How to Hack WPA_WPA2 Wi Fi with Kali Linux (with Pictures)
How to Hack WPA_WPA2 Wi Fi with Kali Linux (with Pictures)
Linux
Written by Nicole Levine, MFA
Last Updated: July 18, 2023
Want to find out if your Wi-Fi network is easy to hack? As a Kali Linux user, you have
hundreds of pre-installed security auditing and penetration testing tools at your disposal.
These tools are intended for ethical hacking—finding and repairing weak spots in a
network—and not for illegal purposes. To find out if a WPA/SPA PSK network is
susceptible to a brute-force password attack, you can use a suite of tools called
aircrack-ng to hack the key. We'll show you how!
Part Part 1 of 2:
1
Starting Monitor Mode
Log into your Kali desktop as root. This logs you in to the desktop
1 environment as the root user.
If you haven't enabled root logins in Kali and are using KDE or GNOME,
run sudo apt install kali-ro o t - l o g i n at the prompt.[1] Once
installed, you can set a root password by running sudo password (no
username) and entering a new root password. At that point, you can log in
to the desktop as root.
Plug your Wi-Fi card (if needed). If you don't have a Wi-Fi card that
2 allows monitoring (RFMON) or you're using Kali Linux in a virtual machine,
you'll need to attach an external card that does.
In most cases, simply attaching the card to your computer will be enough
to set it up. Check the instructions for your Wi-Fi card to be sure.
If you're not sure if your Wi-Fi card supports monitoring, it doesn't hurt to
try these next few steps.
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Run airo d ump-ng mon0 to view the results. Replace mon0 with
6 the correct virtual interface name if that's not what you saw earlier. This
displays a data table for all Wi-Fi routers in range.
Find the router you want to hack. At the end of each string of text, you'll
7 see a router name.
Make sure the router is using WPA or WPA2 security. If you see "WPA" or
"WPA2" in the "ENC" column, you can proceed.
Find the BSSID and channel number of the router. Now you'll want to
8 make note of the values of the "BSSID" and "CH" fields for the router you
want to hack. These pieces of information are to the left of the network's name.
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Part
Part 2 of 2:
2
Logging and Cracking the Password
Understand what a deauth attack does. A deauth attack sends
1 deauthentication packets to the router you're trying to break into, causing
uses to disconnect and requiring them to log back in. When a user logs back
in, you will be provided with a handshake. If you don't do a deauth attack, you
might have to wait around for a long time for a handshake to complete—you'll
need that handshake to crack the password.
If you already see a line with the tag "WPA handshake:" followed by a MAC
address in the output of the airo d ump-ng command, skip to Step 5—
you have what you need to crack the password and don't need to send
deauth packets.
Remember—use these tools for ethical purposes only.
Wait for something to connect to the network. Once you see two
2 BSSID addresses appear next to each other—one labeled BSSID (the Wi-
Fi router) and the other labeled STATION (the computer or other device)—this
this means a client is connected. To force them into a handshake, you'll now
send them deauth packets that kill their connection.
Run the command to crack the password. You'll use a tool called
7 airc r ack-ng , which come with Kali Linux, to do so. The command is
airc r ack-ng -a2 -b NETW O RK BSSID -w
/usr / share/wordlists/roc k y o u . t x t / r o o t / D e s k t o p /* . c a p .
Replace NETWORK BSSID with the BSSID for the router.
Depending on the strength of the password and the speed of your CPU,
this process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
If you're cracking static WEP key network instead of a WPA/WPA2-PSK
network, replace -a2 with -a1 .[4]
Look for "KEY FOUND!" in the terminal window. When you see a "KEY
8 FOUND!" heading appear, aircrack-ng has found the password, which will
appear in plain text.
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