wireless pentesting full process with example

Wireless penetration testing using Kali Linux is a systematic process that moves from passive observation to active exploitation. Kali is the industry-standard OS for this because it comes pre-loaded with the Aircrack-ng suite, Reaver, and Hashcat.

1. Preparation: Enabling Monitor Mode

By default, wireless cards are in "Managed" mode (connecting to one AP). To pentest, you must switch to Monitor Mode to see all traffic in the air.

  • Check Hardware: airmon-ng

  • Enable Monitor Mode: airmon-ng start wlan0

    This creates a virtual interface, usually named wlan0mon.


2. Reconnaissance (Sniffing the Air)

You need to identify the target BSSID (MAC address) and the Channel (CH) it’s operating on.

  • Command: airodump-ng wlan0mon

  • Observation: Look for the target network's ESSID and take note of the BSSID and Channel. Also, ensure there is at least one active client (Station) connected; otherwise, you can't capture a handshake.

3. Targeted Capture

Now, focus your "sniffer" on the specific target channel and BSSID to capture the cryptographic handshake.

  • Command: airodump-ng -c [channel] --bssid [target_MAC] -w [filename] wlan0mon

  • Purpose: This tells Kali to ignore all other traffic and save data from the target network into a file.


4. Forced De-authentication (The Kick)

To capture a handshake, a user must log in. If they are already logged in, you can "kick" them off so their device automatically reconnects.

  • Command: aireplay-ng -0 5 -a [BSSID] -c [Client_MAC] wlan0mon

  • The Result: The -0 flag sends 5 de-auth packets. When the client reconnects, airodump-ng (still running in the other terminal) will flash a message in the top right: "WPA Handshake: [BSSID]".


5. Cracking the Password (The Example)

Once you have the .cap file containing the handshake, the attack moves offline. You are no longer interacting with the network; you are guessing the password against the captured hash.

Using Aircrack-ng (CPU Cracking)

aircrack-ng -w /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt capture-01.cap

Using Hashcat (GPU Cracking - Much Faster)

  1. Convert the .cap file to a .hc22000 format (using online converters or hcxpcapngtool).

  2. Command: hashcat -m 22000 capture.hc22000 /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt

6. Post-Exploitation & Reporting

After gaining the PSK (Pre-Shared Key), you connect to the network to test for:

  • Internal Vulnerabilities: Are the routers' admin panels using default credentials?

  • Isolation: Can "Guest" users see "Corporate" devices? (VLAN hopping).

Example Scenario: "The Coffee Shop Test"

  1. Scope: You have permission to test "Cafe_Wifi".

  2. Discovery: You find "Cafe_Wifi" on Channel 6, BSSID AA:BB:CC:11:22:33.

  3. Client: You see a laptop (DD:EE:FF:44:55:66) browsing.

  4. Attack: You run a de-auth. The laptop reconnects instantly. Kali says "WPA Handshake captured."

  5. Success: You run the rockyou.txt wordlist. Within 2 minutes, it finds the key: espresso123.

  6. Fix: You advise the owner to change the password to something complex and disable WPS.

Warning: Wireless pentesting without written authorization is illegal. Always use a dedicated lab or your own hardware for practice.

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