wlan-client-capability

Note : this project has now bene moth-balled and updated over at this URL: https://github.com/WLAN-Pi/profiler

Python script to check wireless (802.11) capabilities based on association request frame contents

This script uses scapy to listen for an authenciation frame from a client. It will then capture that frame and analyze it to create a report based on the capabilities reported by the client device. It can also be used to analyze the contents of a pcap file that contains a single authentication frame.

It has been developed to be used with the NanoPi that was created for the WLPC Phoenix 2018 conference. The NanoPi (also called the WLANPi) it a great little mini-Linux appliance that lends itself to a whole range of network testing applications. Find out more about the NanoPi at http://wlanpi.com

Using the Script

To use the script on the NanoPi, transfer the wlan-client-capability.py script to the NanoPi (make it executable with "chmod a+x wlan_client_capability.py"). Ensure that a USB wireless adapter that support monitor mode (e.g. Comfast CF-912AC) is plugged in to the NanoPi.

SSH to the NanoPi, kill a few troublesome processes, place the wireless NIC on the channel you wish to monitor using airodump-ng and then run the script:

wlanpi@wlanpi:~/python$ sudo -s
[sudo] password for wlanpi: 
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python#
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# airmon-ng check kill   (Note: you WILL have issues if you don;t run this)
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# airodump-ng wlan0 -c 48   (Specify channel required with '-c'. Kill with ctlr-c once running)
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# ./wlan-client-capability.py -c wlan0 any

Usage

 Usage:

    wlan-client-capability.py -f <filename>
    wlan-client-capability.py -c <mon interface> < client_mac | any >
 

Examples:

# capture frame for client aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff on interface wlan0
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# wlan-client-capability.py -c wlan0 aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

# capture frame for next client that sends an assocation request frame on interface wlan0
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# wlan-client-capability.py -c wlan0 any

# read last assocation req frame captured by script (pcap file created automaticlaly each time script is run)
root@wlanpi:/home/wlanpi/python# wlan-client-capability.py -f last_frame.pcap

Screenshot

Caveats

• Note that this is work in progress and is not production ready and is not fully tested or guaranteed to report accurate info. You have been warned
• A client will generally only report the capabilities it has that match the network it associates to. If you want the client to report all of its capabilities, it must be associating with a network that supports those capabilities (e,g, a 3 stream client will not report it supports 3 streams if the AP is asscoiates with supports only one stream). You have been warned
• Reporting of 802.11k capabilities is very poor among clients I have tested - treat with extreme caution (check for neighbor report requests from a WLC/AP debug to be sure)
• I'm a newbie coder and there's plenty to improve here, but maybe someone may learn something from this, even if its only how NOT to do things :)

Credits

Much of the source information for this project came from Mike Albano's excellent article: What do "your" WiFi clients support? , together with supporting information referenced in the article.