Question on hostapd logs

[Ann Lo]

Thanks Rahmadi for your information. It is good to know the
"disable_dgaf" problem and other options. In our case, we use softAP,
not hotspot. Also, we do not use MFP.

We are hoping to know more details of the specified hostapd logs so
that we can deduce the scope of problems better. There could be
different reasons for the same logs. If we get more information on
what to expect, it will help us a lot.

Thanks,
Ann

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Rahmadi Trimananda <rtrimana at uci.edu> wrote:
> Hi Ann,
>
> I was dealing with AUTH/DEAUTH issues recently and I was using OpenWrt's
> hostapd that has an intermediary program called UCI. So, it has a bunch of
> config files that eventually set up hostapd to run on an OpenWrt system. You
> can have a look at this page:
> https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/uci/wireless#inactivity_timeout_options where
> it explains some UCI Wifi options that might correspond to the actual
> options on hostapd. For example, ap_max_inactivity corresponds to
> max_inactivity.
>
> I got exactly the same set of messages. My device was associated and then
> disassociated right away, and it turned out to be a checksum bug and a DHCP
> bug on hostapd, when we activated an option called disable_dgaf on our
> system. This option makes hostapd calculate wrong checksum values and it
> causes DHCP ack to not be sent. And the latter caused the device to be
> registered and soon get disassociated and lose its IP. So I guess it might
> be other reasons for you as well. One suggestion is that you can change the
> log level in hostapd so that you can see more debug messages:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32205140/hostapd-debug-level-configuration
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Regards,
> Rahmadi
>
> On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 12:42 PM, Ann Lo <annlo.tech at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Would you provide advice on what the following hostapd logs mean?
>>
>> 1) did not acknowledge authentication response
>> 2) deauthenticated due to local deauth request
>> 3) disassociated due to inactivity
>> 4) deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
>>
>> Is item 1) referring to some timeout between hostapd and Wi-Fi driver,
>> or timeout on receiving from the client station?
>>
>> Does item 2) happen for specific timeout on client station?
>>
>> The first 2 logs showed up when a client station was having problem to
>> connect to AP. This problem happened frequently but not all the time.
>> The log sequence was as follows:
>>
>> Apr  8 22:41:16 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr  8 22:41:16 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr  8 22:41:24 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11:
>> deauthenticated due to local deauth request
>> Apr  8 22:41:27 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:41:27 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:41:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr  8 22:41:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr  8 22:41:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx RADIUS: starting
>> accounting session 58E02C68-000002CA
>> Apr  8 22:41:39  uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key
>> handshake completed (RSN)
>> Apr  8 22:42:02 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:07 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:07 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:07 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:13 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:42:13 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: did not
>> acknowledge authentication response
>> Apr  8 22:43:14 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr  8 22:43:14 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr  8 22:43:18 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr  8 22:43:18 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>>
>> The third and fourth logs showed up when a client station lost
>> connection with AP for 1 to 2 minutes. Is the log "disassociated due
>> to inactivity" specific to the configuration "ap_max_inactivity"? Are
>> there other situations that could cause this log to show up?
>>
>> Apr 24 19:22:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr 24 19:22:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr 24 19:22:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx RADIUS: starting
>> accounting session 386D43A7-00000012
>> Apr 24 19:22:39 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key
>> handshake completed (RSN)
>> Apr 24 19:22:53 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated
>> due to inactivity
>> Apr 24 19:22:53 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr 24 19:22:53 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr 24 19:22:53 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx RADIUS: starting
>> accounting session 386D43A7-00000012
>> Apr 24 19:22:53 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key
>> handshake completed (RSN)
>> Apr 24 19:23:13 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated
>> due to inactivity
>>
>> ... Repetitive logs similar to above
>>
>> Apr 24 19:29:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
>> Apr 24 19:29:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid
>> 1)
>> Apr 24 19:29:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx RADIUS: starting
>> accounting session 386D43A7-00000013
>> Apr 24 19:29:08 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key
>> handshake completed (RSN)
>> Apr 24 19:30:12 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated
>> due to inactivity
>> Apr 24 19:30:13 uap0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11:
>> deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
>>
>> Your information would be much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ann
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Hostap mailing list
>> Hostap at lists.infradead.org
>> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/hostap
>
>
>
>
> --
> Kind regards,
> Rahmadi Trimananda
>
> Ph.D. student @ University of California, Irvine
> "Stay hungry, stay foolish!" - Steve Jobs -