WPA and Slackware (or in this case, Backtrack)

I've got Slackware (OK, actually Backtrack...the differences between the two are subtle but defined pretty well and is a discussion for another day) running wpa_supplicant. In the last week, I've seen several people complaining on the lack of documentation on how to get this running. Another issue that isn't well-documented is the fact that Slackware has no GUI that'll allow the user to switch wireless networks as quickly as possible. My only answer is to use Slackware's KDE-based wifi management tool.

I've used ndiswrapper with a closed-source card on a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S274, in this case.

Anyways, I'm going to attempt to describe how I use wpa-supplicant. My wifi setup uses a PCMCIA card (Linksys WPC54GS) in which I have to use win32 drivers (via ndiswrapper). I created a script in the root directory: wlan_script2.sh.

#!/usr/bin/bash

#Start of script

wpa_supplicant -ieth1 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dP -Dndiswrapper -B

dhcpcd -d -t 10 eth1

#End of script

I've also added the following to the bottom of the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file:

network={
ssid="youarebeingwatched2"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="There are a lot of steps to this document and the process should be simplified!"
priority=99
}

I usually run the first script above, then the second. I'm then instantly connected without trouble:

bt ~ # ./wlan_script2.sh
Initializing interface 'eth1' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A'
bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='wheel' (DEPRECATED)
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
Priority group 99
id=0 ssid='youarebeingwatched2'
Initializing interface (2) 'eth1'
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=21 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:0f:66:4a:42:6a
wpa_driver_wext_set_wpa
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures
wpa_driver_wext_set_drop_unencrypted
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
Using existing control interface directory.
ctrl_interface_group=10 (from group name 'wheel')
Added interface eth1
Daemonize..
dhcpcd: MAC address = 00:0f:66:4a:42:6a
dhcpcd: your IP address = 10.150.1.109

Now, this is a cheap hack and this can be done using the existing Slackware scripts, most likely...it was quicker for me to script this on my own and get internet connectivity up and running quickly. Besides that, I'm OK using this hack. Usually I just turn on the laptop, plug in the wireless PCMCIA adapter (Linksys WPC54GS), run the scripts, and commence to browse!

Any of you got any wireless hacks?

Iptables again

During the last 3-4 days, I've been playing with Iptables:

1. I'm having an issue where my SSH sessions to wigglit.ath.cx time out. Last night, I flushed the firewall rules and left the firewall bare of rules for the night while leaving a term logged in via SSH. The session still timed out but I don't know if this is an eventual time out or something related to SSH. I don't have any rulesets related to SSH in my Iptables file (with the exception of allowing all SSH).

2. I've been testing some firewall log parsers, namely fwlogwatch and wflogs. Both are nice, but wflogs has more configuration options. Both supposedly parse Snort logs, but I haven't been able to do this with either tool. Both tools are out-dated with no activity to either project in the last few years.

3. The ##slackware bot, slackboy, doesn't start automatically when I reboot the wigglit.ath.cx server, but does throw a MSG534 error, which doesn't make sense. There's also not much Google data on this particular error, especially solutions to the issue. I've a line added in /etc/rc.d/rc.local (su ron -c /home/ron/eggdrop/eggdrop /home/ron/eggdrop/slackboy.conf) that will sometimes run and sometimes not (when I execute it manually). Today, I just ran it as a normal user in the bot's directory (eggdrop -c slackboy.conf) and it worked. Weird.

I'm also using my Linksys wifi card (the WPC54GS PCMCIA card). I've done this in the past and actually have a script that I use to initiate the card. This card has no opensource drivers so I use ndiswrapper. Here's the dmesg initiation data:

ndiswrapper version 0.11 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no)
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 03:00.0 to 64
ndiswrapper: using irq 11
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:0f:66:4a:42:6a using driver lsbcmnds
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, AES/CCMP
ndiswrapper: driver lsbcmnds (Cisco-Linksys ,LLC.,02/19/2004, 3.50.21.11) added

The lsbcmnds driver is a Windows driver that ndiswrapper uses. I can't use this driver for things such as Kismet, but for typical enduser type work, it is functional. I'd rather not have to buy another wifi card just to be Linux-idealistic.

I also want to be able to use WPA, but I'm only using WEP at the moment. The reason for this is that my Tivo uses wireless to pull programming data. The wifi adapter that I'm using is supported by Tivo but I don't believe it has WPA capability. This is the only thing holding me back from using WPA. The adapter is a WUSB11 v2.8. I shall double-check to see if it is WPA-capable. Even so, I'd still like to eventually get away from 11B. That's going to be hard to get away from, since Tivo only has limited support for 54G.