Phy802.11 Scanning-mode Sources
Scanning mode
Properly capturing packets in Wi-Fi requires monitor mode and either a local Wi-Fi device or a high bandwidth connection. Scanning mode allows devices without special drivers to report networks to Kismet, but with some severe limitations:
- Clients will not be visible.
- The scanning mode device may transmit probe requests while scanning.
- Enhanced information from the beacon such as max speed, etc, will often not be available.
- Actual packet data will not be available.
Scanning mode is really only appropriate for specific configurations, such as:
- Mobile devices like Android or IOS reporting scan results to a central Kismet server
- Embedded devices such as the ESP8266 or ESP32
Scanning mode datasources
Scanning mode datasources are created dynamically by Kismet when reports are submitted; there is no need to define a specific scanning mode datasource prior to sending a report.
A scanning mode report must include:
-
A datasource UUID. This ID must be unique within Kismet, and consistent between all reports from this scanning source. Scanning software should cache this UUID for consistency.
-
A human-readable name. This will be assigned as the name of the datasource, and will be updated if it changes. Scanning software should cache this name for consistency.
Cache/burst mode reporting
Scanning mode assumes that the device doing scanning is not able to maintain a constant connection to the Kismet server.
Reports can be cached and send in groups using the report endpoint; each report can contain a timestamp, GPS location, and signal information, and multiple reports over time can be sent for a single AP.
Scanning mode report
A scanning mode report consists of a command dictionary holding an array of reports. Virtual datasources for each new report are automatically created.
-
API added
2020-06
-
URL
/phy/phy80211/scan/scan_report.cmd
-
Methods
POST
-
Role
scanreport
-
POST parameters
A command dictionary containing:
Key Description reports Array containing multiple report objects source_name A unique, consistent source name for the virtual datasource reporting this scan. source_uuid A unique, consistent source UUID for the virtual datasource reporting this scan. A report object should contain:
Key Description timestamp (Optional) Unix timestamp at second precision. If no timestamp is provided, the time of this message is used. Due to general lack of precision of scanning mode, timestamp is second only. ssid (Optional) SSID bssid BSSID capabilities (Optional) An Android or Wigle style string of encryption options, such as [WPS]
,[WPA-PSK-TKIP+CCMP]
,[WEP]
, and so on.channel (Optional) Quoted string channel, such as "6"
,"42HT40P"
freqkhz (Optional) Frequency of AP, in KHz signal Signal, in dBm lat (Optional) GPS latitude lon (Optional) GPS longitude alt (Optional) GPS altitude speed (Optional) GPS speed -
Results
HTTP 200
on successHTTP error on failure