Troubles with kismet

[epretorious]

Hello, All:

 

I've configured kismet (kismet-3.1.020401-2mdk) but when I attempt to use kismet (with either my Wavelan/IEEE card or my Prism2 card*) it complains and then dies...

 

[root@zippy root]# kismet
Server options:  none
Client options:  none
Starting server...
Will drop privs to eric (500) gid 500
No specific sources given to be enabled, all will be enabled.
Enabling channel hopping.
Enabling channel splitting.
Source 0 (orinocosource): Enabling monitor mode for orinoco source interface eth1 channel 6...
Waiting for server to start before startuing UI...
FATAL: Could not find 'monitor' private ioctl.  This typically means that the drivers have not been patched or the patched drivers are being loaded.  See the troubleshooting section of the README for more information.

* Kismet works with both of these cards in Gentoo

 

The kismet README (/usr/share/doc/kismet-3.1.020401/README) addresses this...

PROBLEM: Fatal error enabling monitor mode, 'monitor' ioctl not available

      Some capture sources use a private ioctl, 'monitor', to enable rfmon.

      If Kismet is unable to find this ioctl, it means that the wrong

      interface was specified, the wrong capture type is being used, or

      most commonly, the drivers you are using have not been patched or the

      patched drivers are not being loaded.

      Be sure to download any patches needed for the drivers you are using,

      and make sure that no other copies of those drivers exist in your

      /lib/modules/kern-version/ directory.  You may need to restart pcmcia-cs

      if your wireless card was already running when you installed the patched

      drivers.

FIX: Provide the correct interface and ensure that the patched drivers are

      loaded.

So I verified that the interface is specified correctly in /etc/kismet.conf...

source=orinoco,eth1,orinocosource

and verified that the card is bound to eth1...

 

[root@zippy root]# iwconfig eth1
eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"linksys"  Nickname:"HERMES I"
         Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437GHz  Access Point: 00:0C:41:18:4D:FA
         Bit Rate:5.5Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
         Retry limit:4   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Encryption key:off
         Power Management:off
         Link Quality:21/92  Signal level:-75 dBm  Noise level:-95 dBm
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:5  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

orinoco_cs is loaded along with all the others...

 

ds                     15364  6 pcnet_cs,orinoco_cs
orinoco                39532  1 orinoco_cs
hermes                  8736  2 orinoco_cs,orinoco
yenta_socket           16352  2
pcmcia_core            68768  4 pcnet_cs,orinoco_cs,ds,yenta_socket

But there's still no love goin' on so that means that "the drivers [i am] using have not been patched." How can I narrow this down to the specific driver that needs to be patched?

Edited September 30, 2004 by epretorious

[epretorious]

Well, after reading a bit more, I learned how to test the orinoco_cs module to see if monitor mode is available:

[root@zippy root]# iwpriv eth0
eth0      Available private ioctl :
         force_reset      (8BE0) : set   0       & get   0
         card_reset       (8BE1) : set   0       & get   0
         set_port3        (8BE2) : set   1 int   & get   0
         get_port3        (8BE3) : set   0       & get   1 int
         set_preamble     (8BE4) : set   1 int   & get   0
         get_preamble     (8BE5) : set   0       & get   1 int
         set_ibssport     (8BE6) : set   1 int   & get   0
         get_ibssport     (8BE7) : set   0       & get   1 int
         dump_recs        (8BFF) : set   0       & get   0

So the short answer is that Mandrake's installation of orinoco_cs does not support monitor mode.