Detecting vulnerabilities in the WLAN with Wifislax
Guardian Angel

Modern WiFi installations provide comfort, but they often have serious security problems. Wifislax offers an extensive collection of tools for checking the security of your wireless network.
WLANs are extremely popular. A wireless LAN is flexible and easy to set up, and the current standards see wireless networks achieving data transfer rates that were the domain of wired LANs until a few years ago. A misconfigured WLAN, however, can open up the floodgates to attackers, so a close look at the configuration is definitely worthwhile. The Wifislax Linux distribution comes with a preinstalled collection of the best WiFi security tools.
Live Application
Wifislax [1] boots to a GRUB screen in Spanish. If you do not speak Spanish, first go to the Change to English menus entry to make things a little easier. You now have to choose one of two kernel versions: The Run with 486 kernel option is recommended for older hardware. If the computer uses a modern multicore CPU, you can select the Run with SMP kernel option. GRUB does not start the actual operating system immediately afterwards but instead provides various desktops (KDE and XFCE) in another screen and secure modes without ACPI, X Server, or with VESA graphics driver. The actual system only starts after you select one of these options.
At first glance, the Wifislax desktop menu structure does not have any special features other than the subgroups Wifislax and Updaters. However, on closer inspection of the submenus, it becomes apparent that the developers dropped all the ballast from the operating system that does not contribute to the distribution's actual focus. In other words, GIMP, LibreOffice, and Thunderbird, along with other standard programs, are missing from the multimedia sector. Major online applications such as email clients, instant messaging clients, and messenger services have also been removed. However, the scope of programs varies depending on your work environment: KDE integrates some of its many desktop-specific programs, which are completely missing under XFCE.
Installation
You might wish to install Wifislax on your hard drive, because Live mode is a little slow. The Wifislax Installer QT graphical interface dumps the system onto your hard disk in just a few steps. To launch the installer, choose the System menu and select Install Wifislax. The installer interface automatically sets up the desktop environment used for Live operations; however, no localization is provided, so be ready to navigate the installation in Spanish (Figure 1).

Another gripe that emerges during the installation is the complicated preparation of the mass storage. The interface does not let you install the distribution on a previously partitioned hard disk. Instead, you need to first delete all the existing partitions using System | GParted and create new partitions.After a reboot, you can trigger the installation by activating the graphical interface again and clicking Siguiente (Next) to continue. The installer asks which hard disk and partition it should store the system on. After selecting a disk and partition, start the installation by clicking Copiar. A progress bar shows the installation progress.
When the interface outputs the message Operacion finalizada (operation completed), switch to the boot manager configuration by clicking Siguiente again. You can launch the boot manager by clicking Ejecutar GRUB Config (Run GRUB configuration). The Ncurses program gives you a working GRUB 2 boot loader in just a few steps.
After another reboot Wifislax will boot from the hard drive. The distribution's good equipment level, with driver modules even for exotic hardware, stands out positively: Wifislax supports most WLAN cards and external USB WLAN sticks with proprietary firmware drivers.
The Basics
Wifislax focuses on analysis tools and forensic software for wireless networks, and this also includes dedicated network hardware such as routers. The goal is to identify and eliminate vulnerabilities in the configuration. In doing so, the distribution not only takes into account the configuration of the firewall, individual services, or the encryption used, but also the security of passwords and authentication mechanisms.
Wifislax provides countless programs for these applications – most of them run in the terminal, but some also provide a graphical interface. For command-line-based software, Wifislax runs the program in a terminal window. You can start the application with the appropriate options.
Make sure to first clear a small obstacle out of the way before production: The software natively knows only the Spanish and US keyboard layouts; if you need any other layout, you will need to enable it. To do so, click on the flag in the panel the bottom right and, from the menu that appears, select the Properties entry. In the dialog that appears, click on the Add button in the Keyboard layouts: field and then select a layout (Figure 2).

Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
News
-
Kali Linux 2022.3 Released
From the creators of the most popular penetration testing distributions on the planet, comes a new release with some new tools and a community, real-time chat option.
-
The 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping
After a considerable delay, the 14" version of the Pinebook Pro laptop is, once again, available for purchase.
-
OpenMandriva Lx ROME Technical Preview Released
OpenMandriva’s rolling release distribution technical preview has been released for testing purposes and adds some of the latest/greatest software into the mix.
-
Linux Mint 21 is Now Available
The latest iteration of Linux Mint, codenamed Vanessa, has been released with a new upgrade tool and other fantastic features.
-
Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature
Firefox 103 has arrived and it now includes a feature users have long awaited…sort of.
-
System76 Refreshes Their Popular Oryx Pro Laptop with a New CPU
The System76 Oryx Pro laptop has been relaunched with a 12th Gen CPU and more powerful graphics options.
-
Elive Has Released a New Beta
The Elive team is proud to announce the latest beta version (3.8.30) of its Enlightenment-centric Linux distribution.
-
Rocky Linux 9 Has Arrived
The latest iteration of Rocky Linux is now available and includes a host of new features and support for new architecture.
-
Slimbook Executive Linux Ultrabook Upgrading Their CPUs
The Spanish-based company, Slimbook, has made available their next generation Slimbook Executive Linux ultrabooks with a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPU.
-
Fedora Linux is Coming to the Raspberry Pi 4
Thanks to significant work in the upstream, the upcoming release of Fedora 37 will introduce support for the Raspberry Pi 4.