Bug 2328551 - wpa_supplicant 2.11 breaks Wi-Fi hotspot with key setting validation failed
Summary: wpa_supplicant 2.11 breaks Wi-Fi hotspot with key setting validation failed
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: wpa_supplicant
Version: 42
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Lubomir Rintel
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2024-11-24 16:40 UTC by Ting-Wei Lan
Modified: 2026-06-08 16:06 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2026-06-08 16:06:59 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Ting-Wei Lan 2024-11-24 16:40:25 UTC
I can no longer enable the Wi-Fi Hotspot from GNOME Settings on my ASUS B23E laptop with the builtin Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 Wi-Fi interface. It always failed after a few seconds. Downgrading to 2.10 fixed the issue.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Upgrade wpa_supplicant to 2.11
2. Open GNOME Settings
3. Turn on the Wi-Fi hotspot
Actual Results:  
wpa_supplicant 2.11-3.fc40

11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: Note: nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: nl80211: kernel reports: key setting validation failed
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: Interface initialization failed
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: AP-DISABLED
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: Unable to setup interface.
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: Failed to initialize AP interface
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: interface state DISABLED->DISABLED
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: AP-DISABLED
11月 23 21:38:47 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlp2s0 wasn't started
11月 23 21:38:48 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=3e:dc:f4:42:42:5b reason=3 locally_generated=1
11月 23 21:38:48 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=CORE type=WORLD
11月 23 21:38:48 wnn wpa_supplicant[1353]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=USER type=COUNTRY alpha2=TW

Expected Results:  
wpa_supplicant 2.10-10.fc40

11月 23 21:41:15 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: Note: nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures
11月 23 21:41:15 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: wlp2s0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ENABLED
11月 23 21:41:15 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: wlp2s0: AP-ENABLED
11月 23 21:41:15 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 3e:dc:f4:42:42:5b completed [id=0 id_str=]
11月 23 21:41:15 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-95
11月 23 21:41:16 wnn wpa_supplicant[26842]: wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-95

I have also tested with live images:

Fedora 39 live image worked fine.
Fedora 40 live image also worked fine, but 'dnf upgrade wpa_supplicant' broke it.
Fedora 41 live image failed.

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family KT Controller (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation QM67 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Mobile SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6230 [Rainbow Peak] (rev 34)
06:00.0 USB controller: Fresco Logic FL1000G USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)

Comment 1 Ting-Wei Lan 2025-04-20 14:07:25 UTC
git bisect showed this is the broken commit:
https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/commit/?id=5f3cdc06489ff1ec16d75c3ff41f5ac7c2f62c7c

commit 5f3cdc06489ff1ec16d75c3ff41f5ac7c2f62c7c
Author: Chaoli Zhou <quic_zchaoli>
Date:   Thu Sep 8 17:43:32 2022 +0800

    Override ieee80211w from pmf for AP mode in wpa_supplicant
    
    Since NetworkManager doesn't support setting ieee80211w to
    wpa_supplicant and only support pmf, so override ieee80211w from pmf for
    AP mode if ieee80211w not configurated. Do not change behavior for the
    P2P GO cases.
    
    Signed-off-by: Chaoli Zhou <quic_zchaoli>

Comment 2 Ting-Wei Lan 2025-04-20 14:58:59 UTC
The issue could be worked around with 'nmcli connection modify Hotspot wifi-sec.pmf disable' mentioned in:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/issues/1313#note_1985119

Comment 3 Aoife Moloney 2025-04-28 15:24:02 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora Linux 40 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora Linux 40 on 2025-05-13.
It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer
maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a
'version' of '40'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
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Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora Linux 40 is end of life. If you would still like 
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prior to this bug being closed.

Comment 4 Ting-Wei Lan 2025-04-30 07:54:40 UTC
Move to Fedora 42 since it is still reproducible with the latest Fedora Workstation Live ISO.

Comment 5 Fedora Release Engineering 2026-05-06 11:59:26 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora Linux 42 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora Linux 42 on 2026-05-13.
It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer
maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a
'version' of '42'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora Linux version. Note that the version field may be hidden.
Click the "Show advanced fields" button if you do not see it.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora Linux 42 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora Linux, you are encouraged to change the 'version' to a later version
prior to this bug being closed.

Comment 6 Aoife Moloney 2026-06-08 16:06:59 UTC
Fedora Linux 42 entered end-of-life (EOL) status on 2026-05-27.

Fedora Linux 42 is no longer maintained, which means that it
will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we
are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of Fedora Linux
please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. Note that the version
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If you are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against an
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Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


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