Wireless Testing Tools

Tools & Hardware
🌱 Beginner

Comprehensive collection of hardware and software tools for wireless security assessments, from WiFi to Bluetooth, RF, and beyond.

Information

Tool Selection: Having the right hardware adapter is critical. Not all WiFi cards support monitor mode and packet injection. Popular choices include ALFA AWUS036ACH, AWUS036NHA, and TP-Link TL-WN722N v1.

🔧 WiFi Attack Suites

Aircrack-ng

Suite

Complete suite of tools to assess WiFi network security including capture, cracking, analysis, and replay.

Installation

bash
aircrack-ng -w wordlist.txt capture.cap
aircrack-ng -w wordlist.txt capture.cap

Bettercap

Framework

Powerful framework for network attacks, MITM, sniffing, and monitoring with WiFi, BLE, and HID support.

Installation

bash
bettercap -iface wlan0mon
bettercap -iface wlan0mon

Wifite2

Automation

Automated wireless attack tool for WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPS with Pixie Dust support.

Installation

bash
wifite --kill -i wlan0mon
wifite --kill -i wlan0mon

Airgeddon

Automation

Multi-use bash script with DoS attacks, evil twin, WPS attacks, and enterprise targeting.

Installation

bash
./airgeddon.sh
./airgeddon.sh

Hcxdumptool

Capture

Capture WPA/WPA2 handshakes and PMKID from access points. Works with hashcat.

Installation

bash
hcxdumptool -i wlan0mon -o capture.pcapng --enable_status=15
hcxdumptool -i wlan0mon -o capture.pcapng --enable_status=15

Hcxtools

Conversion

Portable solution for conversion of packet captures to hashcat/JtR formats.

Installation

bash
hcxpcapngtool -o hash.hc22000 capture.pcapng
hcxpcapngtool -o hash.hc22000 capture.pcapng

🎯 Attack & Exploitation

EAPHammer

Enterprise

Targeted evil twin attacks against WPA2-Enterprise networks with credential harvesting.

Installation

bash
./eaphammer --cert-wizard
./eaphammer --cert-wizard

MDK4

Attack

WiFi testing tool for DoS attacks, beacon flooding, deauthentication, and more.

Installation

bash
mdk4 wlan0mon d -c 6
mdk4 wlan0mon d -c 6

Reaver

WPS

WPS PIN brute force attack tool for WPS-enabled routers.

Installation

bash
reaver -i wlan0mon -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -vv
reaver -i wlan0mon -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -vv

Bully

WPS

Alternative WPS brute force tool with Pixie Dust attack support.

Installation

bash
bully wlan0mon -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -d -v 3
bully wlan0mon -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -d -v 3

Wifiphisher

Phishing

Automated phishing attacks against WiFi networks for credential harvesting.

Installation

bash
wifiphisher -aI wlan0 -jI wlan1
wifiphisher -aI wlan0 -jI wlan1

Fluxion

Phishing

Social engineering tool for WPA key recovery with captive portal attacks.

Installation

bash
./fluxion.sh
./fluxion.sh

📡 Scanning & Reconnaissance

Kismet

Scanner

Wireless network detector, sniffer, and IDS with web interface and extensive protocol support.

Installation

bash
kismet -c wlan0mon
kismet -c wlan0mon

LinSSID

Scanner

Graphical WiFi scanner showing channels, security, signal strength, and vendor info.

Installation

bash
linssid
linssid

Wash

Scanner

Identify WPS-enabled access points and check for Pixie Dust vulnerability.

Installation

bash
wash -i wlan0mon
wash -i wlan0mon

Airodump-ng

Capture

Packet capture tool for raw 802.11 frames, part of Aircrack-ng suite.

Installation

bash
airodump-ng wlan0mon
airodump-ng wlan0mon

Horst

Analysis

Lightweight 802.11 wireless LAN analyzer with ncurses interface.

Installation

bash
horst -i wlan0mon
horst -i wlan0mon

Sparrow-wifi

Visualization

WiFi spectrum analyzer with GPS tracking for wardriving and heatmaps.

Installation

bash
sparrow-wifi
sparrow-wifi

🔓 Cracking & Decryption

Hashcat

Cracking

World's fastest password cracker with GPU acceleration. Supports WPA/WPA2/WPA3.

Installation

bash
hashcat -m 22000 capture.hc22000 wordlist.txt
hashcat -m 22000 capture.hc22000 wordlist.txt

John the Ripper

Cracking

Open-source password cracker with WiFi hash support via wpapsk format.

Installation

bash
john --wordlist=rockyou.txt --format=wpapsk hashes.txt
john --wordlist=rockyou.txt --format=wpapsk hashes.txt

Cowpatty

Cracking

WPA-PSK dictionary attack tool with precomputed hash support.

Installation

bash
cowpatty -f wordlist.txt -r capture.cap -s ESSID
cowpatty -f wordlist.txt -r capture.cap -s ESSID

Pyrit

Cracking

WPA/WPA2 cracker utilizing GPU and cloud computing for massive speed.

Installation

bash
pyrit -r capture.cap -i wordlist.txt attack_passthrough
pyrit -r capture.cap -i wordlist.txt attack_passthrough

📻 Bluetooth & BLE Tools

Btlejack

BLE

Bluetooth Low Energy Swiss Army knife for sniffing, jamming, and hijacking.

Installation

bash
btlejack -f 0x9c68fd30 -t -m
btlejack -f 0x9c68fd30 -t -m

Bettercap (BLE)

BLE

BLE device discovery, MITM attacks, and characteristic manipulation.

Installation

bash
bettercap --eval 'ble.recon on'
bettercap --eval 'ble.recon on'

Bluez

Bluetooth

Official Linux Bluetooth protocol stack with scanning and management tools.

Installation

bash
hcitool scan; bluetoothctl
hcitool scan; bluetoothctl

Ubertooth

Hardware

Open-source 2.4 GHz wireless development platform for Bluetooth experimentation.

Installation

bash
ubertooth-btle -f
ubertooth-btle -f

Crackle

BLE

Crack BLE encryption to decrypt captured traffic.

Installation

bash
crackle -i capture.pcap
crackle -i capture.pcap

Gatttool

BLE

Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) tool for BLE device interaction.

Installation

bash
gatttool -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -I
gatttool -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -I

📡 SDR & RF Tools

Universal Radio Hacker (URH)

SDR

Investigate wireless protocols like a boss with signal analysis, modulation, and reverse engineering.

Installation

bash
urh
urh

GQRX

SDR

Software-defined radio receiver powered by GNU Radio and Qt GUI.

Installation

bash
gqrx
gqrx

GNU Radio

SDR

Free software development toolkit for signal processing and SDR.

Installation

bash
gnuradio-companion
gnuradio-companion

RFCrack

RF

Software-defined radio attack tool for rolling code and frequency hopping.

Installation

bash
python rfcrack.py
python rfcrack.py

Inspectrum

Analysis

Offline radio signal analyser for visualizing captured RF data.

Installation

bash
inspectrum capture.cu8
inspectrum capture.cu8

rtl_433

RF

Generic data receiver for ISM band devices (433.92 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz).

Installation

bash
rtl_433 -f 433.92M
rtl_433 -f 433.92M

🖥️ Hardware

ALFA AWUS036ACH

WiFi Adapter

Dual-band AC1200 WiFi adapter with monitor mode and packet injection (chipset: RTL8812AU).

Installation

bash
N/A - Hardware
N/A - Hardware

ALFA AWUS036NHA

WiFi Adapter

High-power 802.11n adapter, excellent for long-range attacks (chipset: AR9271).

Installation

bash
N/A - Hardware
N/A - Hardware

TP-Link TL-WN722N v1

WiFi Adapter

Budget-friendly adapter with monitor mode support (chipset: AR9271). Beware v2/v3!

Installation

bash
N/A - Hardware
N/A - Hardware

WiFi Pineapple

Platform

Purpose-built pentesting platform for MITM, evil twin, and reconnaissance.

Installation

bash
Web Interface
Web Interface

HackRF One

SDR

Half-duplex SDR transceiver covering 1 MHz to 6 GHz. Hardware hacking workhorse.

Installation

bash
hackrf_info
hackrf_info

RTL-SDR

SDR

Budget SDR receiver (RX only) for 500 kHz to 1.7 GHz. Perfect for learning.

Installation

bash
rtl_test
rtl_test

Ubertooth One

Bluetooth

Open-source 2.4 GHz development platform specifically for Bluetooth research.

Installation

bash
ubertooth-util -v
ubertooth-util -v

Yard Stick One

RF

Sub-1 GHz RF transceiver for testing <1 GHz wireless devices (RfCat compatible).

Installation

bash
rfcat -r
rfcat -r

Flipper Zero

Multi-tool

Portable multi-tool for pentesting and debugging digital hardware with sub-GHz, RFID, NFC, IR.

Installation

bash
Web Interface
Web Interface

Proxmark3

RFID/NFC

RFID/NFC research tool for reading, writing, and emulating RFID/NFC tags.

Installation

bash
pm3
pm3

Wireless Finding Documentation

When wireless vulnerabilities are discovered on an engagement, document: BSSID, SSID, channel, encryption type, signal strength (dBm), number of associated clients, and exact attack technique used. See the reporting templates section for finding templates and executive summary guidance.

Monitor Mode

sudo airmon-ng check kill
sudo airmon-ng start wlan0
iwconfig wlan0mon
aireplay-ng --test wlan0mon

Scanning

sudo airodump-ng wlan0mon
sudo airodump-ng --band abg wlan0mon
sudo airodump-ng -c 6 --bssid XX wlan0mon
sudo kismet -c wlan0mon

WPA Cracking (hashcat modes)

22000  WPA-PMKID-PBKDF2 + EAPOL
5500   MSCHAPv2 (EAP Enterprise)
2500   WPA-PBKDF2 (legacy)
hcxpcapngtool -o out.hc22000 in.pcapng

WPS Attacks

wash -i wlan0mon              # scan WPS
reaver -i wlan0mon -b BSSID   # brute force
bully wlan0mon -b BSSID -d    # pixie dust
wifite --kill --wps-only      # auto

Deauth

aireplay-ng -0 5 -a AP -c STA wlan0mon
aireplay-ng -0 0 -a AP wlan0mon  # cont.
sudo mdk4 wlan0mon d -b target.txt

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

T1040  Network Sniffing (capture)
T1557  AiTM / Evil Twin
T1078  Valid Accounts (cred capture)
T1110  Brute Force (WPS/hashcat)
T1499  Endpoint DoS (deauth)