|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|
|
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | NOTES | AUTHORS |
|
|
|
WIFIDUMP(1) WIFIDUMP(1)
wifidump - Provides an interface to capture Wi-Fi frames from a
remote host through SSH.
wifidump [ --help ] [ --version ] [ --extcap-interfaces ] [
--extcap-dlts ] [ --extcap-interface=<interface> ] [
--extcap-config ] [ --extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter> ] [
--capture ] [ --fifo=<path to file or pipe> ] [ --remote-host=<IP
address> ] [ --remote-port=<TCP port> ] [
--remote-username=<username> ] [ --remote-password=<password> ] [
--sshkey=<public key path> ] [ --remote-interface=<interface> ] [
--remote-channel-frequency=<channel frequency> ] [
--remote-channel-width=<channel width> ]
wifidump --extcap-interfaces
wifidump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-dlts
wifidump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-config
wifidump --extcap-interface=<interface> --fifo=<path to file or
pipe> --capture --remote-host=myremotehost --remote-port=22
--remote-username=user --remote-interface=eth2
--remote-channel-frequency=5180 --remote-channel-width=40
Wifidump is an extcap tool that allows you to capture Wi-Fi
traffic from a remote host over an SSH connection using tcpdump.
The requirement to capture Wi-Fi frames is that the remote host
must have the necessary binaries to manage and put the wanted
interface into monitor mode. Such binaries include: ip, iw, and
iwconfig. Also, because using monitor mode and managing the Wi-Fi
interface requires root privileges, the system must be configured
to allow the wanted user to run these binaries using sudo without
entering a password.
Typically wifidump is not invoked directly. Instead it can be
configured through the Wireshark graphical user interface or its
command line. The following will start Wireshark and start
capturing from host remotehost:
$ wireshark '-oextcap.wifidump.remotehost:remotehost' -i wifidump -k
To explicitly control the remote capture command:
$ wireshark '-oextcap.wifidump.remotehost:remotehost' \
'-oextcap.wifidump.remotechannelfrequency:5180' \
'-oextcap.wifidump.remotechannelwidth:40' \
-i wifidump -k
Supported interfaces:
1. wifidump
--help
Print program arguments.
--version
Print program version.
--extcap-interfaces
List available interfaces.
--extcap-interface=<interface>
Use specified interfaces.
--extcap-dlts
List DLTs of specified interface.
--extcap-config
List configuration options of specified interface.
--capture
Start capturing from specified interface and write raw packet
data to the location specified by --fifo.
--fifo=<path to file or pipe>
Save captured packet to file or send it through pipe.
--remote-host=<remote host>
The address of the remote host for capture.
--remote-port=<remote port>
The SSH port of the remote host.
--remote-username=<username>
The username for ssh authentication.
--remote-password=<password>
The password to use (if not ssh-agent and pubkey are used).
WARNING: the passwords are stored in plaintext and visible to
all users on this system. It is recommended to use keyfiles
with a SSH agent.
--sshkey=<SSH private key path>
The path to a private key for authentication.
--remote-interface=<remote interface>
The remote network interface to capture from.
--remote-channel-frequency=<channel frequency>
The remote channel frequency in MHz.
--remote-channel-width=<channel width>
The remote channel width in MHz.
--extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter>
The capture filter. It corresponds to the value provided via
the tshark -f option, and the Capture Filter field next to the
interfaces list in the Wireshark interface.
To see program arguments:
wifidump --help
To see program version:
wifidump --version
To see interfaces:
wifidump --extcap-interfaces
Only one interface (wifidump) is supported.
Example output
interface {value=wifidump}{display=Wi-Fi remote capture}
To see interface DLTs:
wifidump --extcap-interface=wifidump --extcap-dlts
Example output
dlt {number=147}{name=wifidump}{display=Remote capture dependent DLT}
To see interface configuration options:
wifidump --extcap-interface=wifidump --extcap-config
Example output
arg {number=0}{call=--remote-host}{display=Remote SSH server address}{type=string}
{tooltip=The remote SSH host. It can be both an IP address or a hostname}{required=true}{group=Server}
arg {number=1}{call=--remote-port}{display=Remote SSH server port}{type=unsigned}
{tooltip=The remote SSH host port (1-65535)}{range=1,65535}{group=Server}
arg {number=2}{call=--remote-username}{display=Remote SSH server username}{type=string}
{tooltip=The remote SSH username. If not provided, the current user will be used}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=3}{call=--remote-password}{display=Remote SSH server password}{type=password}
{tooltip=The SSH password, used when other methods (SSH agent or key files) are unavailable.}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=4}{call=--sshkey}{display=Path to SSH private key}{type=fileselect}
{tooltip=The path on the local filesystem of the private ssh key}{mustexist=true}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=5}{call=--sshkey-passphrase}{display=SSH key passphrase}{type=password}
{tooltip=Passphrase to unlock the SSH private key}{group=Authentication}
arg {number=6}{call=--remote-interface}{display=Remote interface}{type=string}
{tooltip=The remote network interface used to capture}{default=auto}{group=Capture}
arg {number=7}{call=--remote-channel-frequency}{display=Remote channel}{type=selector}
{tooltip=The remote channel used to capture}{group=Capture}
arg {number=8}{call=--remote-channel-width}{display=Remote channel width}{type=selector}
{tooltip=The remote channel width used to capture}{group=Capture}
arg {number=9}{call=--remote-filter}{display=Remote capture filter}{type=string}
{tooltip=The remote capture filter}{group=Capture}
arg {number=10}{call=--remote-count}{display=Packets to capture}{type=unsigned}
{tooltip=The number of remote packets to capture.}{group=Capture}
arg {number=11}{call=--log-level}{display=Set the log level}{type=selector}
{tooltip=Set the log level}{required=false}{group=Debug}
arg {number=12}{call=--log-file}{display=Use a file for logging}{type=fileselect}
{tooltip=Set a file where log messages are written}{required=false}{group=Debug}
To capture:
wifidump --extcap-interface=wifidump --fifo=/tmp/wifidump.pcap --capture --remote-host 192.168.1.10 --remote-username user --remote-channel-frequency 5180 --remote-channel-width 40
Note
To stop capturing CTRL+C/kill/terminate application.
The wifidump binary can be renamed to support multiple instances.
For instance if we want wifidump to show up twice in wireshark
(for instance to handle multiple profiles), we can copy wifidump
to wifidump-host1 and wifidump-host2. Each binary will show up an
interface name same as the executable name. Those executables not
being "wifidump" will show up as "custom version" in the interface
description.
wireshark(1), tshark(1), extcap(4), tcpdump(1)
Wifidump is part of the Wireshark distribution. The latest version
of Wireshark can be found at https://www.wireshark.org.
HTML versions of the Wireshark project man pages are available at
https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages.
Original Author
Adrian Granados <adrian[AT]intuitibits.com>.SH COLOPHON This page
is part of the wireshark (Interactively dump and analyze network
traffic) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://www.wireshark.org/⟩. If you have a bug report for this
manual page, see
⟨https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/issues⟩. This page was
obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2025-08-11.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
2025-03-07 WIFIDUMP(1)
|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|