Multiple Networks

Multiple Networks

Table of Contents

• Multiple Networks
• Multiple Security Configs
• Global Options

Often, it’s desirable to have MANA present more than one type of network. Most commonly, this is so that if a device is probing for a network, your rogue AP can respond with multiple security configurations in an attempt to get a connection, credentials or both.

Multiple Networks

Different networks can be created in the hostapd config with the bss keyword. For example, if we take the simplest hostapd.conf as our starting example:

interface=wlan0
ssid=hostapd-mana wifi
channel=6
hw_mode=g

We can add another network with:

bss=wlan0_0
ssid=second wifi

However, hostapd will create the second interface as a +1 offset of the original interface’s MAC address. This regularly causes problems for me, and I find hardcoding the original interface’s MAC address to something ending in :00 fixes it. Thus, the complete simplest config for two networks would be:

interface=wlan0
bssid=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:00
ssid=hostapd-mana wifi
channel=6
hw_mode=g
bss=wlan0_0
ssid=second wifi

Depending on your adapter, it’s often possible to create more networks, for example, to add a third network:

bss=wlan0_1
ssid=third wifi

Multiple Security Configs

Additionally, the security options for each network can be varied. For example, to create an open, WPA/2 PSK and WPA/2 EAP network at the same time, using the options discussed in Creating PSK or EAP Networks:

interface=wlan0
bssid=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:00
ssid=OpenNet
channel=6
hw_mode=g

bss=wlan0_0
ssid=PSKNet
wpa=3
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP
wpa_passphrase=ASecurePassword
auth_algs=3

bss=wlan0_1
ssid=EAPNet
wpa=3
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP
auth_algs=3
ieee8021x=1
eapol_key_index_workaround=0
eap_server=1
eap_user_file=hostapd.eap_user
ca_cert=ca.pem
server_cert=server.pem
private_key=server.key
private_key_passwd=password
dh_file=dhparam.pem

Global Options

Some hostapd config options are global and some are specific to a bss. All MANA specific options are global.