[PATCH 1/2] Add SEND_ACTION control interface command for hostapd

[Jouni Malinen]

On Fri, Dec 02, 2022 at 01:11:44PM +0100, Raphaël Mélotte wrote:
> For userspace applications, sending custom action frames can be
> cumbersome: many parameters need to be specified, while at the same
> time those parameters are already known by hostapd (e.g. the BSSID,
> current channel, etc).
> 
> To make it easy to send custom action frames, add a new SEND_ACTION
> control interface command.
> It allows to send action frames (provided as a hex string) on the
> current channel.

I'm fine with doing this kind of things for testing purposes under the
CONFIG_TESTING_OPTIONS build parameter, but providing a mechanism for
sending practically any kind of Action frame in a production build feels
problematic. There might be somewhat reduced privilege requirements for
the hostapd control interfaces compared to being able to use
NL80211_CMD_FRAME directly. In addition, sending some Action frames
without hostapd having the internal context on the state can result in
unexpected behavior when processing either the TX status callback or a
response from a STA to such an Action frame.

-- 
Jouni Malinen                                            PGP id EFC895FA