wpa_cli is a text-based frontend program for interacting
with wpa_supplicant. 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 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, username/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 network. <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
the matching request. 'password' 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_supplicant 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 "CONNECT" or "DISCONNECT" depending on the event.
This can be used
-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 arguments)
pmksa
show PMKSA cache
reassociate
force reassociation
reconfigure
force wpa_supplicant to re-read its configuration file