Description of problem: I need to change (spoof) MAC address of my WiFi card before able to connect to the network because of MAC address filtering. Doing "service NetworkManager stop; ifconfig wlan0 hw ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX; service NetworkManager start" used to work till NM 0.8.1-0.1.git20100510. Now NM is unable to connect to the WiFi network. Checking /var/log/messages says "NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): reset MAC address to YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY" which is the original MAC address. Another "ifconfig wlan0" shows that the MAC address is indeed reset. I have tried setting the MAC address in "Clone Address" field but of no help. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 0.8.1-4.git20100817 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. service NetworkManager stop; ifconfig wlan0 hw ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX; service NetworkManager start 2. ifconfig wlan0 still shows original MAC address 3. Actual results: MAC address set by user is reset Expected results: MAC address set by user is preserved Additional info: Please ask if any additional info is required. Relevant dmesg below: Sep 2 19:19:27 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete. Sep 2 19:19:27 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> Config: set interface ap_scan to 1 Sep 2 19:19:27 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: scanning -> disconnected Sep 2 19:19:27 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> associating Sep 2 19:19:43 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <warn> (wlan0): link timed out. Sep 2 19:19:46 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 3 (reason 39) Sep 2 19:19:46 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason: 39). Sep 2 19:19:46 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: <info> (wlan0): reset MAC address to YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY Sep 2 19:19:46 phoenix kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready Sep 2 19:22:41 phoenix NetworkManager[4661]: user_connection_updated_cb: assertion `old_connection != NULL' failed
NetworkManager supports MAC spoofing feature now. The 'Cloned MAC address' box is designed for that. Unfortunately, there is an issue in wpa_supplicant with *WPA* WiFi connections. A patch has been prepared for wpa_suplicant, but still not applied. See bug 447827 for more info. You could try a hack temporarily: http://markmail.org/message/5ary4cvzlirvro73
Hi Jirka, I've missed to mention that this happens on *WEP* network, not WPA. Restarting NM *after* 'ifconfig wlan0 hw ether' should make wpa_supplicant to take the new HW_ADDR, right?
Well, you are lucky using WEP for MAC spoofing use case. MAC cloning feature in the NetworkManager works out-of-box for both WiFi WEP and wired connections without any need for messing with ifconfig or other commands. So, you should just fill your desired MAC to the 'Cloned MAC address' box in the 'Wireless' tab of your connection and that's it. Then when you activate the connection, the MAC will be set on the interface; on disconnecting the interface will be reset with the permanent MAC again. (The hack was just for WPA WiFi connections).
Tested NetworkManager-0.8.1-4.git20100817 again for WEP network, and "Cloned MAC Address" works perfectly. It would be nice to have if NM respects "ifconfig wlan0 hw ether" also.
Now NM reads MAC it sees on interfaces when it starts. Then when it disconnects it resets this MAC. Upstream fix is: 358261ccd9d1cf4b97969136d657e7c49be52bc3 (master) 33c09a99453528a8bf4d9c7aa0dcf2e8946de6ef (NM_0_8)
Awesome. I'll build the RPMs and test it out - or is there a plan to update NM 0.8 in F13?
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Using NetworkManager 0.8.999-3.git20110526 on F15, this bug is fixed. Hence closing the bug (guess that is okay).