actions) in /etc/pcmcia/wireless:
934 if [ "$WPA" = "y" -a -x /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant ]; then
935 killall wpa_supplicant
938 This will make cardmgr start wpa_supplicant when the card is plugged
943 Dynamic interface add and operation without configuration files
944 ---------------------------------------------------------------
946 wpa_supplicant can be started without any configuration files or
947 network interfaces. When used in this way, a global (i.e., per
948 wpa_supplicant process) control interface is used to add and remove
949 network interfaces. Each network interface can then be configured
950 through a per-network interface control interface. For example,
951 following commands show how to start wpa_supplicant without any
952 network interfaces and then add a network interface and configure a
955 # Start wpa_supplicant in the background
956 wpa_supplicant -g/var/run/wpa_supplicant-global -B
958 # Add a new interface (wlan0, no configuration file, driver=wext, and
959 # enable control interface)
960 wpa_cli -g/var/run/wpa_supplicant-global interface_add wlan0 \
961 "" wext /var/run/wpa_supplicant
963 # Configure a network using the newly added network interface:
964 wpa_cli -iwlan0 add_network
965 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 ssid '"test"'
966 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 key_mgmt WPA-PSK
967 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 psk '"12345678"'
968 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 pairwise TKIP
969 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 group TKIP
970 wpa_cli -iwlan0 set_network 0 proto WPA
971 wpa_cli -iwlan0 enable_network 0
973 # At this point, the new network interface should start trying to associate
974 # with the WPA-PSK network using SSID test.
976 # Remove network interface
977 wpa_cli -g/var/run/wpa_supplicant-global interface_remove wlan0
983 To minimize the size of code that needs to be run with root privileges
984 (e.g., to control wireless interface operation), wpa_supplicant
985 supports optional privilege separation. If enabled, this separates the
986 privileged operations into a separate process (wpa_priv) while leaving
987 rest of the code (e.g., EAP authentication and WPA handshakes) into an
988 unprivileged process (wpa_supplicant) that can be run as non-root
989 user. Privilege separation restricts the effects of potential software
990 errors by containing the majority of the code in an unprivileged
991 process to avoid full system compromise.
993 Privilege separation is not enabled by default and it can be enabled
994 by adding CONFIG_PRIVSEP=y to the build configuration (.config). When
995 enabled, the privileged operations (driver wrapper and l2_packet) are
996 linked into a separate daemon program, wpa_priv. The unprivileged
997 program, wpa_supplicant, will be built with a special driver/l2_packet
998 wrappers that communicate with the privileged wpa_priv process to
999 perform the needed operations. wpa_priv can control what privileged
1002 wpa_priv needs to be run with network admin privileges (usually, root
1003 user). It opens a UNIX domain socket for each interface that is
1004 included on the command line; any other interface will be off limits
1005 for wpa_supplicant in this kind of configuration. After this,
1006 wpa_supplicant can be run as a non-root user (e.g., all standard users
1007 on a laptop or as a special non-privileged user account created just
1008 for this purpose to limit access to user files even further).
1011 Example configuration:
1012 - create user group for users that are allowed to use wpa_supplicant
1013 ('wpapriv' in this example) and assign users that should be able to
1014 use wpa_supplicant into that group
1015 - create /var/run/wpa_priv directory for UNIX domain sockets and control
1016 user access by setting it accessible only for the wpapriv group:
1017 mkdir /var/run/wpa_priv
1018 chown root:wpapriv /var/run/wpa_priv
1019 chmod 0750 /var/run/wpa_priv
1020 - start wpa_priv as root (e.g., from system startup scripts) with the
1021 enabled interfaces configured on the command line:
1022 wpa_priv -B -P /var/run/wpa_priv.pid wext:ath0
1023 - run wpa_supplicant as non-root with a user that is in wpapriv group:
1024 wpa_supplicant -i ath0 -c wpa_supplicant.conf
1026 wpa_priv does not use the network interface before wpa_supplicant is
1027 started, so it is fine to include network interfaces that are not
1028 available at the time wpa_priv is started. As an alternative, wpa_priv
1029 can be started when an interface is added (hotplug/udev/etc. scripts).
1030 wpa_priv can control multiple interface with one process, but it is
1031 also possible to run multiple wpa_priv processes at the same time, if