What new wireless .ac cards work with the latest rolling Kali release (4.14)?

As of February 6th, you can download or upgrade to the latest rolling release of Kali Linux 2018.1. Here’s a quick run down of what to do to ensure your gear is working for your next wireless penetration test. No wireless cards only a few routers can be used packet injection.

The Realtek Chipset based wireless USB cards are now commonplace, like the evil looking Alfa AC1200 & AC1900 WiFi adapters which are currently sold on Amazon. They support 5 GHz as well, but dependent on versions and the Realtek chip set aren't consistent at this time due to driver issues. Cards like like the Ralink MediaTek RT3572 Chipset based cards work out the box and have solid driver support, but have their issues as well.

AWUS052NH

Performs passive and offensives discovery and attack modes for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Works out the box for Kali 4.14 and supports injection.

root@kali:~# lsusb

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 148f:3572 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT3572 Wireless Adapter

# airmon-ng start wlan0

#history

1 apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

2 apt-get dist-upgrade



root@kali:~#uname -ar

Linux kali 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.14.12-2kali1 (2018-01-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux

— After a reboot —

Out of 3 cards tested so far with the latest Kali rolling release the only one that work out the box is the AWUS052NH in the 5GHz world. Any other card you’re dealing with an unstable and not finalized driver. Your mileage will vary depending on your version of Kali. If you like rolling updates, then buyer beware.

Install Wireless Drivers with Kali rolling

AWUS036ACH & AWUS1900