[rangr000t]

Hello. I have a strange issue with Kali on two different computers.

I'm kind of a noob, and I'm trying to learn legally by attacking my own router, etc.

I'm trying to get acquainted with airmon-ng and WPA2 cracking.
I'm using an Alfa AWUS036NEH WIFI USB Dongle

I have 1 Laptop and 1 Desktop.
Both are running Windows 10 Both are using VMware Workstation 14 Pro Both are using Kali Linux 2018.2

I've only ever been able to run airodump-ng and have it successfully return AP's on the laptop.

The desktop will recognize the Alfa card, it will put it into monitor mode, it will run airmon and airodump, but there aren't any results on any channel.

Now here is the weird thing...

When I actually am able to get it working on my laptop, it goes like this:

Code

ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
ifconfig wlan0 up

airmon-ng start kill
airmon-ng start wlan0mon

airodump-ng wlan0

And it will run, but show NOTHING.

Then, I open up the VMware Virtual Machine Settings for Kali,

I go USB Controller > And I changed USB compatibility from 2.0 to 3.0

Click Ok.

Then all I do is run airodump-ng wlan0 again..... and it somehow starts printing results. Changed nothing else except USB comparability.

There's only two ports on my laptop and both of them are USB 3.0.

If I turn the VM off on the laptop after airodump-ng has been successfully run, turn it back on, run it... it won't work. The only way to get it working on the laptop is changing USB comparability.

That's all for my laptop.
____

Desktop:

I've never ever gotten airodump to work successfully on the desktop.

The desktop has 2 rear (motherboard) USB 3.0 slots and 2 front (case, connected by header) 3.0 slots.

If I stick the Alfa into a 3.0 slot on the Desktop, windows will recognize it, but VMware will not recognize it no matter what (even messing with USB compatibility options).

VMware will recognize the Alfa if I stick it in a USB 2.0, I can put it into monitor mode, etc... but airodump doesn't return any results ever. Doesn't matter what channel.




TL:DR - I can only get airodump to print results on my laptop, and that's only after I've changed the USB comparability in VMware settings mid-session. And even then it won't work anymore if I reboot.


Let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks.

[shaberu]

try like this

Code

airmon-ng check kill
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
ifconfig wlan0 up
airodump-ng wlan0

[rangr000t]

Still no dice. Thanks for trying.

Code

root@kali:~# airmon-ng check kill

Killing these processes:

  PID Name
  559 wpa_supplicant
  782 dhclient

root@kali:~# ifconfig wlan0 down
root@kali:~# iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
root@kali:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
root@kali:~# airodump-ng wlan0


[CH  1 ][ Elapsed: 1 min ][ 2018-07-17 23:01                                  
                                                                             
BSSID              PWR  Beacons    #Data, #/s  CH  MB   ENC  CIPHER AUTH ESSID
                                                                             
                                                                             
BSSID              STATION            PWR   Rate    Lost    Frames  Probe    

                                                                             

iwconfig and ifconfig results:

Code

root@kali:~# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
       inet  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast
       inet6   prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
       ether   txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
       RX packets 174  bytes 47055 (45.9 KiB)
       RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
       TX packets 21  bytes 1855 (1.8 KiB)
       TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
       inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
       inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
       loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
       RX packets 20  bytes 1116 (1.0 KiB)
       RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
       TX packets 20  bytes 1116 (1.0 KiB)
       TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=867<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,PROMISC,ALLMULTI>  mtu 1500
       unspec 00-C0-CA-96-22-75-30-3A-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  txqueuelen 1000  (UNSPEC)
       RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
       RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
       TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
       TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

root@kali:~# iwconfig
eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11  Mode:Monitor  Frequency:2.442 GHz  Tx-Power=20 dBm  
         Retry short  long limit:2   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Power Management:off
         
lo        no wireless extensions.

root@kali:~#

[shaberu]

out of curiosity try reinstalling the firmware with

Code

apt-get remove firmware-atheros
apt-get install firmware-atheros

than try

Code

airmon-ng check kill
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
ifconfig wlan0 up
airodump-ng wlan0

[rangr000t]

I got it to work on the laptop using your way (airmon-ng check kill being first was important). Also it still does seem like USB Controller compatibility HAS to be set to USB 3.0 in the VMware settings or it won't work.

So thank you there.

Just odd I can't get it working on the Desktop. I'm thinking the issue has to do with USB compatibility/drivers and VMware.

Laptop has 2 USB ports. Both are USB 3.0, but probably backwards compatible with 2.0.

I mounted a flash drive on the laptop. Windows can see the flash drive. VMware and Kali can see the flash drive (USB compatibility still set to 3.0).

I mount the same flash drive on my Desktop in a USB 3.0 slot. Windows can see it. But VMware and Kali cannot.

So ultimately I think that possibly confirms my suspicions about there being a USB issue. The host can use and see what is mounted to USB 3.0, but VMware and the VM OS cannot.

Could be a coincidence and there is another issue, but this is where I'm at.

[jalfraag]

I got it to work on the laptop using your way (airmon-ng check kill being first was important). Also it still does seem like USB Controller compatibility HAS to be set to USB 3.0 in the VMware settings or it won't work.

So thank you there.

Just odd I can't get it working on the Desktop. I'm thinking the issue has to do with USB compatibility/drivers and VMware.

Laptop has 2 USB ports. Both are USB 3.0, but probably backwards compatible with 2.0.

I mounted a flash drive on the laptop. Windows can see the flash drive. VMware and Kali can see the flash drive (USB compatibility still set to 3.0).

I mount the same flash drive on my Desktop in a USB 3.0 slot. Windows can see it. But VMware and Kali cannot.

So ultimately I think that possibly confirms my suspicions about there being a USB issue. The host can use and see what is mounted to USB 3.0, but VMware and the VM OS cannot.

Could be a coincidence and there is another issue, but this is where I'm at.

Try running a live version from usb and see if the problems go away.
You could also try vitualbox.

[rangr000t]

So I tried booting Kali from a USB and airodump finally actually started picking things up on my Desktop.

I tried Virtual Box just to see what would happen, and it didn't work.

So airodump-ng scan shows results when booting Kali from a USB but not when booting it within VMware Workstation or Virtualbox. So weird.

Any ideas?

[B4ND4lD]

Probably an issue with your drivers or the way the VM is handling the wifi card. It's been a few years since i've used VMWare though, are you using a unix or MS host though?

[_RoMa_]

it has to be airmon-ng wlan0mon cant be wlan0 because that interface has been put into monitor mode and no longer goes under the name wlan0.

[pasnger57]

hummm
should look more like this

airmon-ng check kill
airmon-ng start wlan0
airodump-ng wlan0mon

[rangr000t]

Probably an issue with your drivers or the way the VM is handling the wifi card. It's been a few years since i've used VMWare though, are you using a unix or MS host though?

MS. I've tried different drivers. Just odd because the exact same setup works fine on my laptop. I was thinking maybe something do with USB 3.0 vs 2.0. VMware only sees the card on 2.0. The host sees it just fine on both.

it has to be airmon-ng wlan0mon cant be wlan0 because that interface has been put into monitor mode and no longer goes under the name wlan0.

I've gotten it to work fine with wlan0mon or just wlan0.

hummm
should look more like this

airmon-ng check kill
airmon-ng start wlan0
airodump-ng wlan0mon

Tried this exact thing and it works fine to start airodump with the card in monitor mode, but there are no results showing on any channel. Same problem every time. Only works if I boot Kali from a USB. VMware works just fine on my laptop with airodump and this card.

[pasnger57]

MS. I've tried different drivers. Just odd because the exact same setup works fine on my laptop. I was thinking maybe something do with USB 3.0 vs 2.0. VMware only sees the card on 2.0. The host sees it just fine on both.


I've gotten it to work fine with wlan0mon or just wlan0.


Tried this exact thing and it works fine to start airodump with the card in monitor mode, but there are no results showing on any channel. Same problem every time. Only works if I boot Kali from a USB. VMware works just fine on my laptop with airodump and this card.

IF you boot from a USB you giving Full Root access to the hard ware if you running under Vm your access is only relent to the hardware you designate to the VM .. ill note that in a laptop Most Wifi chips are attaches on the PCI Bus and not on the usb and this is probably the issue you are having
and why ruining from a USB work better as you ginve the OS full run of the hardware
side note if you attach a USB card device on top of the internal WiFi it my almost add the next interface down the line the wlan1 as 0 will be the internal hardware one most likely or maybe ath0

[B4ND4lD]

IF you boot from a USB you giving Full Root access to the hard ware if you running under Vm your access is only relent to the hardware you designate to the VM .. ill note that in a laptop Most Wifi chips are attaches on the PCI Bus and not on the usb and this is probably the issue you are having
and why ruining from a USB work better as you ginve the OS full run of the hardware
side note if you attach a USB card device on top of the internal WiFi it my almost add the next interface down the line  the wlan1 as 0 will be the internal hardware one most likely or maybe ath0

Yeah this reminds me, i don't have much experience with VMWare i used to always use oracle because free and stuff. I do remember having to enable usb/hardware filters for the wifi adapter. That way the VM will "own" the card so to speak, and it won't be shared by the host machine. The only way i could get it to work if for the VM to intercept the card entirely, you shouldn't be able to access it from the host while the filter is active. I'm pretty confident this is the solution you are looking for.

virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#settings-usb