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How To Hack WPA/WPA2 Wi-Fi With Kali Linux & Aircrack-ng

Written by Lewis Encarnacion

Kali Linux can be used for many things, but it probably is best known for its ability
to penetration test, or hack, WPA and WPA2 networks. There are hundreds of
Windows applications that claim they can hack WPA; dont get them! Theyre just
scams, used by professional hackers, to lure newbie or wannabe hackers into getting
hacked themselves. There is only one way that hackers get into your network, and that
is with a Linux-based OS, a wireless card capable of monitor mode, and aircrack-ng or
similar. Also note that, even with these tools, Wi-Fi cracking is not for beginners. Playing
with it requires basic knowledge of how WPA authentication works, and moderate
familiarity with Kali Linux and its tools, so any hacker who gains access to your network
probably is no beginner!
These are things that youll need:

A successful install of Kali Linux (which you probably already have done). If not,
follow my tutorial here: http://lewiscomputerhowto.blogspot.com/complete-guide-onhow-to-install-kali.html
A wireless adapter capable of injection/monitor mode, here is a list of the
best:http://blackmoreops.com/recommended-usb-wireless-cards-kali-linux
A wordlist to try and crack the handshake password once it has been captured
Time and patients
If you have these then roll up your sleeves and lets see how secure your network is!

Important notice: Hacking into anyones Wi-Fi without permission is considered

an illegal act or crime in most countries. We are performing this tutorial for the sake of
penetration testing, hacking to become more secure, and are using our own test
network and router.

By reading and/or using the information below, you are agreeing to

ourDisclaimer

Step One:
Start Kali Linux and login, preferably as root.

Step Two:
Plugin your injection-capable wireless adapter, (Unless your computer card supports it).
If youre using Kali in VMware, then you might have to connect the card via the
icon in the device menu.
Step Three:
Disconnect from all wireless networks, open a Terminal, and type airmon-ng

This will list all of the wireless cards that support monitor (not injection) mode. If no
cards are listed, try disconnecting and reconnecting the card and check that it supports
monitor mode. You can check if the card supports monitor mode by typing ifconfig in
another terminal, if the card is listed in ifconfig, but doesnt show up in airmon-ng, then
the card doesnt support it.
You can see here that my card supports monitor mode and that its listed as wlan0.
Step Four:
Type airmon-ng start followed by the interface of your wireless card. mine is wlan0, so
my command would be: airmon-ng start wlan0

The (monitor mode enabled) message means that the card has successfully been put
into monitor mode. Note the name of the new monitor interface, mon0.

EDIT:
A bug recently discovered in Kali Linux makes airmon-ng set the channel as a fixed -1
when you first enable mon0. If you receive this error, or simply do not want to take the
chance, follow these steps after enabling mon0:

Type: ifconfig [interface of wireless card] down and hit Enter.

Replace [interface of wireless card] with the name of the interface that you enabled
mon0 on; probably called wlan0. This disables the wireless card from connecting to the
internet, allowing it to focus on monitor mode instead.
After you have disabled mon0 (completed the wireless section of the tutorial), youll
need to enable wlan0 (or name of wireless interface), by typing: ifconfig [interface of
wireless card] up and pressing Enter.

Step Five:
Type airodump-ng followed by the name of the new monitor interface, which is
probablymon0.

If you receive a fixed channel 1 error, see the Edit above.

Step Six:
Airodump will now list all of the wireless networks in your area, and lots of useful
information about them. Locate your network or the network that you have permission to
penetration test. Once youve spotted your network on the ever-populating list, hit Ctrl +
Con your keyboard to stop the process. Note the channel of your target network.

Step Seven:

Copy the BSSID of the target network

Now type this command:

airodump-ng -c [channel] --bssid [bssid] -w /root/Desktop/ [monitor interface]
Replace [channel] with the channel of your target network. Paste the network BSSID
where [bssid] is, and replace [monitor interface] with the name of your monitor-enabled
interface, (mon0).
A complete command should look like this:
airodump-ng -c 10 --bssid 00:14:BF:E0:E8:D5 -w /root/Desktop/ mon0

Now press enter.

Step Eight:
Airodump with now monitor only the target network, allowing us to capture more specific
information about it. What were really doing now is waiting for a device to connect or
reconnect to the network, forcing the router to send out the four-way handshake that we
need to capture in order to crack the password.
Also, four files should show up on your desktop, this is where the handshake will be
saved when captured, so dont delete them!
But were not really going to wait for a device to connect, no, thats not what impatient
hackers do. Were actually going to use another cool-tool that belongs to the aircrack
suite called aireplay-ng, to speed up the process. Instead of waiting for a device to

connect, hackers use this tool to force a device to reconnect by sending

deauthentication (deauth) packets to the device, making it think that it has to reconnect
with the router.
Of course, in order for this tool to work, there has to be someone else connected to the
network first, so watch the airodump-ng and wait for a client to show up. It might take a
long time, or it might only take a second before the first one shows. If none show up
after a lengthy wait, then the network might be empty right now, or youre to far away
from the network.
You can see in this picture, that a client has appeared on our network, allowing us to
start the next step.

Step Nine:
leave airodump-ng running and open a second terminal. In this terminal, type this
command:
aireplay-ng 0 2 a [router bssid] c [client bssid] mon0
The 0 is a short cut for the deauth mode and the 2 is the number of deauth packets to
send.
-a indicates the access point (router)s bssid, replace [router bssid] with the BSSID of
the target network, which in my case, is 00:14:BF:E0:E8:D5.
-c indicates the clients BSSID, noted in the previous picture. Replace the [client bssid]
with the BSSID of the connected client, this will be listed under STATION.
And of course, mon0 merely means the monitor interface, change it if yours is different.
My complete command looks like this:
aireplay-ng 0 2 a 00:14:BF:E0:E8:D5 c 4C:EB:42:59:DE:31 mon0

Step Ten:
Upon hitting Enter, youll see aireplay-ng send the packets, and within moments, you
should see this message appear on the airodump-ng screen!

This means that the handshake has been captured, the password is in the hackers
hands, in some form or another. You can close the aireplay-ng terminal and hit Ctrl +
C on the airodump-ng terminal to stop monitoring the network, but dont close it yet just
incase you need some of the information later.
Step 11:
This concludes the external part of this tutorial. From now on, the process is entirely
between your computer, and those four files on your Desktop. Actually, the .cap one,
that is important. Open a new Terminal, and type in this command:
aircrack-ng -a2 -b [router bssid] -w [path to wordlist] /root/Desktop/*.cap
-a is the method aircrack will use to crack the handshake, 2=WPA method.
-b stands for bssid, replace [router bssid] with the BSSID of the target router, mine is
00:14:BF:E0:E8:D5.
-w stands for wordlist, replace [path to wordlist] with the path to a wordlist that you have

downloaded. I have a wordlist called wpa.txt in the root folder.

/root/Desktop/*.cap is the path to the .cap file containing the password, the * means
wild card in Linux, and since Im assuming that there are no other .cap files on your
Desktop, this should work fine the way it is.
My complete command looks like this:
aircrack-ng a2 b 00:14:BF:E0:E8:D5 w /root/wpa.txt /root/Desktop/*.cap

Now press Enter.

Step 12:
Aircrack-ng will now launch into the process of cracking the password. However, it will
only crack it if the password happens to be in the wordlist that youve selected.
Sometimes, its not. If this is the case, then you can congratulate the owner on being
Impenetrable, of course, only after youve tried every wordlist that a hacker might use
or make!
Cracking the password might take a long time depending on the size of the wordlist.
Mine went very quickly.
If the phrase is in the wordlist, then aircrack-ng will show it too you like this:

The passphrase to our test-network was notsecure, and you can see here that
aircrack found it.
If you find the password without a decent struggle, then change your password, if its
your network. If youre penetration testing for someone, then tell them to change their
password as soon as possible.

Please use this information only in legal ways

Lewis Encarnacion

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