Cracking WPA2-PSK Passwords Using Aircrack-Ng
The weakness in the WPA2-PSK system is that the encrypted password is shared in what is known as the 4-way handshake. When a client authenticates to the access point (AP), the client and the AP go through a 4-step process to authenticate the user to the AP. If we can grab the password at that time, we can then attempt to crack it.
In this tutorial from our Wi-Fi
Hacking series, we'll look at using aircrack-ng and a dictionary attack on the encrypted password after grabbing it in the 4-way handshake. If you're looking for a faster way, I suggest you also check out my article on hacking WPA2-PSK passwords using coWPAtty.
STEP 1 Put Wi-Fi Adapter in Monitor Mode with Airmon-Ng
Let's start by putting our wireless adapter in monitor mode.
For this to work, we'll need to use a compatible wireless network adapter. Check out our 2017 list of Kali Linux and Backtrack compatible wireless network adapters in the link above, or you can grab our most popular adapter for beginners here.
This is similar to putting a wired adapter into promiscuous mode. It allows us to see all of the wireless traffic that passes by us in the air. Let's open a terminal and type:
airmon-ng start wlan0
Note that airmon-ng has renamed your wlan0 adapter to mon0.
STEP 2 Capture Traffic with Airodump-Ng
Now that our wireless adapter is in monitor mode, we have the capability to see all the wireless traffic that passes by in the air. We can grab that traffic by simply using the airodump-ng command.
This command grabs all the traffic that your wireless adapter can see and displays critical information about it, including the BSSID (the MAC address of the AP), power, number of beacon frames, number of data frames, channel, speed, encryption (if any), and finally, the ESSID (what most of us refer to as the SSID). Let's do this by typing:
airodump-ng mon0
STEP 3 Focus Airodump-Ng on One AP on One Channel
Our next step is to focus our efforts on one AP, on one channel, and capture critical data from it. We need the BSSID and channel to do this. Let's open another terminal and type:
airodump-ng --bssid 08:86:30:74:22:76 -c 6 --write WPAcrack mon0
08:86:30:74:22:76 is the BSSID of the AP
-c 6 is the channel the AP is operating on
WPAcrack is the file you want to write to
mon0 is the monitoring wireless adapter*
As you can see in the screenshot above, we're now focusing on capturing data from one AP with a ESSID of Belkin276 on channel 6. The Belkin276 is probably a default SSID, which are prime targets for wireless hacking as the users that leave the default ESSID usually don't spend much effort securing their AP.
STEP 4 Aireplay-Ng Deauth
In order to capture the encrypted password, we need to have the client authenticate against the AP. If they're already authenticated, we can de-authenticate them (kick them off) and their system will automatically re-authenticate, whereby we can grab their encrypted password in the process. Let's open another terminal and type:
aireplay-ng --deauth 100 -a 08:86:30:74:22:76 mon0
100 is the number of de-authenticate frames you want to send
08:86:30:74:22:76 is the BSSID of the AP
mon0 is the monitoring wireless adapter
STEP 5 Capture the Handshake
In the previous step, we bounced the user off their own AP, and now when they re-authenticate, airodump-ng will attempt to grab their password in the new 4-way handshake. Let's go back to our airodump-ng terminal and check to see whether or not we've been successful.
STEP 6 Let's Aircrack-Ng That Password!
Now that we have the encrypted password in our file WPAcrack, we can run that file against aircrack-ng using a password file of our choice. Remember that this type of attack is only as good as your password file. I'll be using the default password list included with aircrack-ng on BackTrack named darkcOde.
We'll now attempt to crack the password by opening another terminal and typing:
aircrack-ng WPAcrack-01.cap -w /pentest/passwords/wordlists/darkc0de
WPAcrack-01.cap is the name of the file we wrote to in the airodump-ng command
/pentest/passwords/wordlist/darkc0de is the absolute path to your password file
How Long Will It Take?
This process can be relatively slow and tedious. Depending upon the length of your password list, you could be waiting a few minutes to a few days. On my dual core 2.8 gig Intel processor, it's capable of testing a little over 500 passwords per second.
When the password is found, it'll appear on your screen. Remember, the password file is critical. Try the default password file first and if it's not successful, advance to a larger, more complete password file such as one of these.
CrackStation's Password Cracking Dictionary
SkullSecurity's Password Dictionaries
