airodump-ng
Capture wireless packets and discover nearby networks
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
airodump-ng [-c channel] [--bssid mac] [-w prefix] [--band band] [options] interface
DESCRIPTION
airodump-ng is a wireless packet capture and network discovery tool. It displays detected access points and clients in real-time, capturing packets to files for later analysis with aircrack-ng.The tool shows network names, encryption types, signal strength, channel, MAC addresses, and associated clients, making it essential for wireless reconnaissance.
PARAMETERS
-c channel
Lock to specific channel--bssid mac
Filter by access point MAC-w prefix
Output file prefix (creates .cap, .csv, .kismet.csv, .kismet.netxml)--band band
Band(s) to scan: a (5GHz), b and g (2.4GHz). Letters can be combined, e.g. abg-a
Filter out (hide) unassociated clients--encrypt suite
Filter access points by encryption (e.g. WEP, WPA, WPA2, OPN)--essid essid
Filter access points by ESSID--write-interval seconds
Time between file writes--manufacturer
Show manufacturer from OUI--wps
Show WPS information--output-format formats
Output formats: pcap, ivs, csv, gps, kismet, netxml-r file
Read from capture file instead of live capture
INSTALL
CAVEATS
For authorized security testing only. Requires monitor mode interface. Capture files can become very large. Some information requires being on the correct channel.
HISTORY
airodump-ng is a core component of the aircrack-ng suite, first released in 2006. It replaced the original airodump with improved features and stability.
SEE ALSO
aircrack-ng(1), aireplay-ng(1), airmon-ng(1), airodump-ng-oui-update(1), wireshark(1)
