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Kismet

Kismet is a wireless network and device detector, sniffer, wardriving tool, and WIDS framework that works with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SDR hardware like RTLSDR, and specialized capture hardware.

Description

Kismet is a comprehensive 802.11 layer-2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. It supports raw monitoring mode (rfmon) on compatible wireless cards to detect 802.11a/b/g/n traffic and works across multiple wireless protocols including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and various SDR sources.

The tool provides extensive capture capabilities through specialized drivers for hardware like Hak5 WiFi Coconut, Ubertooth One, RTLSDR, NRF sniffers, and more. These drivers enable packet capture from diverse sources and support sending data to remote Kismet servers via modern websockets or legacy TCP protocols.

Kismet includes log processing tools for converting KismetDB logs to formats like GPX, KML, PCAP, WigleCSV, and JSON, making it ideal for wardriving, network mapping, and analysis in tools like Wireshark, Google Earth, and OpenStreetMap.

How It Works

Kismet operates by launching specialized capture drivers (kismet_cap_*) that interface with wireless hardware in monitor mode or raw capture mode. These drivers feed packet data into the Kismet core server which tracks devices, generates alerts, and logs data in KismetDB format. The system supports remote drone architectures where capture sources connect to a central server via websockets (port 2501) or legacy TCP (port 3501). Device tracking uses PHY handlers (like 802.11) and maintains state with configurable timeouts. Logtools process the SQLite-based KismetDB files for export to standard formats.

Installation

bash
sudo apt install kismet

Flags

-c <datasource>Use the specified datasource (identical syntax to the config file)
-f, --config-fileUse alternate configuration file
--silentTurn off stdout output after setup phase
--daemonizeSpawn detached in the background
-s, --silentTurn off stdout output after setup phase (kismet_drone)
--drone-listenOverride Kismet drone listen options
-T, --log-types <types>Override activated log types
-p, --log-prefix <prefix>Directory to store log files

Examples

Start the Kismet server using wlan0 as capture source with external GPSD GPS support
kismet_server -c wlan0 --use-gpsd-gps
Show help for kismet_client
kismet_client -h
Show help for kismet_drone remote capture drone
kismet_drone -h
Connect ANTSdr DroneID capture driver to remote Kismet server
kismet_cap_antsdr_droneid --connect [host]:[port]
Linux Wi-Fi capture driver (typically auto-started by Kismet server)
kismet_cap_linux_wifi [options]
Convert KismetDB log to PCAP format for Wireshark/tcpdump
kismetdb_to_pcap -i input.kismetdb -o output.pcap
Convert KismetDB to GPX for mapping in OSM and GPS tools
kismetdb_to_gpx -i input.kismetdb -o track.gpx
Updated 2026-04-16kali.org ↗