wpa_cli man page on Ubuntu

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WPA_CLI(8)							    WPA_CLI(8)

NAME
       wpa_cli - WPA command line client

SYNOPSIS
       wpa_cli	[ -p path to ctrl sockets ] [ -i ifname ] [ -hvB ] [ -a action
       file ] [ -P pid file ] [ command ... ]

OVERVIEW
       wpa_cli is a text-based frontend program for interacting with  wpa_sup‐
       plicant.	 It  is	 used  to  query current status, change configuration,
       trigger events, and request interactive user input.

       wpa_cli can show the current authentication status,  selected  security
       mode,  dot11  and  dot1x	 MIBs, etc. In addition, it can configure some
       variables like EAPOL state machine parameters and trigger  events  like
       reassociation  and  IEEE	 802.1X	 logoff/logon. wpa_cli provides a user
       interface to request  authentication  information,  like	 username  and
       password,  if  these are not included in the configuration. This can be
       used to implement,  e.g.,  one-time-passwords  or  generic  token  card
       authentication  where  the  authentication  is  based  on  a challenge-
       response that uses an external device for generating the response.

       The control interface of wpa_supplicant can be configured to allow non-
       root  user access (ctrl_interface GROUP= parameter in the configuration
       file). This makes it  possible  to  run	wpa_cli	 with  a  normal  user
       account.

       wpa_cli	supports  two  modes: interactive and command line. Both modes
       share the same command set and the main difference  is  in  interactive
       mode  providing	access	to unsolicited messages (event messages, user‐
       name/password requests).

       Interactive mode is started when wpa_cli is executed without  including
       the  command  as a command line parameter. Commands are then entered on
       the wpa_cli prompt. In command line mode, the same commands are entered
       as command line arguments for wpa_cli.

INTERACTIVE AUTHENTICATION PARAMETERS REQUEST
       When  wpa_supplicant  need authentication parameters, like username and
       password, which are not present in the configuration file, it  sends  a
       request	message	 to  all  attached frontend programs, e.g., wpa_cli in
       interactive  mode.   wpa_cli   shows   these   requests	 with	"CTRL-
       REQ-<type>-<id>:<text>"	prefix.	 <type>	 is IDENTITY, PASSWORD, or OTP
       (one-time-password). <id> is a unique identifier for the	 current  net‐
       work.  <text> is description of the request. In case of OTP request, it
       includes the challenge from the authentication server.

       The reply to these requests can be given with identity,	password,  and
       otp  commands. <id> needs to be copied from the matching request. pass‐
       word and otp commands can be used regardless of whether the request was
       for  PASSWORD or OTP. The main difference between these two commands is
       that values given with password are remembered as long  as  wpa_suppli‐
       cant  is	 running  whereas values given with otp are used only once and
       then forgotten, i.e., wpa_supplicant will ask frontend for a new	 value
       for  every  use.	 This can be used to implement one-time-password lists
       and generic token card -based authentication.

       Example request for password and a matching reply:

	      CTRL-REQ-PASSWORD-1:Password needed for SSID foobar
	      > password 1 mysecretpassword

       Example request for generic token card challenge-response:

	      CTRL-REQ-OTP-2:Challenge 1235663 needed for SSID foobar
	      > otp 2 9876

COMMAND ARGUMENTS
       -p path
	      Change the path where control sockets should be found.

       -i ifname
	      Specify the interface that is  being  configured.	  By  default,
	      choose  the  first  interface found with a control socket in the
	      socket path.

       -h     Help.  Show a usage message.

       -v     Show version information.

       -B     Run as a daemon in the background.

       -a file
	      Run in daemon mode executing the action  file  based  on	events
	      from  wpa_supplicant.   The specified file will be executed with
	      the first argument set to interface name	and  second  to	 "CON‐
	      NECTED"  or  "DISCONNECTED" depending on the event.  This can be
	      used to execute  networking  tools  required  to	configure  the
	      interface.

	      Additionally, three environmental variables are available to the
	      file: WPA_CTRL_DIR, WPA_ID, and  WPA_ID_STR.  WPA_CTRL_DIR  con‐
	      tains  the  absolute  path  to the ctrl_interface socket. WPA_ID
	      contains the unique network_id identifier assigned to the active
	      network,	and  WPA_ID_STR	 contains  the	content	 of the id_str
	      option.

       -P file
	      Set the location of the PID file.

       command
	      Run a command.  The available commands are listed	 in  the  next
	      section.

COMMANDS
       The following commands are available:

       status get current WPA/EAPOL/EAP status

       mib    get MIB variables (dot1x, dot11)

       help   show this usage help

       interface [ifname]
	      show interfaces/select interface

       level <debug level>
	      change debug level

       license
	      show full wpa_cli license

       logoff IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logoff

       logon  IEEE 802.1X EAPOL state machine logon

       set    set  variables  (shows  list of variables when run without argu‐
	      ments)

       pmksa  show PMKSA cache

       reassociate
	      force reassociation

       reconfigure
	      force wpa_supplicant to re-read its configuration file

       preauthenticate <BSSID>
	      force preauthentication

       identity <network id> <identity>
	      configure identity for an SSID

       password <network id> <password>
	      configure password for an SSID

       pin <network id> <pin>
	      configure pin for an SSID

       otp <network id> <password>
	      configure one-time-password for an SSID

       bssid <network id> <BSSID>
	      set preferred BSSID for an SSID

       list_networks
	      list configured networks

       terminate
	      terminate wpa_supplicant

       quit   exit wpa_cli

SEE ALSO
       wpa_supplicant(8)

LEGAL
       wpa_supplicant is copyright (c) 2003-2007, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi>  and
       contributors.  All Rights Reserved.

       This  program  is  dual-licensed	 under	both the GPL version 2 and BSD
       license. Either license may be used at your option.

				 05 March 2012			    WPA_CLI(8)
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