Wi-Fi /etc/config/wireless

See also: How do I enable Wi-Fi?

The wireless radio UCI configuration is located in /etc/config/wireless. If the device has Ethernet ports, the wireless is turned OFF by default.

A typical wireless config file contains at least a pair of:

  • wifi-device - specifies general radio properties like channel, driver type and txpower
  • wifi-iface - defines a wireless network on top of the wifi-device

The wifi-device refer to physical radio devices present on the system. The options present in this section describe properties common across all wireless interfaces on this radio device, such as channel or antenna selection.

A minimal wifi-device declaration may look like the example below. Note that identifiers and options may vary for different chipset types or drivers.

config	wifi-device	'wl0'
	option	type	'broadcom'
	option	channel	'6'
  • wl0 is the internal identifier for the wireless adapter
  • broadcom specifies the chipset/driver type
  • 6 is the wireless channel the device operates on

The possible options for device sections are listed in the table below. Note that not all options are used for all chipset/driver types, refer to the comments for further details.

Name Type Required Default Description
type string yes (autodetected) The type is determined on firstboot during the initial radio device detection - it is usually not required to change it. Used values are broadcom on brcm47xx, or mac80211 for all other platforms
phy string no/yes (autodetected) Specifies the radio phy associated to this section. If present, it is usually autodetected and should not be changed.
macaddr MAC address yes/no (autodetected) Specifies the radio adapter associated to this section, it is not used to change the device mac but to identify the underlying interface.
disabled boolean no 0 Disables the radio adapter if set to 1. Removing this option or setting it to 0 will enable the adapter
channel integer or “auto” yes auto Specifies the wireless channel. “auto” defaults to the lowest available channel, or utilizes the ACS algorithm depending on hardware/driver support.
channels list no (regulatory domain specific) Use specific channels, when channel is in “auto” mode. This option allows hostapd to select one of the provided channels when a channel should be automatically selected. Channels can be provided as range using hyphen ('-') or individual channels can be specified by space (' ') separated values.
hwmode string no (driver default) Specifies the hardware mode, possible values are 11b for 2.4 GHz (used for legacy 802.11b only), 11g for 2.4 GHz (used for 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n) and 11a for 5 GHz (used for 802.11a, 802.11n and 802.11ac). Note that 11ng, 11na, 11n and 11ac are invalid options, this setting should largely be seen as controlling the frequency band. (DEPRECATED since 21.02.2, replaced with band)
band string no (driver default) Specifies the band, possible values are 2g for 2.4 GHz, 5g for 5 GHz, 6g for 6 GHz and 60g for 60 GHz. (NEW since 21.02.2, replaces hwmode)
htmode string no (driver default) Specifies the high throughput mode, used to control 802.11n (HT), 802.11ac (VHT) and 802.11ax (HE). The channel width used for these depends on this configuration. See this section for details. Possible values are: HT20, HT40-, HT40+, HT40, or VHT20, VHT40, VHT80, VHT160, NOHT disables 11n and 11ac, HE20, HE40, HE80, HE160
chanbw integer no 20 Specifies a narrow channel width in MHz, possible values are: 5, 10, 20
ht_capab string no (driver default) Specifies the available capabilities of the radio. The values are autodetected. See here for options (check vs. the version of hostapd installed on your router using the “refs” link)
txpower integer no (driver default) Specifies the maximum desired transmission power in dBm. The actual txpower used depends on regulatory requirements.
diversity boolean no 1 Enables or disables the automatic antenna selection by the driver
rxantenna integer no (driver default) Specifies the antenna for receiving, the value may be driver specific, usually it is 1 for the first and 2 for the second antenna. Specifying 0 enables automatic selection by the driver if supported. This option has no effect if diversity is enabled
txantenna integer no (driver default) Specifies the antenna for transmitting, values are identical to rxantenna
country varies no (driver default) Specifies the country code, affects the available channels and transmission powers. For types mac80211 and broadcom a two letter country code is used (EN or DE). The madwifi driver expects a numeric code.
country_ie boolean no 1 if country is set, otherwise 0 Enables IEEE 802.11d country IE (information element) advertisement in beacon and probe response frames. This IE contains the country code and channel/power map. Requires country.
distance string no (driver default) Distance between the ap and the furthest client in meters.
beacon_int integer no 100 (hostapd default) Set the beacon interval. This is the time interval between beacon frames, measured in units of 1.024 ms. hostapd permits this to be set between 15 and 65535. This option only has an effect on ap and adhoc wifi-ifaces
legacy_rates boolean no 1 in 19.07, 0 in 21.02 0 = Disallow legacy 802.11b data rates, 1 = Allow legacy 802.11b data rates. Legacy or badly behaving devices may require legacy 802.11b rates to interoperate. Airtime efficiency may be significantly reduced where these are used. It is recommended to not allow 802.11b rates where possible. The basic_rate and supported_rates options overrides this option.
require_mode string no none Sets the minimum client capability level mode that connecting clients must support to be allowed to connect. Overrides and sets legacy_rates to 0 to disable legacy 802.11b data rates. Supported values: n = 802.11n, ac = 802.11ac
:!: Warning: setting this value to “ac” causes reliability problems from Apple devices, even if they actually support 802.11ac or better.
cell_density integer no 0, supported in 21.02 Configures data rates based on the coverage cell density. Normal configures basic rates to 6, 12, 24 Mbps if legacy_rates is 0, else to 5.5, 11 Mbps. High configures basic rates to 12, 24 Mbps if legacy_rates is 0, else to the 11 Mbps rate. Very High configures 24 Mbps as the basic rate. Supported rates lower than the minimum basic rate are not offered. The basic_rate and supported_rates options overrides this option. 0 = Disabled, 1 = Normal, 2 = High, 3 = Very High
basic_rate list no (hostapd/driver default) Set the basic data rates. Each basic_rate is measured in kb/s. This option only has an effect on ap and adhoc wifi-ifaces. It is recommended to use the cell_density option instead.
supported_rates list no (hostapd/driver default) Set the supported data rates. Each supported rate is measured in kb/s. This option only has an effect on ap and adhoc wifi-ifaces. This must be a superset of the rates set in basic_rate. The minimum basic rate should also be the minimum supported rate. It is recommended to use the cell_density option instead.
log_level integer no 2 Set the log_level. Supported levels are: 0 = Verbose Debugging, 1 = Debugging, 2 = Informational Messages, 3 = Notification, 4 = Warning
hostapd_options list no none Pass any custom options to hostapd-*.conf. Values passed as-is. For example, used when setting vendor-specific informational element to make Windows clients detect Wi-Fi as metered connection
Name Type Required Default Description
path string no (none) Alternative to phy used to identify the device based paths in /sys/devices
htmode string no (driver default) Specifies the channel width in 802.11n and 802.11ac mode, possible values are:
HT20 (single 20MHz channel),
HT40- (2x 20MHz channels, primary/control channel is upper, secondary channel is below),
HT40+ (2x 20MHz channels, primary/control channel is lower, secondary channel is above),
HT40 (2x 20Mz channels, auto selection of upper or lower secondary channel on versions 14.07 and above),
NONE (disables 802.11n rates and enforce the usage of legacy 802.11 b/g/a rates)
VHT20 / VHT40 / VHT80 / VHT160 (channel width in 802.11ac, extra channels are picked according to the specification)
HE20 / HE40 / HE80 / HE160 (channel width in 802.11ax)
See also: Why can't I use HT40+ with channel 11?
:!: See HT (high throughput) capabilities below for options to customize high-throughput modes
chanbw integer no 20 Specifies a narrow channel width, possible values are: 5 (5MHz channel), 10 (10MHz channel) or 20 (20MHz channel).
:!: Only supported by the ath9k/ath5k driver
noscan boolean no 0 Do not scan for overlapping BSSs in HT40+/- mode.
:!: Turning this on will violate regulatory requirements!
beacon_int integer no 100 (hostapd default) Set the beacon interval. This is the time interval between beacon frames, measured in units of 1.024 ms. hostapd permits this to be set between 15 and 65535. This option only has an effect on ap and adhoc wifi-ifaces.
basic_rate list no (hostapd/driver default) Set the supported basic rates. Each basic_rate is measured in kb/s. This option only has an effect on ap and adhoc wifi-ifaces.
supported_rates list no (hostapd/driver default) Set the supported rates. Each supported_rates is measured in kb/s. This option only has an effect on ap wifi-ifaces.
ht_coex integer no 0 Disable honoring 40 MHz intolerance in coexistence flags of stations. When enabled, the radio will not stop using the 40 MHz channels if the 40 MHz intolerance indication is received from another AP or station.
frag integer no (none) Fragmentation threshold
rts integer no (driver default) Override the RTS/CTS threshold
antenna_gain integer no 0 Reduction in antenna gain from regulatory maximum in dBi

:!: The options below are only used by the proprietary Broadcom driver (type broadcom).

Name Type Required Default Description
frameburst boolean no 0 Enables Broadcom frame bursting (Xpress Technology) if supported
maxassoc integer no (driver default) Limits the maximum allowed number of associated clients
slottime integer no (driver default) Slot time in milliseconds

:!: The options below are only used by the Ubiquiti Nanostation family of devices.

Name Type Required Default Description
antenna string no (driver default) Specifies the antenna, possible values are vertical for internal vertical polarization, horizontal for internal horizontal polarization or external to use the external antenna connector

A complete wireless configuration contains at least one wifi-iface section per adapter to define a wireless network on top of the hardware. Some drivers support multiple wireless networks per device:

  • broadcom if the core revision is greater or equal 9 (see dmesg | grep corerev)
  • mac80211

A minimal example for a wifi-iface declaration is given below.

config	wifi-iface
	option	device		'wl0'
	option	network		'lan'
	option	mode		'ap'
	option	ssid		'MyWifiAP'
	option	encryption	'psk2'
	option	key		'secret passphrase'
  • wl0 is the identifier for the underlying radio hardware
  • lan specifies the network interface that the Wi-Fi is attached to.
  • ap is the opetion mode, Access Point in this example
  • MyWifiAP is the broadcasted SSID
  • psk2 specifies the wireless encryption method, WPA2 PSK here
  • secret passphrase is the secret WPA passphrase, at least 8 characters long

The common configuration options for wifi-iface sections are listed below.

Name Type Required Default Description
ifname string no (driver default) Specifies a custom name for the Wi-Fi interface, which is otherwise automatically named. Maximum length: 15 characters. Note that DSA support does not affect wireless configuration, so this option is still valid.
device string yes (first device id) Specifies the used wireless adapter, must refer to one of the defined wifi-device sections.
network string array yes lan Specifies one or multiple logical network interfaces declared in the network configuration, each one should be a L3 bridge to be able to attach this L2 wireless interface.
mode string yes ap Specifies the operation mode of the wireless network interface controller. Possible values are ap, sta, adhoc, monitor, mesh. NB: for wds mode, use option wds 1 with either option mode 'ap' or option mode 'sta'.
disabled boolean no 0 When set to 1, wireless network is disabled.
ssid string yes OpenWrt The broadcasted SSID of the wireless network and for for managed mode the SSID of the network you’re connecting to.
bssid BSSID address no (driver default) Override the BSSID of the network, only applicable in adhoc or sta mode. In wds mode specifies the BSSID of another AP to create WDS with.
mesh_id Mesh ID no none The Mesh ID as defined in IEEE 802.11s. If set, the wireless interface will join this mesh network when brought up. If not, it is necessary to invoke iw <iface> mesh join <mesh_id> to join a mesh after the interface is brought up.
hidden boolean no 0 Disables the broadcasting of beacon frames if set to 1 and, in doing so, hides the ESSID. Where the ESSID is hidden, clients may fail to roam and airtime efficiency may be significantly reduced.
isolate boolean no 0 Isolates wireless clients from each other, only applicable in ap mode. See this post for details.
doth boolean no 0 Enables 802.11h support.
wmm boolean no 1 Enables WMM. Where Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Mode QoS is disabled, clients may be limited to 802.11a/802.11g rates. Required for 802.11n/802.11ac/802.11ax.
encryption string no none Wireless encryption method. Possible values are listed in the encryption values table, right after this table.
key integer or string no (none) In any WPA-PSK mode, this is a string that specifies the pre-shared passphrase from which the pre-shared key will be derived. The clear text key has to be 8-63 characters long. If a 64-character hexadecimal string is supplied, it will be used directly as the pre-shared key instead. In WEP mode, this can be an integer specifying which key index to use (key1, key2, key3, or key4.) Alternatively, it can be a string specifying a passphrase or key directly, as in key1. In any WPA-Enterprise AP mode, this option has a different interpretation.
key1 string no (none) WEP passphrase or key #1 (selected by the index in key). This string is treated as a passphrase from which the WEP key will be derived. If a 10- or 26-character hexadecimal string is supplied, it will be used directly as the WEP key instead.
key2 string no (none) WEP passphrase or key #2 (selected by the index in key), as in key1.
key3 string no (none) WEP passphrase or key #3 (selected by the index in key), as in key1.
key4 string no (none) WEP passphrase or key #4 (selected by the index in key), as in key1.
macfilter string no disable Specifies the mac filter policy, disable to disable the filter, allow to treat it as whitelist or deny to treat it as blacklist.
maclist list of MAC addresses no (none) List of MAC addresses (divided by spaces) to put into the mac filter.
iapp_interface string no (none) Specifies a network interface to be used for 802.11f (IAPP) - only enabled when defined.
rsn_preauth boolean no 0 Allow preauthentication for WPA2-EAP networks (and advertise it in WLAN beacons). Only works if the specified network interface is a bridge.
ieee80211w integer no 0 Enables MFP (802.11w) support (0 = disabled, 1 = optional, 2 = required). Requires the 'full' version of wpad/hostapd and support from the Wi-Fi driver
ieee80211w_max_timeout integer no (hostapd default) Specifies the 802.11w Association SA Query maximum timeout.
ieee80211w_retry_timeout integer no (hostapd default) Specifies the 802.11w Association SA Query retry timeout.
sae_require_mfp boolean no 1 Require MFP for all associations using SAE. Useful for when 802.11w is set to optional for WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode.
maxassoc integer no (hostapd/driver default) Specifies the maximum number of clients to connect.
macaddr MAC address or string no (hostapd/driver default) Overrides the MAC address used for the Wi-Fi interface. Warning: if the MAC address specified is a multicast address, this override will fail silently. To avoid this problem, ensure that the MAC address specified is a valid unicast MAC address.
When set to random, a new locally administered unicast MAC address is generated and assigned to the iface everytime it is (re-)configured.
dtim_period integer no 2 (hostapd default) Set the DTIM (delivery traffic information message) period. There will be one DTIM per this many beacon frames. This may be set between 1 and 255. This option only has an effect on ap wifi-ifaces.
short_preamble boolean no 1 Set optional use of short preamble
max_listen_int integer no 65535 (hostapd default) Set the maximum allowed STA (client) listen interval. Association will be refused if a STA attempts to associate with a listen interval greater than this value. This option only has an effect on ap wifi-ifaces.
mcast_rate integer no (driver default) Sets the fixed multicast rate, measured in kb/s. Only supported in adhoc and mesh modes
wds boolean no 0 This sets 4-address mode
owe_transition_ssid string no none Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) Transition SSID (only for OPEN and OWE networks)
owe_transition_bssid BSSID address no none Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) Transition BSSID (only for OPEN and OWE networks)
sae_pwe integer no 0 (hostapd default) Sets the SAE mechanism for PWE derivation (0 = hunting-and-pecking only, 1 = hash-to-element only, 2 = both hunting-and-pecking and hash-to-element)
ocv integer no 0 (hostapd/wpa_supplicant default) Configuration option for Operating Channel Validation. When operating as an access point the following options are available: 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, 2 = enabled in workaround mode - Allow STA that claims OCV capability to connect even if the STA doesn't send OCI or negotiate PMF.

When operating in client mode the following options are available: 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled if wpa_supplicant's SME in use. Otherwise enabled only when the driver indicates support for operating channel validation.
start_disabled boolean no 0 For an AP, start with beaconing disabled by default (see start_disabled in hostapd.conf). Note that if an interface with mode sta is also defined on the same radio, start_disabled will be added in the hostapd configuration, regardless of the value set for the AP.
default_disabled boolean no 0 For an STA, add disabled to the default wpa_supplicant network block (to prevent it from scanning by default). The network block can still be enabled, for example by using wpa_cli (see disabled in wpa_supplicant.conf).
hostapd_bss_options list no none Pass any custom options to hostapd-*.conf. Values passed as-is.

Besides the encryption mode, the encryption option also specifies the group and peer ciphers to use. To override the cipher, the value of encryption must be given in the form mode+cipher. See the listing below for possible combinations.

To use the WPA3 modes as access point, it is required to install the hostapd-openssl package.

To use the WPA3 modes as station (client), it is required to install the wpa-supplicant-openssl package.

To support both access point and station modes with WPA3, it is possible to install the wpad-openssl package.

Value Type Ciphers Supported since
none no authentication none
sae WPA3 Personal (SAE) CCMP 19.07
sae-mixed WPA2/WPA3 Personal (PSK/SAE) mixed mode CCMP 19.07
psk2+tkip+ccmp WPA2 Personal (PSK) TKIP, CCMP
psk2+tkip+aes WPA2 Personal (PSK) TKIP, CCMP
psk2+tkip WPA2 Personal (PSK) TKIP
psk2+ccmp WPA2 Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk2+aes WPA2 Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk2 WPA2 Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk+tkip+ccmp WPA Personal (PSK) TKIP, CCMP
psk+tkip+aes WPA Personal (PSK) TKIP, CCMP
psk+tkip WPA Personal (PSK) TKIP
psk+ccmp WPA Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk+aes WPA Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk WPA Personal (PSK) CCMP
psk-mixed+tkip+ccmp WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode TKIP, CCMP
psk-mixed+tkip+aes WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode TKIP, CCMP
psk-mixed+tkip WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode TKIP
psk-mixed+ccmp WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode CCMP
psk-mixed+aes WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode CCMP
psk-mixed WPA/WPA2 Personal (PSK) mixed mode CCMP
wep defaults to “open system” authentication aka wep+open RC4
wep+open “open system” authentication RC4
wep+shared “shared key” authentication RC4
wpa3 WPA3 Enterprise CCMP 19.07
wpa3-mixed WPA3/WPA2 Enterprise CCMP 19.07
wpa2+tkip+ccmp WPA2 Enterprise TKIP, CCMP
wpa2+tkip+aes WPA2 Enterprise TKIP, CCMP
wpa2+ccmp WPA2 Enterprise CCMP
wpa2+aes' WPA2 Enterprise CCMP
wpa2 WPA2 Enterprise CCMP
wpa2+tkip WPA2 Enterprise TKIP
wpa+tkip+ccmp WPA Enterprise TKIP, CCMP
wpa+tkip+aes WPA Enterprise TKIP, AES
wpa+ccmp WPA Enterprise CCMP
wpa+aes WPA Enterprise CCMP
wpa+tkip WPA Enterprise TKIP
wpa WPA Enterprise CCMP
wpa-mixed+tkip+ccmp WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode TKIP, CCMP
wpa-mixed+tkip+aes WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode TKIP, CCMP
wpa-mixed+tkip WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode TKIP
wpa-mixed+ccmp WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode CCMP
wpa-mixed+aes WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode CCMP
wpa-mixed WPA/WPA2 Enterprise mixed mode CCMP
owe Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) CCMP 19.07

Listing of Access Point options for WPA Enterprise.

Name Default Description
server (none) RADIUS server to handle client authentication
port 1812 RADIUS port
key (none) Shared RADIUS secret
wpa_group_rekey 600 WPA Group Cipher rekeying interval in seconds
auth_server (none) RADIUS authentication server to handle client authentication
auth_port 1812 RADIUS authentication port
auth_secret (none) Shared authentication RADIUS secret
auth_cache 0 Disable or enable PMKSA and Opportunistic Key Caching
acct_server (none) RADIUS accounting server to handle client authentication
acct_port 1813 RADIUS accounting port
acct_secret (none) Shared accounting RADIUS secret
nasid (none) NAS ID for RADIUS authentication requests
ownip (none) NAS IP Address for RADIUS authentication requests
dae_client (none) Dynamic Authorization Extension client. This client can send “Disconnect-Request” or “CoA-Request” packets to forcibly disconnect a client or change connection parameters.
dae_port 3799 Port the Dynamic Authorization Extension server listens on.
dae_secret (none) Shared DAE secret.
dynamic_vlan 0 Dynamic VLAN assignment
vlan_naming 1 VLAN Naming
vlan_tagged_interface (none) VLAN Tagged Interface
vlan_bridge (none) VLAN Bridge Naming Scheme - added in https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/43473/
radius_client_addr (none) Source-IP for RADIUS requests.

Listing of Client related options for WPA Enterprise.

Name Default Description
eap_type (none) Defines the EAP protocol, possible values are tls for EAP-TLS and peap or ttls for EAP-PEAP
auth MSCHAPV2 “auth=PAP”/PAP/MSCHAPV2 - Defines the phase 2 (inner) authentication method, only applicable if eap_type is peap or ttls
identity (none) EAP identity to send during authentication
password (none) Password to send during EAP authentication
ca_cert (none) Specifies the path the CA certificate used for authentication
client_cert (none) Specifies the client certificate used for the authentication
priv_key (none) Specifies the path to the private key file used for authentication, only applicable if eap_type is set to tls
priv_key_pwd (none) Password to unlock the private key file, only works in conjunction with priv_key

:!: When using WPA Enterprise type PEAP with Active Directory Servers, the “auth” option must be set to “auth=MSCHAPV2” or “auth=PAP”.

option auth 'auth=MSCHAPV2'

or

option auth 'auth=PAP'

The wpa_psk_file option specifies an external file containing a list of MAC address and PSK/passphrase pairs, allowing for multiple PSK/passphrases.

Name Default Description
wpa_psk_file (none) Location of the wpa_psk file (a common location is /etc/hostapd.wpa_psk)

Example for a wpa_psk file:

00:00:00:00:00:00 secret_passphrase
00:00:00:00:00:00 another_passphrase
00:11:22:33:44:55 passphrase_for_a_specific_mac_only
00:22:33:44:55:66 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
vlanid=3 00:00:00:00:00:00 passphrase_for_vlan_id_3

In the example above, the last line uses the “vlanid=<id>” parameter: Clients can be assigned to VLAN-tagged interfaces depending on the PSK/passphrase. Additional configuration is required, re-using several parameters originally intended for RADIUS-based VLAN mappings:

Name Default Description
dynamic_vlan 0 Dynamic VLAN mode: 0 = disabled, 1 = optional (use default interface when no VLAN ID is used), 2 = required
vlan_file (none) Absolute path to the file containing VLAN ID - network interface mappings (a common location is /etc/hostapd.vlan)
vlan_tagged_interface (none) prefix for the vlan tagged interface (see vlan_naming option)
vlan_naming 1 VLAN naming scheme prefix for the newly created interface: 0 = “vlan<id>”, 1 = “<vlan_tagged_interface>.<id>” (see vlan_tagged_interface option)
vlan_bridge (none) bridge prefix for the bridge to which the wifi and the tagged interface will be added; defaults to “brvlan<id>” if no tagged interface is given and “br<vlan_tagged_interface>.<id>” if a tagged interface is given (see vlan_tagged_interface option)

Note: The vlan-related options above will be ignored or rejected by the default stripped down wpad-basic/hostapd-basic binaries. Like a RADIUS-based setup, these require the fully featured wpad/hostapd.

Example for a vlan file:

# VLAN ID to network interface mapping
1	vlan1
2	vlan2
3	vlan3
100	guest
# Optional wildcard entry matching all VLAN IDs. The first "#" in the interface name will be replaced with the VLAN ID.
# The network interfaces are created and removed dynamically when necessary.
*	vlan#
# Optional third parameter to override the bridge name
101	vlan100	bridge_name
Name Default Description
wpa_disable_eapol_key_retries 0 Workaround for key reinstallation attacks (requires LEDE 17.01.4 or higher)

Complete description copied from upstream hostapd.conf example:

# Workaround for key reinstallation attacks
#
# This parameter can be used to disable retransmission of EAPOL-Key frames that
# are used to install keys (EAPOL-Key message 3/4 and group message 1/2). This
# is similar to setting wpa_group_update_count=1 and
# wpa_pairwise_update_count=1, but with no impact to message 1/4 and with
# extended timeout on the response to avoid causing issues with stations that
# may use aggressive power saving have very long time in replying to the
# EAPOL-Key messages.
#
# This option can be used to work around key reinstallation attacks on the
# station (supplicant) side in cases those station devices cannot be updated
# for some reason. By removing the retransmissions the attacker cannot cause
# key reinstallation with a delayed frame transmission. This is related to the
# station side vulnerabilities CVE-2017-13077, CVE-2017-13078, CVE-2017-13079,
# CVE-2017-13080, and CVE-2017-13081.
#
# This workaround might cause interoperability issues and reduced robustness of
# key negotiation especially in environments with heavy traffic load due to the
# number of attempts to perform the key exchange is reduced significantly. As
# such, this workaround is disabled by default (unless overridden in build
# configuration). To enable this, set the parameter to 1.
#wpa_disable_eapol_key_retries=1

Note that this workaround can't prevent attacks against Tunneled Direct-Link Setup (TDLS). You may also want to add the option tdls_prohibit=1 in order to make such an attack more complicated:

Name Default Description
tdls_prohibit 0 Prohibit the use of TDLS on the network (complicates key reinstallation attacks against TDLS) (requires hostapd/wpad 2016-12-19-ad02e79d-7 or higher)

Listing of Wi-Fi Protected Setup related options.

:!: Support for WPS is provided by packages wpad and hostapd-utils. Default package wpad-mini is not enough.

:!: WPS is possible only when encryption PSK/PSK2 is selected.

Name Type Required Default Description
wps_config list no (none) List of configuration methods. Currentlly supported methods are: push_button.
wps_device_name string no LEDE AP User-friendly description of device; up to 32 octets encoded in UTF-8.
wps_device_type string no 6-0050F204-1 Primary device type. Examples: 1-0050F204-1 (Computer / PC), 1-0050F204-2 (Computer / Server), 5-0050F204-1 (Storage / NAS), 6-0050F204-1 (Network Infrastructure / AP)
wps_label boolean no 0 Enable label configuration method.
wps_manufacturer string no lede-project.org The manufacturer of the device (up to 64 ASCII characters).
wps_pushbutton boolean no 0 Enable push-button configuration method.
wps_pin string no none The PIN to use with WPS-PIN (only in external registrar mode?)

Minimal steps needed to get WPS running:

  • Add option wps_pushbutton '1 ' to a config wifi-iface section that is configured for WPA2-PSK in /etc/config/wireless
  • opkg update
  • opkg remove wpad-mini
  • opkg install wpad hostapd-utils
  • reboot

After rebooting, instead of pushing the WPS button, you can manually initiate the WPS process (which is safer than using the button if it doubles as a reset button):

hostapd_cli wps_pbc

When using WPS-PIN:

  • Add option wps_label '1 ' to a config wifi-iface section that is configured for WPA2-PSK in /etc/config/wireless
  • opkg update
  • opkg remove wpad-mini
  • opkg install wpad hostapd-utils
  • reboot

After rebooting, the WPS PIN needs to be given to hostapd each time a station tries to connect. The PIN may NOT be used multiple times, as an active attacker can recover half of it during each try. The “any” keyword can be replaced by the specific stations EUUID, as printed in hostapd log.

hostapd_cli wps_pin any $PIN

Example:

# /etc/config/wireless
...
config wifi-iface
	option device 'radio0'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'My-WiFi-Home'
	option network 'lan'
	option encryption 'psk2'
	option key 'WiFipassword'
	option ieee80211w '0'
	option wps_pushbutton '1'

This function needs the full version of hostapd or wpad.

Name Type Required Default Description
ieee80211k boolean no 0 Enables Radio Resource Measurement (802.11k) support.
rrm_neighbor_report boolean no Value of ieee80211k Enable neighbor report via radio measurements.
rrm_beacon_report boolean no Value of ieee80211k Enable beacon report via radio measurements.

This function needs the full version of hostapd or wpad.

Name Type Required Default Description
ieee80211v (Removed) boolean no 0 Enables BSS transition (802.11v) support. This option was removed in this commit.
time_advertisement integer no 0 Time advertisement. 0 is disabled and 2 is enabled (see hostapd's time_advertisement setting).
time_zone string no (none) Local time zone as specified in 8.3 of IEEE Std 1003.1-2004.
wnm_sleep_mode boolean no 0 WNM-Sleep Mode (extended sleep mode for stations).
bss_transition boolean no 0 BSS Transition Management.
Name Type Required Default Description
ieee80211r boolean no 0 Enables fast BSS transition (802.11r) support.
nasid string no (BSSID without colon) PMK-R0 Key Holder identifier (dot11FTR0KeyHolderID). A 1 to 48 octet identifier.
mobility_domain string no (first 4 bytes of md5sum of the SSID) Mobility Domain identifier (dot11FTMobilityDomainID, MDID). MDID is used to indicate a group of APs (within an ESS, i.e., sharing the same SSID) between which a STA can use Fast BSS Transition. 2-octet identifier as a hex string.
r0_key_lifetime integer no 10000 Default lifetime of the PMK-RO in minutes [1-65535].
r1_key_holder string no (BSSID) (hostapd default) PMK-R1 Key Holder identifier (dot11FTR1KeyHolderID). A 6-octet identifier as a hex string.
reassociation_deadline integer no 1000 Reassociation deadline in time units (TUs / 1.024 ms, 1000-65535).
:!: Warning: Some devices do not function properly with the default value of 1000. Using 20000 which is the default used on Cisco gear appears to resolve these issues.
r0kh string no ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff,*,$key List of R0KHs in the same Mobility Domain. Valid format: <MAC address>,<NAS Identifier>,<256-bit key as hex string> This list is used to map R0KH-ID (NAS Identifier) to a destination MAC address when requesting PMK-R1 key from the R0KH that the STA used during the Initial Mobility Domain Association. Key is generated with thep of auth_secret, so this should be the same for all APs.
r1kh string no 00:00:00:00:00:00,00:00:00:00:00:00,$key List of R1KHs in the same Mobility Domain. Valid format: <MAC address>,<R1KH-ID>,<256-bit key as hex string> This list is used to map R1KH-ID to a destination MAC address when sending PMK-R1 key from the R0KH. This is also the list of authorized R1KHs in the MD that can request PMK-R1 keys.
pmk_r1_push boolean no 0 Whether PMK-R1 push is enabled at R0KH.
:!: Warning: If WPA3 (SAE) is enabled, setting this will break fast BSS transition (802.11r).
ft_over_ds boolean no 1 Whether to enable FT-over-DS.
:!: Warning: the default value of 1 for “FT over the DS” is known to cause issues especially with Apple devices. Setting this to 0 which instead uses “FT over the Air” is known to fix these issues.
ft_psk_generate_local boolean no 1 Whether to generate FT response locally for PSK networks. This avoids use of PMK-R1 push/pull from other APs with FT-PSK networks as the required information (PSK and other session data) is already locally available.
:!: Warning: For WPA3-only (SAE), setting this will break fast BSS transition (802.11r). For WPA2/3 mixed mode, you also need to disable this. Note that Fast Transition should continue working as r0kh and r1kh are automatically generated by default or you may elect to set r0kh & r1kh manually.
Name Type Required Default Description
disassoc_low_ack boolean no 1 Disassociate stations based on excessive transmission failures or other indications of connection loss. This depends on the driver capabilities and may not be available with all drivers.
max_inactivity integer no 300 Station inactivity limit in seconds: If a station does not send anything in ap_max_inactivity seconds, an empty data frame is sent to it in order to verify whether it is still in range. If this frame is not ACKed, the station will be disassociated and then deauthenticated.
skip_inactivity_poll boolean no 0 The inactivity polling can be disabled to disconnect stations based on inactivity timeout so that idle stations are more likely to be disconnected even if they are still in range of the AP.
max_listen_interval integer no 65535 Maximum allowed Listen Interval (how many Beacon periods STAs are allowed to remain asleep).

Wireless interfaces are brought up and down with the wifi command. To (re)start the wireless after a configuration change, use wifi, to disable the wireless, run wifi down. In case your platform carries multiple wireless devices it is possible to start or run down each of them individually by making the wifi command be followed by the device name as a second parameter. Note: The wifi command has an optional first parameter that defaults to up , i.e. start the device. To make the second parameter indeed a second parameter it is mandatory to give a first parameter which can be anything except down. E.g. to start the interface wlan2 issue: wifi up wlan2; to stop that interface: wifi down wlan2. If the platform has also e.g. wlan0 and wlan1 these will not be touched by stopping or starting wlan2 selectively.

To rebuild the configuration file, e.g. after installing a new wireless driver, remove the existing wireless configuration (if any) and use the wifi config command:

rm -f /etc/config/wireless
wifi config

The Wi-Fi channel width is the range of frequencies i.e. how broad the signal is for transferring data. Generally speaking, the bigger the channel width, the more data can be transmitted over the signal. But as with everything there are drawbacks. With larger channel widths, interference with others Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth becomes a much larger issue, and making solid connections becomes much harder as well. Think of it like a highway. The wider the road, the more traffic (data) can pass through. On the other hand, the more cars (routers) you have on the road, the more congested the traffic becomes.

Wi-Fi standard allows 10, 20, 22, 40, 80 and 160 MHz but 10MHz is not used anymore, the 80 and 160 can be used only with 5 GHz frequency, and certain devices not being able to connect to APs with channel widths more than 40Mhz.

By default, the 2.4 GHz frequency uses a 20 MHz channel width. A 20MHz channel width is wide enough to span one channel. A 40 MHz channel width bonds two neighbouring 20 MHz channels together, forming a 40 MHz channel width; therefore, it allows for greater speed and faster transfer rates. One “control” channel functions as the main channel, and the other “extension” as the auxiliary channel. The main channel sends Beacon packets and data packets, and the auxiliary channel sends other packets. The extension channel can either be “above” or “below” the control channel, as long as it doesn't go outside the band. For example, if your control channel is 1, your extension channel has to “above”, because anything below channel 1 would be below the lowest frequency allowed in the 2.4GHz ISM band. The extension channel has to be contiguous with the edge of the control channel, without overlapping.

HT40+ means that centre frequency of the main 20 MHz channel is higher than that of the auxiliary channel, and HT40- otherwise. For example, if the centre frequency 149 and the centre frequency 153 reside on two 20 MHz channels, 149plus indicates that the two 20 MHz channels are bundled to form a 40 MHz channel.

When the HT40 mode is used in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, there is only one non-overlapping channel. Therefore, you are not advised to use the HT40 mode in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

  • HT20 High Throughput 20MHz, 802.11n
  • HT40 High Throughput 40MHz, 802.11n
  • HT40- High Throughput 40MHz, 802.11n, control channel is below extension channel.
  • HT40+ High Throughput 40MHz, 802.11n, control channel is above extension channel.
  • VHT20 Very High Throughput 20MHz, Supported by 802.11ac
  • VHT40 Very High Throughput 40MHz, Supported by 802.11ac
  • VHT80 Very High Throughput 80MHz, Supported by 802.11ac
  • VHT160 Very High Throughput 160MHz, Supported by 802.11ac
  • NOHT disables 11n

The default max channel width VT20 i.e. 20MHz supports a max speed of 150Mbps. Increasing this to 40MHz will increase the maximum theoretical speed to 300Mbps. The catch is that in areas with a lot of Wi-Fi traffic (and Bluetooth etc. which share the same radio frequencies), 40MHz may decrease your overall speed. Devices should detect interference when using 40MHz, and drop back to 20MHz. Edit htmode options in the file /etc/config/wireless and restart the Wi-Fi AP to test various channel widths. Note that option htmode should be set to either HT40+ (for channels 1-7) or HT40- (for channels 5-11) or simply HT40.

When using the mac80211 device, you can choose to enable/disable a number of high-throughput capabilities by setting any of the following options in the wifi-device section. Most capabilities are detected and enabled by default (in Barrier Breaker or later).

The following capabilities relate to 802.11n operation, and are enabled when the htmode option is set to any of HT20 HT40 HT40- HT40+ VHT20 VHT40 VHT80 or VHT160. Capabilities supported by a device can be queried with the iw list command, and are listed in the “Capabilities” section, refer to https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/tree/hostapd/hostapd.conf for a description of the options (search for ht_capab on that web page).

Name Type Default Capability Description
ldpc boolean 1 LDPC LDPC (Low-Density Parity-Check code) capability
greenfield boolean 0 GF Receive Greenfield - treats pre-80211n traffic as noise.
:!: Warning: this can cause significant packet collisions and reduction in performance if older pre-n (a/b/g) traffic is present in the local area (including other networks which you don't control); it is disabled by default for a reason.
short_gi_20 boolean 1 SHORT-GI-20 Short GI (guard interval) for 20 MHz
short_gi_40 boolean 1 SHORT-GI-40 Short GI for 40 MHz
tx_stbc integer 1 TX-STBC Transmit STBC (Space-Time Block Coding)
rx_stbc integer 3 RX-STBC1
RX-STBC12
RX-STBC123
Receive STBC:
1 - one spatial stream,
2 - one or two spatial streams,
3 - one, two, or three spatial streams,
0 - disables capability
max_amsdu boolean 1 MAX-AMSDU-7935 Maximum A-MSDU length of 7935 octets (3839 octets if option set to 0)
dsss_cck_40 boolean 1 DSSS_CCK-40 DSSS/CCK Mode in 40 MHz allowed in Beacon, Measurement Pilot and Probe Response frames

The following capabilities relate to 802.11ac operation, and are enabled when the htmode option is set to any of VHT20, VHT40, VHT80, or VHT160. Capabilities supported by the device can be queried with the iw list command and are listed in the “VHT Capabilities” section.

Name Type Default Capability Description
rxldpc boolean 1 RXLDPC Supports receiving LDPC coded pkts
short_gi_80 boolean 1 SHORT-GI-80 Supports reception of packets transmitted with TXVECTOR
params format equal to VHT and CBW = 80Mhz
short_gi_160 boolean 1 SHORT-GI-160 Supports reception of packets transmitted with TXVECTOR
params format equal to VHT and CBW = 160Mhz
tx_stbc_2by1 boolean 1 TX-STBC-2BY1 Supports transmission of at least 2×1 STBC
:!: currently ignored in trunk
su_beamformer boolean 1 SU-BEAMFORMER Single user beamformer
su_beamformee boolean 1 SU-BEAMFORMEE Single user beamformee
mu_beamformer boolean 1 MU-BEAMFORMER Supports operation as an MU beamformer
mu_beamformee boolean 1 MU-BEAMFORMEE Supports operation as an MU beamformee
vht_txop_ps boolean 1 VHT-TXOP-PS 0 = VHT AP doesn't support VHT TXOP PS (Power Save) mode (OR) VHT STA not in VHT TXOP PS mode,
1 = VHT AP supports VHT TXOP PS mode (OR) VHT STA is in VHT TXOP power save mode
htc_vht boolean 1 HTC-VHT STA supports receiving a VHT variant HT Control field.
rx_antenna_pattern boolean 1 RX-ANTENNA-PATTERN Rx antenna pattern does not change during the lifetime of an association
tx_antenna_pattern boolean 1 TX-ANTENNA-PATTERN Tx antenna pattern does not change during the lifetime of an association
vht_max_a_mpdu_len_exp integer 7 MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP<0-7> Indicates the maximum length of A-MPDU pre-EOF padding that the STA can recv
vht_max_mpdu integer 11454 MAX-MPDU-7991
MAX-MPDU-11454
Maximum MPDU length
rx_stbc integer 4 0 - not supported,
1 - RX-STBC-1,
2 - RX-STBC-12,
3 - RX-STBC-123,
4 - RX-STBC-1234
Supports reception of PPDUs using STBC:
1 - one spatial stream,
2 - one or two spatial streams,
etc.
:!: currently used incorrectly in trunk
vht_link_adapt integer 3 VHT-LINK-ADAPT<0-3> TA supports link adaptation using VHT variant HT Control field
vht160 integer 2 VHT160
VHT160-80PLUS80
Supported channel widths:
0 - 160MHz and 80+80 MHz not supported, 1 - 160 MHz supported,
2 - 160MHz and 80+80 MHz supported

In many countries, operating Wi-Fi devices on some or all channels in the 5GHz band requires radar detection and DFS (explanation). If you define a channel in your wireless config that requires DFS according to your country regulations, the 5GHz radio device won’t start up unless the firmware image is able to provide DFS support (i.e. it is both included and enabled). More technical details of the Linux implementation can be found here. DFS works as follows in Linux: The driver detects radar pulses and reports this to nl80211 where the information is processed. If a series of pulses matches one of the defined radar patterns, this will be reported to the user space application (e.g. hostapd) which in turn reacts by switching to another channel.

The following configuration specifies channel 104 which needs DFS support as implicitly stated with country code DE:

config	wifi-device		'radio0'
	option	type		'mac80211'
	option	channel		'104'
	option	hwmode		'11a'
	option	path		'pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0'
	option	htmode		'HT20'
	option	country		'DE'
 
config	wifi-iface
	option	device		'radio0'
	option	network		'lan'
	option	mode		'ap'
	option	ssid		'OpenWrt'
	option	encryption	'none'

You can check the country (regulatory domain) your Wi-Fi card thinks it must conform to with

iw reg get

If in doubt, double check your hostapd-phy.conf to make sure it contains the following values, and that your country code is set:

country_code=DE
ieee80211n=1
ieee80211d=1
ieee80211h=1
hw_mode=a

If radar detection is working, DFS channels will show up like this (here for Belgium, iw phy1 info output trimmed):

Frequencies:
* 5220 MHz [44] (17.0 dBm)
* 5240 MHz [48] (17.0 dBm)
* 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (radar detection)
DFS state: usable (for 2155257 sec)
DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
* 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (radar detection)
DFS state: usable (for 2155257 sec)
DFS CAC time: 60000 ms

:!: When DFS is on, there will be a delay before the interface is enabled (e.g. after reboot). During this time period (often 60 seconds, and determined by local reglations) luci will report the interface is disabled. This time period is used to detect the presence of other signals on the channel (Channel Availability Check Time). This process can be monitored with:

logread -f

If you select a channel that requires DFS in your country and enable HT40, this may result in the DFS start_dfs_cac() failed error (visible with logread):

Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf
wlan1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->COUNTRY_UPDATE
wlan1: interface state COUNTRY_UPDATE->HT_SCAN
wlan1: interface state HT_SCAN->DFS
wlan1: DFS-CAC-START freq=5680 chan=136 sec_chan=-1, width=0, seg0=0, seg1=0, cac_time=60s
DFS start_dfs_cac() failed, -1
Interface initialization failed
wlan1: interface state DFS->DISABLED
wlan1: AP-DISABLED
hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlan1 wasn't started

Changing your configuration to HT20 should resolve this.

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  • Last modified: 2024/01/05 21:50
  • by odmdas