kismet(1)

1KISMET(1)                 BSD General Commands Manual                KISMET(1)
2

NAME

4     kismet — Wireless sniffing and monitoring
5

SYNOPSIS

7     kismet [server-options] [--] [client-options]
8
9     kismet_server [-nqs] [-t title] [-f config-file] [-c capture-source]
10     [-C enable-capture-sources] [-l log-types] [-d dump-type]
11     [-m max-packets-per-file] [-g gpshost:port] [-p listen-port]
12     [-a allowed-hosts] [-N server-name]
13
14     kismet_client [-qr] [-f config-file] [-s serverhost:port] [-g gui-type]
15     [-c display-columns]
16

DESCRIPTION

18     Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intru‐
19     sion detection system.  Kismet will work with any wireless card which
20     supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and
21     802.11g traffic.
22
23     Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting
24     standard named networks, detecting (and given time, decloaking) hidden
25     networks, and inferring the presence of nonbeaconing networks via data
26     traffic.
27     kismet supports logging to the wtapfile packet format (readable by tcp‐
28     dump and ethereal) and saves detected network informat as plaintext, CSV,
29     and XML.  kismet is capable of using any GPS supported by gpsd and logs
30     and plots network data.
31
32     kismet is divided into three basic programs, kismet_server kismet_client
33     and gpsmap
34

USAGE

36     kismet handles automatically starting kismet_server and kismet_client.
37     kismet is installed as suid-root by default.  It will drop privs to the
38     user specified in kismet.conf immediately after binding and configuring
39     the capture source.
40
41

KISMET_SERVER

43     kismet_server captures, dissects, and logs packets and GPS data.  It is
44     capable of running in `headless' mode with no display.  Multiple clients
45     (on multiple computers) can be connected to a single server.
46
47     -I    Set the initial channel for a channel source (source:channel)
48
49     -x    Forcibly enable the channel hopper
50
51     -X    Forcibly disable the channel hopper
52
53     -t    Set the title used for the %t field of the logfile template
54           (Default: Kismet)
55
56     -n    Disable all logging
57
58     -f    Use an alternate config file
59
60     -c    Override capture source lines (type,interface,name).  Refer to
61           kismet.conf(5) for more information. Multiple capture source
62           options can be specified for multiple sources.  All sources pro‐
63           vided here are automatically enabled unless an enable list is also
64           supplied.
65
66     -C    Comma-separated list to override what capture sources are enabled.
67
68     -l    Override logging types, comma separated (dump, cisco, weak, csv,
69           xml, gps)
70
71     -m    Override maximum packets logged per file
72
73     -q    Override sound option and run in quiet mode
74
75     -g    Override GPS host:port
76
77     -p    Override port to listen on for clients
78
79     -a    Override list of client IPs or network/mask blocks (comma sepa‐
80           rated) allowed to connect
81
82     -s    Run in silent mode (no console status information)
83
84     -N    Override server name for this instance of Kismet
85
86     -v    Print version
87
88     -h    Help
89

KISMET_CLIENT

91     kismet_client is a ncurses and panels interface which connects to the
92     server and displays detected networks, statistics, network details, etc.
93
94     -f    Use an alternate config file
95
96     -u    Use an alternate UI config file
97
98     -q    Override sound option and run in quiet mode
99
100     -s    Override server host:port
101
102     -r    Attempt to automatically restablish the connection if the server
103           terminates
104
105     -g    Override UI type (curses, panel)
106
107     -c    Override list of columns to display (comma seperated)
108
109     -v    Print version
110
111     -h    Help
112

GPSMAP

114     gpsmap reads GPS and Network XML datafiles and plots networks on down‐
115     loaded maps or user-supplied images (such as satellite photos).
116