Laptop Spawning Access Point Despite No Driver Support??

XXLIVEX · 22 Jan 2023

I have a Dell XPS 2-in1 equipped with Killer Networks 1435 WiFi NIC. Recently, I opened Network Analyzer Pro app on my Android phone (I had new neighbors, and wanted to see if they were using WiFi on the same channel as me). I see instead my Laptop's name in an SSID. I did not do anything network related, I have checked Network Analyzer Pro wifi pretty regularly in the past. I have seen this once before.

I attempt to use the laptop to create an SSID and at this point I am pretty sure its not supported. Drivers do not support Soft AP or Hosted Network. Please help me understand what could be happening...

Code:

=======================================================================
======================= SHOW INTERFACE CAPABILITIES ===================
=======================================================================


Wireless System Capabilities
----------------------------
    Number of antennas connected to the 802.11 radio (value not available)

    Max number of channels the device can operate on, simultaneously (value not available)

    Co-existence Support                        : Unknown


Wireless Device Capabilities
----------------------------

Interface name: Wi-Fi

    WDI Version (Windows)                       : 0.1.1.10

    WDI Version (IHV)                           : 0.1.1.9

    Firmware Version                            : 0.0.0.9999;6f;0

    Station                                     : Supported

    Soft AP                                     : Not supported

    Network monitor mode                        : Not supported

    Wi-Fi Direct Device                         : Supported

    Wi-Fi Direct GO                             : Supported

    Wi-Fi Direct Client                         : Supported

    Protected Management Frames                 : Supported

    DOT11k neighbor report                      : Supported

    ANQP Service Information Discovery          : Supported

    Action Frame                                : Supported

    Diversity Antenna                           : Not Supported

    IBSS                                        : Not Supported

    Promiscuous Mode                            : Not Supported

    P2P Device Discovery                        : Supported

    P2P Service Name Discovery                  : Supported

    P2P Service Info Discovery                  : Not Supported

    P2P Background Discovery                    : Supported

    P2P GO on 5 GHz                             : Supported

    ASP 2.0 Service Name Discovery              : Not Supported

    ASP 2.0 Service Information Discovery       : Not Supported

    IP Docking Capable                          : Not Supported

    FIPS                                        : Supported

    Instant Connect                             : Supported

    Dx Standby NLO                              : Supported

    Extended Channel Switch Announcement        : Supported

    Function Level Reset                        : Not Supported

    Platform Level Reset                        : Supported

    Bus Level Reset                             : Not Supported

    MAC Randomization                           : Supported

    Fast Transition                             : Supported

    MU-MIMO                                     : Supported

    Miracast Sink                               : Supported

    BSS Transition (802.11v)                    : Supported

    IHV Extensibility Module Configured         : Not Supported

    SAE Authentication                          : Supported

    SAE Hash-to-Element Authentication          : Not Supported

    WPA3 SUITE-B Authentication                 : Not Supported

    WPA3 SUITE-B FIPS Mode                      : Not Supported

    OWE Authentication                          : Supported

    FTM as Initiator                            : Not Supported

    MBO Support                                 : Supported

    Number of Tx Spatial Streams                : 2

    Number of Rx Spatial Streams                : 2

    Number of Concurrent Channels Supported     : 2

    P2P GO ports count                          : 1

    P2P Clients Port Count                      : 2

    P2P Max Mobile AP Clients                   : 16

    Max ANQP Service Advertisements Supported   : 0

    Co-existence Support                        : Wi-Fi performance is maintained


netsh wlan>
netsh wlan>show hostednetwork

Hosted network settings
-----------------------
    Mode                   : Allowed
    Settings               : <Not configured>

Hosted network status
---------------------
    Status                 : Not available

netsh wlan>show hostednetwork setting=security

Hosted network security settings
--------------------------------
    Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
    Cipher                 : CCMP
    User security key      : <Not specified>

netsh wlan>netsh show hostednetwork
The following command was not found: netsh show hostednetwork.
netsh wlan>show hostednetwork

Hosted network settings
-----------------------
    Mode                   : Allowed
    Settings               : <Not configured>

Hosted network status
---------------------
    Status                 : Not available


netsh wlan>set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=HostedNetworkTest key=abc123security
The hosted network mode has been set to allow.
The SSID of the hosted network has been successfully changed.
The user key passphrase of the hosted network has been successfully changed.

netsh wlan>start hostednetwork
The hosted network couldn't be started.
The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.


netsh wlan>show hostednetwork

Hosted network settings
-----------------------
    Mode                   : Allowed
    SSID name              : "HostedNetworkTest"
    Max number of clients  : 100
    Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
    Cipher                 : CCMP

Hosted network status
---------------------
    Status                 : Not available

bro67 · 22 Jan 2023

Why not use inSSIDer if you are concerned about a close AP radio overpowering yours. The only thing you have shown is that you are making the device to become a Access Point for other devices.

XXLIVEX · 22 Jan 2023

bro67 said:

Why not use inSSIDer if you are concerned about a close AP radio overpowering yours. The only thing you have shown is that you are making the device to become a Access Point for other devices.

I do have inSSIDer, but my concern lies with me NOT trying to, or being able to, use this laptop as an access point. When I saw the SSID containing my laptops very unique name, I had done nothing networking related at all with the laptop except for browsing internet. After seeing this SSID, I attempted to create an access point with the laptop and it did not work.

bro67 · 22 Jan 2023

So why even try. Unless you are using the laptop with two adapters and as a extender or playing around with a Proxy server for a certification, you are really not going to achieve much.

XXLIVEX · 22 Jan 2023

bro67 said:

So why even try. Unless you are using the laptop with two adapters and as a extender or playing around with a Proxy server for a certification, you are really not going to achieve much.

I don't think you are understanding my post. There has been an SSID broadcast that contains the name of my Windows laptop, "BernardLapTap2" + some other random characters. I did nothing to invoke this SSID.

- - - Updated - - -

I have investigated a bit more, in the registry that housed my settings for my attempt to use the laptop as an AP, there is a settings key with the settings I have provided, as well as "Encrypted Settings" I am assuming this is for the passphrase?

I also checked the BSSID revealed by Network Analyzer pro associated with the BernardLapTap2 SSID. It is associated with a WAN Miniport on the laptop. It has an address of 192.168.137.1, an addressing scheme I do not use. I then grepped for the MAC in a directory containing various CLI sessions and see that my primary (read: setup by me) access point had seen this SSID at one point as well when I was using IW to dump the scan results.

bro67 · 22 Jan 2023

Yes, it will do that if you have Hyper-V enabled, WSL installed, a VM, or a VPN. Really nothing to worry about.

XXLIVEX · 22 Jan 2023

bro67 said:

Yes, it will do that if you have Hypermachine enabled, WSL installed, a VM, or a VPN. Really nothing to worry about.

"hypermachine"??? Hyper V? I don't use Hyper-V. Yes, I have wireguard VPN and another VPN client, neither of which were active and neither of which have anything to so with spawning a WiFi AP. What are you talking about "nothing to worry about"?

Can you explain how having a VPN is explanatory of an SSID being broadcast from a windows laptop, completely unassociated with VPN use?

bro67 · 22 Jan 2023

You are not broadcasting anything. Does the wifi also have Bluetooth capabilities? You are only looking at a small part of the picture, but overthinking and worrying about something that is not happening. Every Wifi radio is going to have a BSSID. A BSSID id's the device. Understanding the Network Terms SSID, BSSID, and ESSID - TechLibrary - Juniper Networks

Routers/Gateways with WIFi are going to have a SSID/BSSID/ESSID. Access Points/Extenders/Repeaters will have the same. Mobile and desktop devices with WIFI are going to have just a BSSID/ESSID per each wifi radio. That means for each radio, regardless of how many for each band, each will have a BSSID/ESSID.

XXLIVEX · 23 Jan 2023

bro67 said:

You are not broadcasting anything. Does the wifi also have Bluetooth capabilities? You are only looking at a small part of the picture, but overthinking and worrying about something that is not happening. Every Wifi radio is going to have a BSSID. A BSSID id's the device. Understanding the Network Terms SSID, BSSID, and ESSID - TechLibrary - Juniper Networks

Routers/Gateways with WIFi are going to have a SSID/BSSID/ESSID. Access Points/Extenders/Repeaters will have the same. Mobile and desktop devices with WIFI are going to have just a BSSID/ESSID per each wifi radio. That means for each radio, regardless of how many for each band, each will have a BSSID/ESSID.

Why are you telling me about BSSIDs and not reading what I am saying?

The first part of my post...

Recently, I opened Network Analyzer Pro app on my Android phone... [And] I see my Laptop's name in an SSID. I did not do anything network related, I have checked Network Analyzer Pro wifi pretty regularly in the past. I have seen this once before.

My laptop (or something appearing as my laptop) is broadcasting something and that is also confirmed by the output of iw when I was ssh'd into my access point.

bro67 · 23 Jan 2023

Again nothing is broadcasting as your laptop. Suggest you read the link I posted.