Pi-PwnBox 🚀 -RogueAP 📡

Homemade (headless) PwnBox / RogueAP based on Raspberry Pi & Alfa WiFi USB Adapters.

WiFi Hacking Cheatsheets & Mind Map 💡

Designed to be used for:

• On-site Red Team engagements,
• WiFi Security assessments,
• WiFi Attacks practice.

Table of Contents

• Pi-PwnBox-RogueAP
• Equipment used
• WiFi USB Adapters Overview
• Requirements & Compatibility
• Installation
• PwnBox Network Configuration
  • Wireless Dedicated Administration Network
  • LAN Network (Wireless or Wired)
• PwnBox Remote Access
• Usage
• WiFi Hacking Cheatsheets & Mind Map
• Troubleshooting
• Possible Upgrade

Equipment used

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, Pi 4 or Pi 5
• Micro SD Memory Card 64 GB (class 10 or better, UHS-I recommended)
• Raspberry Pi Case (with passive/active cooling for Pi 4/5)
• Alfa WiFi USB Adapter AWUS036NEH
• Alfa WiFi USB Adapter AWUS036ACH
• BrosTrend WiFi USB Adapter AC1L AC1200 (can be replaced by any adapter supporting AP mode)
• USB cable Male to Female
• Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard (optional)
• Powerbank (minimum 2.5A for Pi 3, 3A+ for Pi 4/5)

WiFi USB Adapters Overview

* would require nexmon patch to enable monitor mode and injection support on built-in Broadcom chip (but we do not need it for its usage here).

Requirements & Compatibility

• OS: Kali Linux ARM for Raspberry Pi (64-bit recommended for Pi 4/5).
• Internet: During installation the PwnBox must have access to the Internet.
• Root: Install script must be run as root.
• Note for Pi 4/5: The 64-bit Kali ARM image is highly recommended. All tools work on arm64, but some older precompiled binaries may require box64 or manual compilation.

Installation

1. Download Kali Linux ARM Image for Raspberry Pi: https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-arm

2. Flash Kali Linux ARM Image for Raspberry Pi onto Micro SD Card (use Raspberry Pi Imager or dd).

3. Boot Raspberry Pi, log in (default kali/kali) and make sure it has Internet connection.

4. Download install scripts/configurations on the PwnBox:

   root@kitploit:~

   git clone https://github.com/koutto/pi-pwnbox-rogueap.git
   

5. Important: Edit install script configuration at the top of scripts/install-system.sh file:

   • Choose Guacamole passwords (GUACAMOLE_PASSWORD, GUACAMOLE_MYSQL_PASSWORD).
   • Set WiFi interfaces persistent names based on their MAC addresses: wlxaabbccddeeff for a device with MAC address aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.
   • Set MAC addresses of eth0 & wlan0 (built-in interfaces).
   • Set WiFi connection settings (, ).

PwnBox Network Configuration

Wireless Dedicated Administration Network

When booting, PwnBox automatically spawns an AP on one interface to allow for easy remote access:

• SSID = PWNBOX_ADMIN (Hidden SSID)
• WPA2 Passphrase (PSK) = Koutto!PwnB0x!
• IP AP = 10.0.0.1 (when connected to this network, PwnBox can be accessed at this IP)
• Network range = 10.0.0.1/24

LAN Network (Wireless or Wired)

When booting, PwnBox automatically connects to:

• Wired network if Ethernet port is connected.

• WiFi network (using built-in Raspberry Pi chip) if there is available wireless network with saved connection settings (in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf). If you want to connect to a new WiFi network (not saved into PwnBox), it is necessary to add WPA passphrase of the network before:

  1. Access the PwnBox using another way, e.g.:

     • Use wireless dedicated administration network (most convenient approach),
     • Use wired network,
     • Use monitor + (wireless) keyboard.

  2. Add WPA passphrase to PwnBox local configuration:

     root@kitploit:~

     wpa_passphrase <SSID> <passphrase> >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
     

  3. Test connection:

     root@kitploit:~

     wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
     dhclient -v wlan0
     ping 8.8.8.8
     

PwnBox Remote Access

PwnBox can be controlled through:

• SSH Service (22/tcp):

  root@kitploit:~

  ssh kali@<ip_pwnbox>
  

• VNC-over-HTTP with Guacamole (8080/tcp):

  root@kitploit:~

  http://<ip_pwnbox>:8080/guacamole
  

PwnBox's IP depends on the network you want to access it from:

• Via Wireless Dedicated Administration Network (i.e. connected to hidden SSID PWNBOX_ADMIN): IP is always 10.0.0.1.
• Via LAN Network (wireless or wired): IP depends on the value allocated by DHCP server. IP can be found using netdiscover for example.

Note: Guacamole service might take a lot of resources (RAM) when running. If not used, it can be stopped using stop-guacamole.sh script.

Usage

• Most of the time, only SSH access is necessary. (CLI tools).
• Additional tools are installed into /usr/share.
• Tools with GUI or requiring spawning of multiple xterm (e.g. airgeddon) can be run through Guacamole.
• Tools with Web UI (e.g. Kismet, Bettercap) can be started and accessed remotely.

WiFi Hacking Cheatsheets & Mind Map

• WiFi Hacking MindMap [PDF version]

• WiFi Hacking Theory Cheatsheets
• WiFi Hacking Commands Cheatsheets
• MitM Commands Cheatsheets

Troubleshooting

Slow boot when Ethernet cable is unplugged

Because /etc/network/interfaces uses auto eth0, the system waits for a DHCP lease during boot. If you frequently run the PwnBox without Ethernet and experience slow boots, edit /etc/network/interfaces and change:

auto eth0
allow-hotplug eth0

to:

allow-hotplug eth0

(Remove the auto eth0 line.)

DHCP service conflict warning

isc-dhcp-server is installed because some tools (e.g., Fluxion) require it, but it is disabled by default to avoid a port 67/udp conflict with dnsmasq (which serves the PWNBOX_ADMIN AP). If you need isc-dhcp-server, stop dnsmasq first:

systemctl stop dnsmasq
systemctl start isc-dhcp-server

Guacamole / Tomcat service fails to start

Newer Kali/Debian releases ship Tomcat 10 instead of Tomcat 9. The start-guacamole.sh and stop-guacamole.sh scripts auto-detect the installed Tomcat version. If Guacamole does not work after install, check:

systemctl list-unit-files | grep tomcat
systemctl status guacd
systemctl status mysql
# Then start manually with correct tomcat version, e.g.:
systemctl start tomcat10

BrosTrend AC1L driver issues

If the vendor installer (deb.trendtechcn.com) is offline, build the driver manually:

sudo apt-get install -y bc git build-essential dkms
sudo git clone https://github.com/cilynx/rtl88x2bu.git /usr/src/rtl88x2bu-5.8.7
sudo dkms add -m rtl88x2bu -v 5.8.7
sudo dkms autoinstall

VNC server does not start

Make sure you ran vncpasswd during install to create the password file:

vncpasswd
systemctl restart vncserver

Python 2 tools no longer work

Python 2 has been removed from modern Kali. The install script now uses Python 3 only. If you have old custom Python 2 tools, migrate them to Python 3 or run them in a dedicated Docker container.

No Internet after disabling NetworkManager

The install script disables NetworkManager in favor of classic /etc/network/interfaces. If you need to temporarily re-enable NM:

systemctl start NetworkManager
systemctl enable NetworkManager

Wireless interface names changed after reboot

Check that your MAC addresses in install-system.sh match reality:

ip link show

Then re-run the network configuration section or update /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules manually.

Possible Upgrade

• Add 4G USB dongle for remote access to PwnBox using 4G cell network.
• Replace BrosTrend AC1L with a dual-band AP-capable adapter supporting 802.11ax (WiFi 6) for better performance.
• Add GPS USB module for wardriving with Kismet.