hostapd + WPA2 + ath9k + compat-wireless = fail(?)

[Mihai Moldovan]

Hi all

I'm using ath9k with two WiFi cards and hostapd.

hostapd: git
ath9k: in-kernel, compat-wireless

Whenever I start hostapd, STAs try to connect but can't due to some
EAPOL timeout in handshake phase 1 when using compat-wireless.
The 3.2 and 3.0.2 in-kernel ath9k drivers work fine though.

Frankly, I have no idea where to start debugging. My best guess is that
the driver changed and hostapd actually doesn't get any data, although
the STA responds to the initial handshake. Thinking about it again, it
seems illogical, as hostapd actually sees a new STA connecting.

I have included both hostapd -dd logs.
Maybe you can spot something interesting.

So far, the only thing I could diff out is:

-nl80211: Setup AP - device_ap_sme=0 use_monitor=1
-nl80211: Create interface iftype 6 (MONITOR)
-nl80211: New interface mon.wlan1 created: ifindex=31
-nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 31
+nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 27
+nl80211: Set mode ifindex 27 iftype 3 (AP)
+nl80211: Setup AP - device_ap_sme=0 use_monitor=0

Why is the old driver creating a monitor, while the new one is not? (Cf.
my thesis "hostapd does not see traffic")
Also, the older version is using a 100ms timeout, while the new version
raised that to 1000ms... but it still fails.

Do you see anything else?

Let me know if you need the config file, I didn't include it as I deemed
it uninteresting (given the "older" inkernel driver version works fine
with exactly the same config and hostapd version.)

I'm looking forward to any answer I can get. :)

Best regards



Mihai

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