Hack Linksys Guest Password Simplified

How To Hack Linksys Guest Password Simplified

People connect to the Internet in various methods, but the most common is through a router. This router may link a single computer or a group of computers to the Internet. Some people connect it directly to their computer, while others use a wireless network card to connect to the Internet without cables or connections. In most circumstances, people choose a Linksys router to satisfy their demands.

Linksys is the leading manufacturer of routers, which many of today’s internet service providers utilized. Linksys routers are used by Time Warner Cable and Comcast, two of the largest internet service providers in the United States.

The Different Types Of Passwords On The Linksys Router

Different Types Of Passwords On The Linksys Router

The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Routers come with a variety of security measures to keep your wireless home network, as well as your personal information and files, safe from unwanted access. This article discusses the many passwords available on your Linksys router:

1. Admin password/router password

2. Password for wireless access 

3. Password for guests

4. Password for Linksys Smart Wi-Fi (LSWF)

Admin password/Router password

The router or admin password is needed to get into your router’s web-based setup page or user interface (UI) to change or verify configuration and settings. The admin password is the default for Linksys routers. It is advised that you update this password during setup for maximum security.

QUICK TIP: If you’ve forgotten or misplaced your router password, you’ll need to restore factory default settings. Press and hold the Reset/restart button on the back for 10 seconds to reset the router on older router types, such as Linksys Wireless-B and G routers. You’ll have to set up the router again when it gets reset.

Wireless password / Passphrase

The wireless password (also known as the network security key) is not the same as the router or admin password. The wireless password is used to link wireless devices to your wireless home network or hotspot. In contrast, the router or admin password is employed to log in to the router’s web-based setup page for configuration or verification.

Guest Password

The router’s Guest network function establishes a distinct and secure network for guests. Guests will be asked to input the Guest password once they open a web browser to access the Internet. The Guest password is distinct from the primary wireless network’s password.

Hacking A Linksys Access Point’s Guest Wi-Fi Password

Hacking A Linksys Access Point's Guest Wi-Fi Password

There’s been a problem in how some Linksys access points handle guest users for years. According to research, this approach has been the subject of complaints since 2013, and the problem appears to still exist on specific contemporary Linksys access points.

For guest users to connect, nearly every access point on the market provides a WPA2-PSK secured SSID. The administrator would set up the pre-shared key and make it available to visitors. The users would then authenticate to the AP using the pre-shared key. The advantage is obvious: all communication with the AP, including the authentication procedure, is encrypted. 

Linksys has opted to approach this a little differently on some APs. The AP advertises an open, unencrypted SSID rather than one with WPA2-PSK encryption. When guests join this SSID, they get presented with a sign-in gateway to provide a password, a pre-shared key shared by all guests. The critical issue with this method is that the web gateway used to receive this key is not protected by WPA2-PSK encryption or HTTPS (the SSID is open and unencrypted).

Other access points, such as those given to Comcast Xfinity subscribers employ an unencrypted SSID to provide users with a web portal. Still, the portal is SSL-encrypted, and no plain-text credentials are sent over the air.

1. Sniffing Unencrypted Passwords On The Air

As you may expect, because the wireless guest password is sent over the air unencrypted, sniffing this traffic and gaining access to free Internet access via the guest portal is relatively straightforward. The only hardware and software requirements are a wireless adapter that can be set to monitor mode and the aircrack suite of tools, both of which are installed with Kali Linux by default.

1. Put your appropriate Wi-Fi adapter in monitor mode from inside Kali.

2. After that, you’ll use airodump to find your target SSID. The channel on which this access point operates and the BSSID of the SSID getting promoted are critical pieces of information to collect. The airodump output screen should display this information.

3. You may start sniffing traffic heading to/from that SSID once you’ve obtained the channel and the BSSID if it’s an open SSID. 

4. To begin, make sure you’re in the root folder on your Kali machine. Several files will be produced when you start collecting data using airodump, including a packet capture file that you may inspect with Wireshark.

5. The -c parameter defines the channel on which your target SSID is broadcasting, the –bssid flag specifies the BSSID of the SSID you acquired earlier, and the -w flag gives your output files a name.

You’ll be able to examine the output of airodump for the exact SSID supplied after running this command. You can tell when a station connects by looking at the STATION column. You may use Wireshark to exfiltrate the guest Wi-Fi password from the LinksysCapture-01.cap file that airodump produces for you when a station joins and inputs it.

2. Using Wireshark To Capture The Password And Evaluate It

It’s a waiting game at this point because you’ll have to wait for a valid user to connect to the unsecured SSID and input the guest password. You should be able to see a user’s MAC address appear underneath the STATION column after they join. As they connect with the SSID and frames are transferred back and forth, the counter beneath the Frames column increases.

By opening a new terminal and moving the existing, Cap file to another Cap file; you may take a snapshot of the file as recorded. Consider the following scenario:

1. cap.cap LinksysCapture-01.cap

2. You may use this to capture a snapshot to examine in Wireshark while the first scan is going. 

3. That happens just in case someone joined but didn’t input the correct password or didn’t attempt to submit a password after thinking they might obtain free Internet connecting to an open SSID.

4. You’ll open the cap. Cap, a snapshot of your output in Wireshark and apply a display filter, which you may do by entering it in the filter bar above the captured output. This filter will only display HTTP POST requests, which are how the Linksys AP receives the password info from the guest portal web page.

If you browse to the lower part of the Wireshark window and expand the contents of JavaScript Object Notation: application/JSON, you’ll see all of the entities in the JSON object, which includes the guest PC’s MAC address, the AP’s IP address, and the guest password in plain text (which in this capture is “password.”)

Steps For A Linksys Guest Network Password:

1. Using your router, log into the Linksys router account. 192.168.1.1 or local.

2. Log in by the Username and Password (admin/password is the default).

3. Go to the Network option after you’ve successfully logged in.

4. Select the Wireless option from the Network menu.

5. The guest Network Option is included under the Wireless option. If you so wish, you may tick the box and provide a guest network password, or you can leave it open (Not recommended).

6. Choose the number of devices you’d want to link to your Guest account.

7. It will reboot your router and take up to 2 minutes to make adjustments if you click Save at the bottom.

Some Linksys switches have a Guest Access feature that allows visitors to connect to the Internet via your Wi-Fi network without having to leave their usual neighborhood. Visitors can also use an additional secret phrase to communicate with you, so you don’t have to divulge your common secret phrase. If you don’t want guests to use the Internet right now, you may disable the visitor network using one of the switch’s configuration programs.

Configuring A Linksys Router

You may access the settings of your switch using one of three methods. The most common approach is utilizing a Web interface. Type “192.168.1.1” into your browser to get to the Web arrangement page (precluding cites). On a well-organized PC, type “Enter” in the location bar of your software. To continue, you’ll need the switch’s regulatory secret phrase. If you haven’t already done so, set the secret key to “administrator” and leave the client name blank.

On the other hand, Linksys Connect allows you to adjust the settings. This software must be installed on a well-organized computer. On the other hand, the Web arrangement page has a more user-friendly layout. If you have a switch that works with your Linksys Smart Wi-Fi account, you may also alter the settings from any PC connected to the Internet.

Conclusion

Suppose you use the “Guest Access Portal” option on a Linksys AP that handles guest logins in this way, it is wise to replace it with a more secure AP, or at the very least disable the feature if you don’t want anyone to use your Internet connection for free.


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