Airodump-ng
Airodump-ng Description
airodump-ng - a wireless packet capture tool for aircrack-ng.
airodump-ng is used for packet capturing of raw 802.11 frames for the intent of using them with aircrack-ng. If you have a GPS receiver connected to the computer, airodump-ng is capable of logging the coordinates of the found access points. Additionally, airodump-ng writes out a text file containing the details of all access points and clients seen.
Homepage: http://aircrack-ng.org/
Author: Thomas d’Otreppe, Christophe Devine
License: GPLv2
Airodump-ng Help
usage:
airodump-ng <options> <interface>[,,...]
Options:
--ivs : Save only captured IVs
--gpsd : Use GPSd
--write <prefix> : Dump file prefix
-w : same as --write
--beacons : Record all beacons in dump file
--update <secs> : Display update delay in seconds
--showack : Prints ack/cts/rts statistics
-h : Hides known stations for --showack
-f <msecs> : Time in ms between hopping channels
--berlin <secs> : Time before removing the AP/client
from the screen when no more packets
are received (Default: 120 seconds)
-r <file> : Read packets from that file
-x <msecs> : Active Scanning Simulation
--manufacturer : Display manufacturer from IEEE OUI list
--uptime : Display AP Uptime from Beacon Timestamp
--wps : Display WPS information (if any)
--output-format
<formats> : Output format. Possible values:
pcap, ivs, csv, gps, kismet, netxml
--ignore-negative-one : Removes the message that says
fixed channel <interface>: -1
--write-interval
<seconds> : Output file(s) write interval in seconds
Filter options:
--encrypt <suite> : Filter APs by cipher suite
--netmask <netmask> : Filter APs by mask
--bssid <bssid> : Filter APs by BSSID
--essid <essid> : Filter APs by ESSID
--essid-regex <regex> : Filter APs by ESSID using a regular
expression
-a : Filter unassociated clients
By default, airodump-ng hop on 2.4GHz channels.
You can make it capture on other/specific channel(s) by using:
--channel <channels> : Capture on specific channels
--band <abg> : Band on which airodump-ng should hop
-C <frequencies> : Uses these frequencies in MHz to hop
--cswitch <method> : Set channel switching method
0 : FIFO (default)
1 : Round Robin
2 : Hop on last
-s : same as --cswitch
--help : Displays this usage screen
Airodump-ng Options
-H, --help
Shows the help screen.
-i, --ivs
It only saves IVs (only useful for cracking). If this option is specified, you have to give a dump prefix (--write option)
-g, --gpsd
Indicate that airodump-ng should try to use GPSd to get coordinates.
-w <prefix>, --write <prefix>
Is the dump file prefix to use. If this option is not given, it will only show data on the screen. Beside this file a CSV file with the same filename as the capture will be created.
-e, --beacons
It will record all beacons into the cap file. By default it only records one beacon for each network.
-u <secs>, --update <secs>
Delay <secs> seconds delay between display updates (default: 1 second). Useful for slow CPU.
--showack
Prints ACK/CTS/RTS statistics. Helps in debugging and general injection optimization. It is indication if you inject, inject too fast, reach the AP, the frames are valid encrypted frames. Allows one to detect "hidden" stations, which are too far away to capture high bitrate frames, as ACK frames are sent at 1Mbps.
-h
Hides known stations for --showack.
--berlin <secs>
Time before removing the AP/client from the screen when no more packets are received (Default: 120 seconds). See airodump-ng source for the history behind this option ;).
-c <channel>[,
Indicate the channel(s) to listen to. By default airodump-ng hop on all 2.4GHz channels.
-b <abg>, --band <abg>
Indicate the band on which airodump-ng should hop. It can be a combination of 'a', 'b' and 'g' letters ('b' and 'g' uses 2.4GHz and 'a' uses 5GHz). Incompatible with --channel option.
-s <method>, --cswitch <method>
Defines the way airodump-ng sets the channels when using more than one card. Valid values: 0 (FIFO, default value), 1 (Round Robin) or 2 (Hop on last).
-r <file>
Reads packet from a file.
-x <msecs>
Active Scanning Simulation (send probe requests and parse the probe responses).
-M, --manufacturer
Display a manufacturer column with the information obtained from the IEEE OUI list. See airodump-ng-oui-update(8)
-U, --uptime
Display APs uptime obtained from its beacon timestamp.
-W, --wps
Display a WPS column with WPS version, config method(s), AP Setup Locked obtained from APs beacon or probe response (if any).
--output-format <formats>
Define the formats to use (separated by a comma). Possible values are: pcap, ivs, csv, gps, kismet, netxml. The default values are: pcap, csv, kismet, kismet-newcore. 'pcap' is for recording a capture in pcap format, 'ivs' is for ivs format (it is a shortcut for --ivs). 'csv' will create an airodump-ng CSV file, 'kismet' will create a kismet csv file and 'kismet-newcore' will create the kismet netxml file. 'gps' is a shortcut for --gps. Theses values can be combined with the exception of ivs and pcap.
-I <seconds>, --write-interval <seconds>
Output file(s) write interval for CSV, Kismet CSV and Kismet NetXML in seconds (minimum: 1 second). By default: 5 seconds. Note that an interval too small might slow down airodump-ng.
--ignore-negative-one
Removes the message that says 'fixed channel <interface>: -1'.
Filter options:
-t <OPN|WEP|WPA|WPA1|WPA2>, --encrypt <OPN|WEP|WPA|WPA1|WPA2>
It will only show networks matching the given encryption. May be specified more than once: '-t OPN -t WPA2'
-d <bssid>, --bssid <bssid>
It will only show networks, matching the given bssid.
-m <mask>, --netmask <mask>
It will only show networks, matching the given bssid ^ netmask combination. Need --bssid (or -d) to be specified.
-a
It will only show associated clients.
-N, --essid
Filter APs by ESSID. Can be used several times to match a set of ESSID.
-R, --essid-regex
Filter APs by ESSID using a regular expression.
Airodump-ng Interaction
airodump-ng can receive and interpret key strokes while running. The following list describes the currently assigned keys and supposed actions:
a Select active areas by cycling through these display options: AP+STA; AP+STA+ACK; AP only; STA only
d Reset sorting to defaults (Power)
i Invert sorting algorithm
m Mark the selected AP or cycle through different colors if the selected AP is already marked
r (De-)Activate realtime sorting - applies sorting algorithm everytime the display will be redrawn
s Change column to sort by, which currently includes: First seen; BSSID; PWR level; Beacons; Data packets; Packet rate; Channel; Max. data rate; Encryption; Strongest Ciphersuite; Strongest Authentication; ESSID
SPACE Pause display redrawing/ Resume redrawing
TAB Enable/Disable scrolling through AP list
UP Select the AP prior to the currently marked AP in the displayed list if available
DOWN Select the AP after the currently marked AP if available
If an AP is selected or marked, all the connected stations will also be selected or marked with the same color as the corresponding Access Point.
Airodump-ng Usage Example
airodump-ng -c 9 wlan0mon
Here is an example screenshot:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CH 9 ][ Elapsed: 1 min ][ 2007-04-26 17:41 ][ BAT: 2 hours 10 mins ][ WPA handshake: 00:14:6C:7E:40:80
BSSID PWR RXQ Beacons #Data, #/s CH MB ENC CIPHER AUTH ESSID
00:09:5B:1C:AA:1D 11 16 10 0 0 11 54. OPN <length: 7>
00:14:6C:7A:41:81 34 100 57 14 1 9 11 WEP WEP bigbear
00:14:6C:7E:40:80 32 100 752 73 2 9 54 WPA TKIP PSK teddy
BSSID STATION PWR Rate Lost Frames Probes
00:14:6C:7A:41:81 00:0F:B5:32:31:31 51 11-11 2 14 bigbear
(not associated) 00:14:A4:3F:8D:13 19 11-11 0 4 mossy
00:14:6C:7A:41:81 00:0C:41:52:D1:D1 -1 11-2 0 5 bigbear
00:14:6C:7E:40:80 00:0F:B5:FD:FB:C2 35 36-24 0 99 teddy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BSSID MAC
address of the access point. In the Client section, a BSSID of "(not associated)" means that the client is not associated with any AP. In this unassociated state, it is searching for an AP to connect with.
PWR
Signal level reported by the card. Its signification depends on the driver, but as the signal gets higher you get closer to the AP or the station. If the BSSID PWR is -1, then the driver doesn't support signal level reporting. If the PWR is -1 for a limited number of stations then this is for a packet which came from the AP to the client but the client transmissions are out of range for your card. Meaning you are hearing only 1/2 of the communication. If all clients have PWR as -1 then the driver doesn't support signal level reporting.
RXQ
Only shown when on a fixed channel. Receive Quality as measured by the percentage of packets (management and data frames) successfully received over the last 10 seconds. It's measured over all management and data frames. That's the clue, this allows you to read more things out of this value. Lets say you got 100 percent RXQ and all 10 (or whatever the rate) beacons per second coming in. Now all of a sudden the RXQ drops below 90, but you still capture all sent beacons. Thus you know that the AP is sending frames to a client but you can't hear the client nor the AP sending to the client (need to get closer). Another thing would be, that you got a 11MB card to monitor and capture frames (say a prism2.5) and you have a very good position to the AP. The AP is set to 54MBit and then again the RXQ drops, so you know that there is at least one 54MBit client connected to the AP.
Beacons
Number of beacons sent by the AP. Each access point sends about ten beacons per second at the lowest rate (1M), so they can usually be picked up from very far.
#Data
Number of captured data packets (if WEP, unique IV count), including data broadcast packets.
#/s
Number of data packets per second measure over the last 10 seconds.
CH
Channel number (taken from beacon packets). Note: sometimes packets from other channels are captured even if airodump-ng is not hopping, because of radio interference.
MB
The maximum speed supported by the AP. If MB = 11, it is 802.11b, if MB = 22 it is 802.11b+, if this field is 54, then it is 802.11g. The dot (after the number) means short preamble support, “e” indicates the network has QoS enabled (802.11e). Speeds up to 300 (65, 130, 135, 270) mean it's 802.11n. 802.11ac has speeds up to 1300 Mbps (780 for example) at 5 GHz plus up to 450 Mbps at 2.4 GHz.
ENC
Encryption algorithm in use. OPN = no encryption,"WEP?" = WEP or higher (not enough data to choose between WEP and WPA/WPA2), WEP (without the question mark) indicates static or dynamic WEP, and WPA or WPA2 if TKIP or CCMP or MGT is present.
CIPHER
The cipher detected. One of CCMP, WRAP, TKIP, WEP, WEP40, or WEP104. Not mandatory, but TKIP is typically used with WPA and CCMP is typically used with WPA2. WEP40 is displayed when the key index is greater then 0. The standard states that the index can be 0-3 for 40bit and should be 0 for 104 bit.
AUTH
The authentication protocol used. One of MGT (WPA/WPA2 using a separate authentication server), SKA (shared key for WEP), PSK (pre-shared key for WPA/WPA2), or OPN (open for WEP).
WPS
This is only displayed when --wps (or -W) is specified. If the AP supports WPS, the first field of the column indicates version supported. The second field indicates WPS config methods (can be more than one method, separated by comma): USB = USB method, ETHER = Ethernet, LAB = Label, DISP = Display, EXTNFC = External NFC, INTNFC = Internal NFC, NFCINTF = NFC Interface, PBC = Push Button, KPAD = Keypad. Locked is displayed when AP setup is locked.
ESSID
The so-called "SSID", which can be empty if SSID hiding is activated. In this case, airodump-ng will try to recover the SSID from probe responses and association requests.
STATION
MAC address of each associated station or stations searching for an AP to connect with. Clients not currently associated with an AP have a BSSID of "(not associated)".
Rate
This is only displayed when using a single channel. The first number is the last data rate from the AP (BSSID) to the Client (STATION). The second number is the last data rate from Client (STATION) to the AP (BSSID).
Lost
It means lost packets coming from the client. To determine the number of packets lost, there is a sequence field on every non-control frame, so you can subtract the second last sequence number from the last sequence number and you know how many packets you have lost.
Packets
The number of data packets sent by the client.
Probes
The ESSIDs probed by the client. These are the networks the client is trying to connect to if it is not currently connected.
The first part is the detected access points. The second part is a list of detected wireless clients, stations. By relying on the signal power, one can even physically pinpoint the location of a given station.
How to install Airodump-ng
The program is pre-installed on Kali Linux.
Installation on Linux (Debian, Mint, Ubuntu)
Airmon-ng is included in the Aircrack-ng suite. To get Airmon-ng it is enough to install Aircrack-ng.
sudo apt-get install aircrack-ng
Airodump-ng Screenshots
Airodump-ng Tutorials
- Main documentation: Airodump-ng
- How to detect all Wi-Fi devices in the area?
- Virtual Wi-Fi interfaces for simultaneous use of a Wi-Fi adapter in different modes
- Three ways to put wireless interface in Monitor mode and Managed mode
- USB Wi-Fi Adapters with monitor mode and wireless injection (100% compatible with Kali Linux) 2021
Related tools
- Aircrack-ng (Suite of Tools) (100%)
- Aircrack-ng (Tool) (100%)
- Aireplay-ng (100%)
- Airmon-ng (100%)
- AtEar (100%)
- Penetrator-WPS (RANDOM - 50%)
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