SUCCESS!! Some simple but effective tips!

[tecno]

As an early adopter of the Signal Owl I like many of you have been a little frustrated with the thin documentation and lack of progress, but after days of testing I have got the owl to reliably connect on its own.  Here are a few things that are really important and can help you out if you are stuck.

 

1. Case is important!  the payload  must be named in lower case letters to work so your file should be

/root/payload/payload.txt

NOT

/root/payload/PAYLOAD.txt

or

/root/payload/PAYLOAD.TXT

 

the same applies to your extensions, if they are called as all caps in the payload.txt file like for example "WIFI_CONNECt" , then the filename must be in all caps in the extension directory like this

/root/payload/extensions/WIFI_CONNECT.sh

 

2.  Make sure the shebang (#!) starts both the payload script and the extensions.  The scripts in the hak5 GitHub are missing the #! at the start, or at least one of them is.  Every script or extension should start with this.

#!/bin/bash

 

or it will not work at all!!!

 

3.  If you are having trouble getting connected, remove some of the complexity from the equation like this...Lets connect up without the WPA encryption for testing purposes and make it just a little easier.  Once the base connection is up and working you can add WPA later.

 

Here is what I did...

1.  Setup an open guest network or if your router doesn't support guest networks, turn off the encryption on your router for now.  Remember to turn it back on when you are done though!

2.  Before booting the owl, plug in the usb Wifi adapter that came with the kit if you bought the kit.  When you boot with the USB Wifi adapter installed it bumps the internal Wifi interface to wlan1 and the USB adapter takes over the wlan0 interface designation.  Note that the USB Wifi adapter that is now wlan0 starts DOWN.  

3.  Boot the device and hit the button during selection mode to start ssh and the built in AP on wlan1

4.  ssh into the Owl as outlined in the hat5 documentation.

5.  Once you have root each of these commands will work if entered into the command line one by one, test them this way and then put them into your script.  

ifconfig wlan0 up

ifconfig wlan0 essid "YOUR GUEST OR OPEN NETWORK NAME"

udhcpc -I wlan0

 

Now you should be both associated with your open access point and have an IP address assigned.  To check if it is so, type

ifconfig wlan0

and 

ifconfig wlan0

6.  close the connection through plan1 by typing

exit

 

and now grab that IP address your router assigned wlan0 and type

sudo ssh <ASSIGNED IP address>

enter system password when prompted

then enter shell password when prompted "hak5owl"

and you are in on wlan0.  Now you know both adapters are working and you are ready for the script o do it automatically.  wlan0 is the interface you will be sting into when the Owl boots up from the script

7. Ok, its time to load the script. here is my exact script which works every time

 

#!/bin/bash

ifconfig wlan0 up

iwconfig wlan0 essid "Starfleet Guest"

udhcpc -i wlan0

sleep 3

/etc/init.d/sshd start

LED CLEANUP

 

My guest Wifi network is called "Starfleet Guest" so be sure to insert the name of your own network here.  Thats it, it works reliably 100% of the time.  Now you have a foundation from which to add other features and abilities such as adding into your script WPA login information or Nmap scanning or whatever... now that your connected the possibilities are excitingly endless!!!

 

Hope this helps

tecno

[tecno]

Correction

 

to check if you are associated with your open AP and to check if you are assigned an IP, type 

ifconfig wlan0 

and 

iwconfig wlan0

these commands will show you all the info you need to know about your interface wlan0

 

 

[Darren Kitchen]

tecno - 

Thanks for your feedback and contributions. In reading your thoughtfully written post, I notice you mention the issue with wlan0 vs wlan1. I just wanted to chime in and let you all know that we're aware of this bug and that it's being fixed in a forthcoming firmware update now. Anyone reading this post after version 1.0.1 should not have this issue.

[tecno]

Thanks Darren,

It's good to know you are working to improve the product and it is really great you are active here on the forums! Thanks man!

 

tecno

[Merlintime]

I find that it wasn't necessary to have the /root/payload/extensions/wifi_connect.sh file rename to WIFI_CONNECT.sh.  This file creates a WIFI_CONNECT function and exports this function for the payload during the session.

For me, a key step was making the following files executable.

/root/payload/payload.txt
/root/payload/extensions/wifi_connect.sh  <-- Used with the WiFi-Connect payload

On a slightly different note, I also found the USB port would extend to a USB hub which should allow additional devices (SDR, GPS, etc) to be connected.

You provided good information which helped point me in the right direction to get the Signal Owl up and running with a simple payload.  I also recommend people check out Darren's Tutorial Video to help explain the LED sequences.  I noticed the video after spending a little too much time figuring out the sequences to get into arming mode.

Looking forward to some awesome payloads the community develops.

 

 

[tecno]

2 hours ago, Merlintime said:

I find that it wasn't necessary to have the /root/payload/extensions/wifi_connect.sh file rename to WIFI_CONNECT.sh.  This file creates a WIFI_CONNECT function and exports this function for the payload during the session.

For me, a key step was making the following files executable.

/root/payload/payload.txt
/root/payload/extensions/wifi_connect.sh  <-- Used with the WiFi-Connect payload

Thanks Merlintime, I suspect you ar right on target with this assessment.  After further testing with my owl, I find it isn't sourcing the extension directory at all.  Neither is it reading the mounted USB storage for the firmwaree upgrade file.  Sadly I suspect some core file corruption or a hardware issue.  I'm going to give it one more weekend of testing and see if I can get anywhere with it.

 

Good Luck

tcno

[Merlintime]

4 minutes ago, tecno said:

Thanks Merlintime, I suspect you ar right on target with this assessment.  After further testing with my owl, I find it isn't sourcing the extension directory at all.  Neither is it reading the mounted USB storage for the firmwaree upgrade file.  Sadly I suspect some core file corruption or a hardware issue.  I'm going to give it one more weekend of testing and see if I can get anywhere with it.

 

Good Luck

tcno

I've not had any luck with the Signal Owl mounting a USB drive since following the initial setup instructions.  To get payloads in place, I've been using the PSFTP utility to connect to the Owl.  This method isn't likely going to help you since need to re-flash the firmware.  Plan to test out the USB drive more this weekend.

Keep the info coming so we can continue to learn from each other.  🙂