1WPA_CLI(8) WPA_CLI(8)
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6 wpa_cli - WPA command line client
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9 wpa_cli [ -p path to ctrl sockets ] [ -i ifname ] [ -hvB ] [ -a action
10 file ] [ -P pid file ] [ command ... ]
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14 wpa_cli is a text-based frontend program for interacting with wpa_sup‐
15 plicant. It is used to query current status, change configuration,
16 trigger events, and request interactive user input.
17 wpa_cli can show the current authentication status, selected security
19 mode, dot11 and dot1x MIBs, etc. In addition, it can configure some
20 variables like EAPOL state machine parameters and trigger events like
21 reassociation and IEEE 802.1X logoff/logon. wpa_cli provides a user
22 interface to request authentication information, like username and
23 password, if these are not included in the configuration. This can be
24 used to implement, e.g., one-time-passwords or generic token card
25 authentication where the authentication is based on a challenge-
26 response that uses an external device for generating the response.
27 The control interface of wpa_supplicant can be configured to allow non-
29 root user access (ctrl_interface GROUP= parameter in the configuration
30 file). This makes it possible to run wpa_cli with a normal user
31 account.
32 wpa_cli supports two modes: interactive and command line. Both modes
34 share the same command set and the main difference is in interactive
35 mode providing access to unsolicited messages (event messages, user‐
36 name/password requests).
37 Interactive mode is started when wpa_cli is executed without including
39 the command as a command line parameter. Commands are then entered on
40 the wpa_cli prompt. In command line mode, the same commands are entered
41 as command line arguments for wpa_cli.
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44 When wpa_supplicant need authentication parameters, like username and
45 password, which are not present in the configuration file, it sends a
46 request message to all attached frontend programs, e.g., wpa_cli in
47 interactive mode. wpa_cli shows these requests with "CTRL-
48 REQ-<type>-<id>:<text>" prefix. <type> is IDENTITY, PASSWORD, or OTP
49 (one-time-password). <id> is a unique identifier for the current net‐
50 work. <text> is description of the request. In case of OTP request, it
51 includes the challenge from the authentication server.
52 The reply to these requests can be given with identity, password, and
54 otp commands. <id> needs to be copied from the matching request. pass‐
55 word and otp commands can be used regardless of whether the request was
56 for PASSWORD or OTP. The main difference between these two commands is
57 that values given with password are remembered as long as wpa_suppli‐
58 cant is running whereas values given with otp are used only once and
59 then forgotten, i.e., wpa_supplicant will ask frontend for a new value
60 for every use. This can be used to implement one-time-password lists
61 and generic token card -based authentication.
62 Example request for password and a matching reply:
64 CTRL-REQ-PASSWORD-1:Password needed for SSID foobar
67 > password 1 mysecretpassword
68 Example request for generic token card challenge-response:
70 CTRL-REQ-OTP-2:Challenge 1235663 needed for SSID foobar
73 > otp 2 9876
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76 -p path
77 Change the path where control sockets should be found.
78 -i ifname
80 Specify the interface that is being configured. By default,
81 choose the first interface found with a control socket in the
82 socket path.
83 -h Help. Show a usage message.
85 -v Show version information.
87 -B Run as a daemon in the background.
89 -a file
91 Run in daemon mode executing the action file based on events
92 from wpa_supplicant. The specified file will be executed with
93 the first argument set to interface name and second to "CON‐
94 NECTED" or "DISCONNECTED" depending on the event. This can be
95 used to execute networking tools required to configure the
96 interface.
97 Additionally, three environmental variables are available to the
99 file: WPA_CTRL_DIR, WPA_ID, and WPA_ID_STR. WPA_CTRL_DIR con‐
100 tains the absolute path to the ctrl_interface socket. WPA_ID
101 contains the unique network_id identifier assigned to the active
102 network, and WPA_ID_STR contains the content of the id_str
103 option.
104 -P file
106 Set the location of the PID file.
107 command
109 Run a command. The available commands are listed in the next
110 section.
111
113 The following commands are available:
114 status get current WPA/EAPOL/EAP status
116 mib get MIB variables (dot1x, dot11)
118 help show this usage help
120 interface [ifname]
122 show interfaces/select interface
123 level <debug level>
125 change debug level
126 license
128 show full wpa_cli license
129 logoff IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logoff
131 logon IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logon
133 set set variables (shows list of variables when run without argu‐
135 ments)
136 pmksa show PMKSA cache
138 reassociate
140 force reassociation
141 reconfigure
143 force wpa_supplicant to re-read its configuration file
144 preauthenticate <BSSID>
146 force preauthentication
147 identity <network id> <identity>
149 configure identity for an SSID
150 password <network id> <password>
152 configure password for an SSID
153 pin <network id> <pin>
155 configure pin for an SSID
156 otp <network id> <password>
158 configure one-time-password for an SSID
159 bssid <network id> <BSSID>
161 set preferred BSSID for an SSID
162 list_networks
164 list configured networks
165 terminate
167 terminate wpa_supplicant
168 quit exit wpa_cli
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172 wpa_supplicant(8)
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175 wpa_supplicant is copyright (c) 2003-2007, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and
176 contributors. All Rights Reserved.
177 This program is dual-licensed under both the GPL version 2 and BSD
179 license. Either license may be used at your option.
180 07 September 2010 WPA_CLI(8)