WiFi WPA Pre-Shared Key standard

Please can you provide a pointer to an authorative definition of the standard for the content of a WPA PSK string?

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow
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Certainly,

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.

Reply to
jay51

Yes, I can. However, I'm not sure I want to do so. Is there a problem with using Google *FIRST* and then asking if you don't find something? I assume you're trying to crack WPA.

Start here:

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light reading:
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Nope.

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

Frazer Jolly Goodfellow wrote in news:Xns97A5E92D9B2F8frz@80.5.182.99:

In case any other shith*ads are practising their Olympic Conclusion Jumping:

I'm trying to understand why certain WPA keys don't work between a particular router and WiFi card combination. I'm looking for the definitive stuff that *should* have guided manufacturers and O/S and driver coders into producing a common standard.

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

"jay51" wrote in news:ltV%f.16269$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net:

Doesn't quite do the biz, does it?

If you have anything useful to contribute, please cough up otherwise...

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

You're welcome.

WPA was inscribed by the Wi-Fi Alliance and is a subset of IEEE

802.11i. The 802.11i standard is at:
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may also need some of these others to decode the references to 802.11b/g.
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You might also want to check if your router and card have been tested and certified for WPA and/or WPA2 compliance.
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

This might explain some of your compatibility issues if you're using some of the new authentication modes in WPA2:

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If your card is running on a Windoze XP platform, you might wanna enable WZC debugging and see what it complains about:
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Jeff,

Thanks for responding to my rantin' in good spirit. And thanks for the pointers that look both authoritative and impenetrable for my purposes :-) I've done my bit trying to decode IEEE, ISO and ECMA standard yonks ago.

Let metry asking again from the sharp-end: I'm configuing a wireless network. I create a text file on a flash disk drive. I ripple my fingers across the keyboard to generate a random PSK string. I copy that string to the setup screen for the wireless router do the required accept/restart ritual.

Cient PC spots the new network and I ask to connect. - copy the PSK string from the flash drive file and paste it twice as requested - client PC uummms and aaars but cannot connect

Subsequent deduction reveals that one particular character f*cks it up. So what are the allowed values?

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

Frazer Jolly Goodfellow hath wroth:

Good spirits? Directing you to the IEEE 802.11[a-z] specs is favored method of retaliation.

I guess I have to read 802.11i. That usually turns my brain to mush, but that's already the case after preparing my income taxes.

|

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H.4 Suggested pass-phrase-to-PSK mapping (Page 166), proclaims:

- A pass-phrase is a sequence of between 8 and 63 ASCII-encoded characters. The limit of 63 comes from the desire to distinguish between a pass-phrase and a PSK displayed as 64 hexadecimal characters.

- Each character in the pass-phrase must have an encoding in the range of 32 to 126 (decimal), inclusive.

So, there you have it. Stay between ASCII codes 32 and 126 and you're safe. Here's a handy table: |

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guess backspace, bell characters, control characters, and graphic symbols are not acceptable.

Incidentally, here's the rules for the SSID. See: |

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Note: In this text field, the following six characters are not allowed: ?, ", $, [, \\, ], and +. In addition, the following three characters cannot be the first character: !, #, and ;.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

You're not relying on your own (human) memory to store a passphrase, so I suggest using one of the freeware apps that can generate a random,

64-character hexadecimal string and putting that on your flash drive. That's how I handle my WPA keys.
Reply to
Neill Massello

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net (Neill Massello) wrote in news:1hdu4ad.17vibhr1ongcziN% snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

I'll look into that.

Strong passwords and encryption keys that humans can remember is an oxymoron, IMO.

BTW: How do you specify you're entering a hex WPA key vs a passphrase?

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Suspicions confirmed.

I'd assumed any printable character, including extended ASCII codes. The UK £ symbol is out of range.

Documentation from WiFi product vendors typically just says "8 to

63 characters", but does not mention unacceptable char values. Use of hex PSKs is rarely mentioned by product vendors.

Reply to
Frazer Jolly Goodfellow

For WPA, it's usually recognized automatically based on the string's length: if it's 64 characters, it has to be hex.

Reply to
Neill Massello

Consider this bit of code in Notepad, save as CreateGUID.vbs

Set TypeLib = CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib") NewGUID = TypeLib.Guid WScript.Echo(left(NewGUID, len(NewGUID)-2)) Set TypeLib = Nothing

This of course assumes Windows 2000 or greater.

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

Reply to
Rico

Not really -- "diceware words" is a good way to generate high entropy passphrases that can be memorized fairly easily.

Reply to
John Navas

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