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11 <h2>Linux WPA/WPA2/IEEE 802.1X Supplicant</h2>
13 <p>wpa_supplicant is a WPA Supplicant for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and
14 Windows with
15 support for WPA and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i / RSN). It is suitable for both
16 desktop/laptop computers and embedded systems. Supplicant is the IEEE
17 802.1X/WPA component that is used in the client stations. It
18 implements key negotiation with a WPA Authenticator and it controls
19 the roaming and IEEE 802.11 authentication/association of the wlan
20 driver.</p>
22 <p>wpa_supplicant is designed to be a "daemon" program that runs in the
23 background and acts as the backend component controlling the wireless
24 connection. wpa_supplicant supports separate frontend programs and a
25 text-based frontend (wpa_cli) and a GUI (wpa_gui) are included with
26 wpa_supplicant.</p>
28 <p>wpa_supplicant uses a flexible build configuration that can be used
29 to select which features are included. This allows minimal code size
30 (from ca. 50 kB binary for WPA/WPA2-Personal and 130 kB binary for
31 WPA/WPA2-Enterprise without debugging code to 450 kB with most
32 features and full debugging support; these example sizes are from a
33 build for x86 target).</p>
36 <h4>Supported WPA/IEEE 802.11i features</h4>
38 <ul>
39 <li>WPA-PSK ("WPA-Personal")</li>
40 <li>WPA with EAP (e.g., with RADIUS authentication server) ("WPA-Enterprise")</li>
41 <li>key management for CCMP, TKIP, WEP104, WEP40</li>
42 <li>WPA and full IEEE 802.11i/RSN/WPA2</li>
43 <li>RSN: PMKSA caching, pre-authentication</li>
44 <li>Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)</li>
45 </ul>
47 <h4>Supported EAP methods (IEEE 802.1X Supplicant)</h4>
49 <ul>
50 <li>EAP-TLS</li>
51 <li>EAP-PEAP/MSCHAPv2 (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)</li>
52 <li>EAP-PEAP/TLS (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)</li>
53 <li>EAP-PEAP/GTC (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)</li>
54 <li>EAP-PEAP/OTP (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)</li>
55 <li>EAP-PEAP/MD5-Challenge (both PEAPv0 and PEAPv1)</li>
56 <li>EAP-TTLS/EAP-MD5-Challenge</li>
57 <li>EAP-TTLS/EAP-GTC</li>
58 <li>EAP-TTLS/EAP-OTP</li>
59 <li>EAP-TTLS/EAP-MSCHAPv2</li>
60 <li>EAP-TTLS/EAP-TLS</li>
61 <li>EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2</li>
62 <li>EAP-TTLS/MSCHAP</li>
63 <li>EAP-TTLS/PAP</li>
64 <li>EAP-TTLS/CHAP</li>
65 <li>EAP-SIM</li>
66 <li>EAP-AKA</li>
67 <li>EAP-AKA'</li>
68 <li>EAP-PSK</li>
69 <li>EAP-FAST</li>
70 <li>EAP-PAX</li>
71 <li>EAP-SAKE</li>
72 <li>EAP-IKEv2</li>
73 <li>EAP-GPSK</li>
74 <li>LEAP (note: requires special support from the driver)</li>
75 </ul>
77 <p>Following methods are also supported, but since they do not generate keying
78 material, they cannot be used with WPA or IEEE 802.1X WEP keying.</p>
80 <ul>
81 <li>EAP-MD5-Challenge</li>
82 <li>EAP-MSCHAPv2</li>
83 <li>EAP-GTC</li>
84 <li>EAP-OTP</li>
85 <li>EAP-TNC (Trusted Network Connect; TNCC, IF-IMC, IF-T, IF-TNCCS)</li>
86 </ul>
88 <p>More information about EAP methods and interoperability testing is
89 available in <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/eap_testing.txt">eap_testing.txt</a>.</p>
92 <h4>Supported TLS/crypto libraries</h4>
94 <ul>
95 <li>OpenSSL (default)</li>
96 <li>GnuTLS</li>
97 </ul>
99 <h4>Internal TLS/crypto implementation (optional)</h4>
101 <ul>
102 <li>can be used in place of an external TLS/crypto library</li>
103 <li>TLSv1</li>
104 <li>X.509 certificate processing</li>
105 <li>PKCS #1</li>
106 <li>ASN.1</li>
107 <li>RSA</li>
108 <li>bignum</li>
109 <li>minimal size (ca. 50 kB binary, parts of which are already needed for WPA;
110 TLSv1/X.509/ASN.1/RSA/bignum parts are about 25 kB on x86)</li>
111 </ul>
113 <h4>Supported wireless cards/drivers</h4>
115 <ul>
116 <li>Linux drivers that support Linux Wireless Extensions v19 or newer with
117 WPA/WPA2 extensions</li>
118 <li><a href="http://hostap.epitest.fi/">Host AP driver for Prism2/2.5/3</a> (WPA and WPA2)</li>
119 <li><a href="http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/">Linuxant DriverLoader</a> with Windows NDIS driver supporting WPA/WPA2</li>
120 <li><a href="http://www.agere.com/support/drivers/">Agere Systems Inc. Linux Driver</a> (Hermes-I/Hermes-II chipset) (WPA, but not WPA2)</li>
121 <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/">madwifi (Atheros ar521x)</a></li>
122 <li><a href="http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/">ATMEL AT76C5XXx</a></li>
123 <li><a href="http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/">Linux ndiswrapper</a></li>
124 <li>Broadcom wl.o driver</li>
125 <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2100/">Intel ipw2100</a></li>
126 <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2200/">Intel ipw2200</a></li>
127 <li>Wired Ethernet drivers</li>
128 <li>BSD net80211 layer (e.g., Atheros driver) (FreeBSD 6-CURRENT and NetBSD current)</li>
129 <li>Windows NDIS drivers (Windows; at least XP and 2000, others not tested)</li>
130 </ul>
132 <p>wpa_supplicant was designed to be portable for different drivers and
133 operating systems. Hopefully, support for more wlan cards and OSes will be
134 added in the future. See <a href="devel/">developers' documentation</a>
135 for more information about the design of wpa_supplicant and porting to
136 other drivers.</p>
138 <h3><a name="download">Download</a></h3>
140 <p>
141 <b>wpa_supplicant</b><br>
142 Copyright (c) 2003-2009, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi>
143 and contributors.
144 </p>
146 <p>
147 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
148 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
149 published by the Free Software Foundation. See
150 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=COPYING">COPYING</a>
151 for more details.
152 </p>
154 <p>Alternatively, this software may be distributed, used, and modified
155 under the terms of BSD license. See <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/README">README</a>
156 for more details.</p>
158 <p>
159 <b>Please see
160 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/README">README</a>
161 for the current documentation.</b><br>
162 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/README-Windows.txt">README-Windows.txt</a>
163 has some more information about the Windows port of wpa_supplicant.</p>
166 <ul>
167 <li><a href="../releases.html">Release graph</a></li>
168 <li>Latest stable release:
169 <ul>
170 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.5.11.tar.gz">wpa_supplicant-0.5.11.tar.gz</a></li>
171 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.5.11.zip">wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.5.11.zip</a> (binaries for Windows)</li>
172 </ul>
173 <li>Older stable release:
174 <ul>
175 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.4.11.tar.gz">wpa_supplicant-0.4.11.tar.gz</a> (source code for all versions)</li>
176 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.4.11.zip">wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.4.11.zip</a> (binaries for Windows)</li>
177 </ul>
178 <li>Older stable release:
179 <ul>
180 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.3.11.tar.gz">wpa_supplicant-0.3.11.tar.gz</a> (source code for all versions)</li>
181 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.3.11.zip">wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.3.11.zip</a> (binaries for Windows)</li>
182 </ul>
183 <li>Obsolete stable release<BR>
184 (note: 0.2.x branch is not supported anymore - please upgrade to 0.4.x or 0.5.x):
185 <ul>
186 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.2.8.tar.gz">wpa_supplicant-0.2.8.tar.gz</a></li>
187 </ul>
188 <li>Latest development release:
189 <ul>
190 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.6.7.tar.gz">wpa_supplicant-0.6.7.tar.gz</a> (source code for all versions)</li>
191 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-0.6.7.exe">wpa_supplicant-0.6.7.exe</a> (binary installer for Windows)</li>
192 <li><a href="../releases/wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.6.7.zip">wpa_supplicant-windows-bin-0.6.7.zip</a> (binaries for Windows)</li>
193 <li><a href="qt4/wpa_gui-qt433-windows-dll.zip">wpa_gui-qt433-windows-dll.zip</a> (Qt4 libraries from wpa_gui/Windows)</li>
194 </ul>
195 <li>ChangeLog:
196 <ul>
197 <li><a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/ChangeLog">development branch</a></li>
198 <li><a href="/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/hostap/wpa_supplicant/ChangeLog?rev=stable&content-type=text/plain">stable branch</a>
199 </ul>
200 <li><a href="../releases/">Old releases</a></li>
201 <li><a href="http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/hostap">Mailing list</a></li>
202 <li><a href="http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/">New mailing list archives</a></li>
203 <li><a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi">Web interface to GIT repository (0.6.x and newer)</a></li>
204 <li><a href="/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/hostap/">Web interface to CVS repository (0.5.x and older)</a></li>
205 <li><a href="../releases/snapshots/">Snapshot releases from all active branches</a>
206 <li><a href="../cvs.html">GIT and read-only anonymous CVS access (pserver)</a></li>
207 <li><a href="../bugz/">Bug and feature request tracking</a></li>
208 <li><a href="devel/">Developers' documentation for wpa_supplicant 0.5.x</a></li>
209 <li><a href="devel-0.4/">Developers' documentation for wpa_supplicant 0.4.x</a></li>
210 <li><a href="wpa_gui.html">wpa_gui screenshots</a></li>
211 </ul>
213 <h3>WPA</h3>
215 <p>The original security mechanism of IEEE 802.11 standard was not
216 designed to be strong and has proven to be insufficient for most
217 networks that require some kind of security. Task group I (Security)
218 of <a href="http://www.ieee802.org/11/">IEEE 802.11 working group</a>
219 has worked to address the flaws of the base standard and in
220 practice completed its work in May 2004. The IEEE 802.11i amendment to
221 the IEEE 802.11 standard was approved in June 2004 and published in
222 July 2004.</p>
224 <p><a href="http://www.wi-fi.org/">Wi-Fi Alliance</a> used a draft
225 version of the IEEE 802.11i work (draft 3.0) to define a subset of the
226 security enhancements that can be implemented with existing wlan
227 hardware. This is called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). This has
228 now become a mandatory component of interoperability testing and
229 certification done by Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi has
230 <a href="http://www.wi-fi.org/OpenSection/protected_access.asp">information
231 about WPA</a> at its web site.</p>
233 <p>IEEE 802.11 standard defined wired equivalent privacy (WEP) algorithm
234 for protecting wireless networks. WEP uses RC4 with 40-bit keys,
235 24-bit initialization vector (IV), and CRC32 to protect against packet
236 forgery. All these choices have proven to be insufficient: key space is
237 too small against current attacks, RC4 key scheduling is insufficient
238 (beginning of the pseudorandom stream should be skipped), IV space is
239 too small and IV reuse makes attacks easier, there is no replay
240 protection, and non-keyed authentication does not protect against bit
241 flipping packet data.</p>
243 <p>WPA is an intermediate solution for the security issues. It uses
244 Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to replace WEP. TKIP is a
245 compromise on strong security and possibility to use existing
246 hardware. It still uses RC4 for the encryption like WEP, but with
247 per-packet RC4 keys. In addition, it implements replay protection,
248 keyed packet authentication mechanism (Michael MIC).</p>
250 <p>Keys can be managed using two different mechanisms. WPA can either use
251 an external authentication server (e.g., RADIUS) and EAP just like
252 IEEE 802.1X is using or pre-shared keys without need for additional
253 servers. Wi-Fi calls these "WPA-Enterprise" and "WPA-Personal",
254 respectively. Both mechanisms will generate a master session key for
255 the Authenticator (AP) and Supplicant (client station).</p>
257 <p>WPA implements a new key handshake (4-Way Handshake and Group Key
258 Handshake) for generating and exchanging data encryption keys between
259 the Authenticator and Supplicant. This handshake is also used to
260 verify that both Authenticator and Supplicant know the master session
261 key. These handshakes are identical regardless of the selected key
262 management mechanism (only the method for generating master session
263 key changes).</p>
266 <h3>IEEE 802.11i / RSN / WPA2</h3>
268 <p>The design for parts of IEEE 802.11i that were not included in WPA
269 has finished (May 2004) and this amendment to IEEE 802.11 was approved
270 in June 2004. Wi-Fi Alliance is using the final IEEE 802.11i as a new
271 version of WPA called WPA2. This included, e.g., support for more
272 robust encryption algorithm (CCMP: AES in Counter mode with CBC-MAC)
273 to replace TKIP, optimizations for handoff (reduced number of messages
274 in initial key handshake, pre-authentication, and PMKSA caching).</p>
276 <h3>Using wpa_supplicant</h3>
278 <p>Following steps are used when associating with an AP using WPA:<p>
279 <ul>
280 <li>wpa_supplicant requests the kernel driver to scan neighboring BSSes</li>
281 <li>wpa_supplicant selects a BSS based on its configuration</li>
282 <li>wpa_supplicant requests the kernel driver to associate with the chosen
283 BSS</li>
284 <li>if WPA-EAP: integrated IEEE 802.1X Supplicant completes EAP
285 authentication with the authentication server (proxied by the
286 Authenticator in the AP)</li>
287 <li>If WPA-EAP: master key is received from the IEEE 802.1X Supplicant</li>
288 <li>If WPA-PSK: wpa_supplicant uses PSK as the master session key</li>
289 <li>wpa_supplicant completes WPA 4-Way Handshake and Group Key Handshake
290 with the Authenticator (AP). WPA2 has integrated the initial Group Key
291 Handshake into the 4-Way Handshake.</li>
292 <li>wpa_supplicant configures encryption keys for unicast and broadcast</li>
293 <li>normal data packets can be transmitted and received</li>
294 </ul>
296 <h4>Configuration file</h4>
298 <p>wpa_supplicant is configured using a text file that lists all accepted
299 networks and security policies, including pre-shared keys. See
300 example configuration file,
301 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf">wpa_supplicant.conf</a>,
302 for detailed information about the configuration format and supported
303 fields. In addition, simpler example configurations are available for
304 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/plaintext.conf">plaintext</a>,
305 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/wep.conf">static WEP</a>,
306 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/ieee8021x.conf">IEEE 802.1X with dynamic WEP (EAP-PEAP/MSCHAPv2)</a>,
307 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/wpa-psk-tkip.conf">WPA-PSK/TKIP</a>, and
308 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/wpa2-eap-ccmp.conf">WPA2-EAP/CCMP (EAP-TLS)</a>.
309 In addition, wpa_supplicant can use OpenSSL engine to avoid need for
310 exposing private keys in the file system. This can be used for EAP-TLS
311 authentication with smartcards and TPM tokens.
312 <a href="/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/examples/openCryptoki.conf">Example configuration for using openCryptoki</a>
313 shows an example network block and related parameters for EAP-TLS
314 authentication using PKCS#11 TPM token.
315 </p>
317 <h3>Feedback, comments, mailing list</h3>
319 <p>
320 Any comments, reports on success/failure, ideas for further
321 improvement, feature requests, etc. are welcome at j@w1.fi.
322 Please note, that I often receive more email than I have time to answer.
323 Unfortunately, some messages may not get a reply, but I'll try to go
324 through my mail whenever time permits.
325 </p>
327 <p>Host AP mailing list can also be used for topics related to
328 wpa_supplicant. Since this list has a broader audience, your likelyhood
329 of getting responses is higher. This list is recommended for general
330 questions about wpa_supplicant and its development. In addition, I
331 will send release notes to it whenever a new version is available.
332 </p>
334 <p>
335 The mailing list information and web archive is at <a
336 href="http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/hostap">http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/hostap</a>.
337 Messages to hostap@shmoo.com will be delivered to the
338 subscribers. Please note, that due to large number of spam and virus
339 messages sent to the list address, the list is configured to accept
340 messages only from subscribed addresses. Messages from unsubscribed addresses
341 may be accepted manually, but their delivery will be delayed.
342 </p>
344 <p>
345 If you want to make sure your bug report of feature request does not
346 get lost, please report it through the bug tracking system as
347 <a href="../bugz/enter_bug.cgi">a new
348 bug/feature request</a>.
349 </p>
351 <hr>
352 <div>
353 <address><a href="mailto:j@w1.fi">Jouni Malinen</a></address>
354 <!-- Created: Sat May 22 21:41:58 PDT 2004 -->
355 <!-- hhmts start -->
356 Last modified: Tue Jan 6 20:06:04 EET 2009
357 <!-- hhmts end -->
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