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They're only frequently asked questions because no-one reads the FAQ
Topic: Miscellaneous 11:53 am EDT, May 21, 2003

so as you may or may not know the author of this article is the author and distributor of a few open source projects, one most notable project is the Airjack project...this is a tool (a driver actually) for raw 802.11 frame injection and the sort, its what i used to break things for my blackhat lecture...

i no longer actively maintain this project, but i still distribute it, and ill give help on it...and if someone has a really good question i really help and sometimes expand functionality...

anyways, i get email all the time about it, most of it them are asking for support on some level, most are actually polite, respectful, ie, dont piss me off...

every now and then i get a gem, one that is in leet speak, from the most vial script kiddie that has ever picked up a keyboard...id like to share some of the anger and frustration with you, the anonymous internet goer, in the hopes that i can somehow cathartically dispell these feelings...

----

ok first thing you need to know is this...if you are asking a stranger for free software that they spent time to write and make useful, then you are asking them for a favor...believe me there are many projects i work on and very very very few i make public...so if you have any troubles with it, go about things as you would when asking a stranger for a favor...

i cant begin to tell you how often i get people upset because i didnt help them adiquitely in their eyes, or because i wont add a feature, or because it is hard to install, ive even been accused of embedding malicious viruses in my OPEN SOURCE code (something very untrue, its open source for god's sake)...

some ground rules before you ever email a free software project maintainer...

1) know what the program/tool is, that includes what its supposed to do, the general type of program it is (driver, user space application, command line, x app, etc), what os it runs on, what os it doesnt run on...and again, what its supposed to do...you'd think that would be a prerequisite for even wanting a thing, but nope, later you'll see its not...

2) if you have trouble installing the program, this is not my problem...i clearly already have this installed and sence i owe you nothing, i have no obligation to help you install it...that said i made it public because i wanted to share, so i am more than happy to help you install it...

3) i dont write documentation because i like writing documentation...so if i have any, documentation, i have it there to help you, not me, i already know how it works...so read the documentation and dont ask me to paste it to you in email...the documentation is faster and bothers me less...

4) if you find a bug, its not my problem, i might fix it, i might not, your bug is your problem, not mine, if it works for me then im happy...thats not to say that i wont fix the bug, what that means is i have no obligation to fix the bug...believe me 99 times out of 100 im more than happy to fix the bug...better yet, try to fix the bug on your own, i take patches much easier than i take complaints...a patch shows me you know its your problem, and you're just trying to help everyone else out, maybe reduce my email load...that make you doing me a favor, and that reciprication makes us less like strangers, and more like colleages...

5) if you have a feature request this is really not my problem...if i think its worth doing, ill do it, if not i wont, if the project isnt being maintained anymore, you should assume the latter...that said i have from time to time added something cool that has been suggested...but know that a feature request is like asking a stranger to take 6 hours out of his time to help you move your apartment...if you have the gaul to do it, you better have some reason why he wants to...

6) dont accuse the author of harming you, intentionally or otherwise...if the code is in very experimental stages of development (and even if its not), then dont be surprised if it breaks...if its a driver for example, oh, say AirJack, then dont be surprised or worse accusatory if it locks your machine...that disclaimer that came with it was real, if you ask a stranger to cook you dinner, dont complain if you dont like the way it tastes, and you damn well better not accuse him of poisoning you unless you're right...

im sure there are more, but im pissed right now so that will do for the moment...

ok now im going to copy the volly of messages that sparked this rant...this is all from one person...a person that ive recently found has been pissing off lots of people in the wireless security community, so its not just me...these are a bit lengthy, so skip to the end if you dont care...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: airjack@802.11ninja.net
Subject: Regards to Airjack Software

I think you are a genius! Please send me your software I am highly seeking it (for constructive use only). If you can point me to the link that has it or email it to irie@networks.org i would be stoked! thanks.

Charles.

---

good start there, here is my reply...

---

From: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
To: [CENCORED JACKASS]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software

um, thanks...let me know if it gives you any trouble...

--Abaddon

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - reporting problems with compile

to the 80211 ninja:
hey - i had an error and you told me to report it, do you have a solution? my OS is slackware linux v9.0 linux kernel 2.4.20 - please advise so i can work the program.

had the same problems with your version as the one that exists in the wild on google. please tell me a solution :

root@dell:/linux-alt/SOFTWARE/airjack-v0.6.2-alpha-defcon# make
rm -f airjack_cs.o airjack.o hfa384x.o
gcc airjack.c -O2 -Wall -Werror -DMODULE -D__KERNEL__ -I. -I-
-I/usr/src/pcmcia-cs-3.1.31/include -I/lib/modules/`uname
-r`/build/include -c
airjack.c: In function `airjack_interrupt':
airjack.c:828: parse error before "__func__"

[snip...]

tried doing what i could but it refused to compile.

---

From: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
To: [CENCORED JACKASS]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - reporting problems with compile

sorry about that, that was a stupid bug caused by lack of sleep and a less picky compiler version that lets it through for me, __func__ is a c99'ism so it doesnt behave the way you would expect, its a constant string, not a string constant, the easiest way to work around this is to goto the top of every file and put a line in that say this

#define __func__

that will define __func__ to nothing and make it shutup...
let me know if it still gives you trouble...

--Abaddon

---

actually i got that bug report enough that i fixed it right then, but thats the easy hack to give him a fix now...see im not such a mean person most of the time...so far anyways...it continues...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - reporting question of use.

to the 802.11 ninja,
Actually I engineered it myself with basic C knowledge i de-quoted (removed the "'s) and it compiled, next curiousity lies in creating the fabled 'aj0' device. i tried insmod airjack_cs.o and it isnt there. I am still somewhat new to this and I assume all i would need to do is create that pseudodevice or whatever and your tools and such would work. Please tell me how to register the aj0 device so it shows up in ifconfig. (is that how it works?)
thanks,
charles.

---

as you can see im spending some time on this prick, still this isn't too much that would piss me off yet, except its in the faq...here is my reply...

---

From: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
To: [CENCORED JACKASS]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - reporting question of use.

this is a card services device, so you register it like any other pcmcia card...it relies on the kernel (in this case card services) to signal that a card has been inserted, until then the kernel will never run my code so you wont get the aj0 device...to do that see my webpage (802.11ninja.net) there are some example config files for your pcmcia setup on your machine, if the driver loads with insmod then you're just about to the point of installing it...now all you have to do is tell card services to tell me that the card is there...

--Abaddon

---

ok, breath, maybe he knew what it was, he just wasn't clear on how linux pcmcia works...be nice...*zen*...*zen*...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - setmac didnt work for me

hunter killer worked but ./setmac didnt work said some error. It doesnt really matter. I was convinced air jack was like a utility for cracking into a mac filtered network thus allowing me to steal airtime from a wisp or something, im not into denial of service im into getting free internet from the AP's all over town. theres some that wont let me on, do you plan on writing a tool that lets me JACK FREE INTERNET (which is what i thought airjack meant). i think that would be sick dude i could use inet from the AP's by my apartment. do you know of any tools that will let me m00ch internet and leech bandwidth? do you think you are up to writing one? theres some ones that show up in Kismet as yellow, however changing my ssid and bssid to theirs wont work and it doesnt linkstatus=CONNECTED me, it says DISCONNECTED. i know they are stupid as fuck and i can steal their internet with the greatest of ease.

in theory , how would this be done? if you don't want to code such a tool, I will obtain a C course and do this myself I am truly dedicated to stealing internet from these fucking faggots.
thanks, charles.

---

ok, having a hard time controling anger...let me explain for those of you that dont know why...did you see how much time ive already spent on him, and he didnt even know what it was he was installing...

ok, airjack is a driver, not for denial of service (it can do that) but for man in the middle attacks...not even for that really, its for raw frame transmission, its what i used to demonstrate weaknesses in IPSEC VPN's over wireless at my blackhat lecture...

so with that in mind, does this sound like it was supposed to change mac addresses, ifconfig will do that, he already has the program to do that...i dont know why this is my problem that he is wanting to steal from his neighbors, remember the first email from him, he said he wanted it "for constructive use only", its starting look less constructive to me...and more like hes a script kiddie...

here is my reply, first one showing my frustrations...its sorta long, skip it if you need to...

---

From: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
To: [CENCORED JACKASS]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - setmac didnt work for me

On Thu, 2003-05-15 at 14:20, Bud Smoker wrote:
] hunter killer worked but ./setmac didnt work said some error.

well did you apply the patch, or are you even using it on the correct card...

] It doesnt really matter. I was convinced air jack was like a
]utility for cracking into a mac filtered network thus allowing me
]to steal airtime from a wisp or something

i don't know where the hell you got that idea, you can change your mac address on any damn driver, i didn't talk at blackhat about changing my mac address and i don't get paid to speak about stealing from innocent people, or breaking into their networks either...i get paid to talk about real attacks...

] , im not into denial of service

i don't either if you had spent the time to actually read what it was that you were downloading then you would noticed that its a man in the middle tool for cracking IPSEC VPNs, why is it that i get all the annoying people emailing me...

] im into getting free internet from the AP's all over town.

then learn how to fucking change your mac address yourself, i didn't release these tools so that script kiddies could run amuck breaking into every wireless network they wanted...i don't have much respect for script kiddies, and i have little respect for people that bitch to creators of free software because it doesn't do what they wanted it to do...

] theres some that wont let me on

then maybe you shouldn't be on their networks...if you don't even know how to change your mac address then i might suggest you try another subculture, maybe you could be a gardener or something, but if you cant even man netdevice then your hopes of someday being a hacker are probably pretty slim...

] , do you plan on writing a tool that lets me JACK FREE INTERNET

no, no i don't plan on doing that, i wrote airjack because i work in the security industry and i saw too many people selling weakly authenticated ipsec vpns to secure wireless, so i gave out a tool to break a selected implementation, one with almost no users but that would show it is easy to do against all weakly authenticated vpns, i went way out of my way to cripple this code so that people like you wouldn't be able to do anything too harmful with it while still demonstrating that the attacks are very real...

] (which is what i thought airjack meant)

gee maybe you should have read what it was you were downloading maybe you would have known you can already do that with ifconfig jackass, man ifconfig man netdevice...

] . i think that would be sick dude i could use inet from the AP's
] by my apartment.

if you cant figure that one out on your own, with google even, then
you're hopeless, the only thing airjack is going to do is tear down their network, or break their vpn, thats all i wrote it for...

] do you know of any tools that will let me m00ch internet and
]leech bandwidth?

yes, rm -rf /

] do you think you are up to writing one?

seriously, do you impress anyone with this?, im a hacker, i write lots of code, i break security systems, you seem to be a script kiddie to me, you pester other people for code, and you break into peoples networks with it, the only way it would be any better if is you were to ask for my "1337 z3R0 |)4y"...

] theres some ones that show up in Kismet as yellow, however
]changing my ssid and bssid to theirs wont work and it doesnt
]linkstatus=CONNECTED me,

jesus, please tell me you're just a kid, if you're just a kid i could at least understand...why do you want to get on other peoples networks so bad, i promise you grandma has nothing you want and it doesn't cost that much to get internet access...

do you know why our stupid congress keeps passing brain dead laws
concerning technology?, because some punk kid like you breaks into some soccer mom's network, makes her think you're some super genius hacker thats going to start world war 3 with the click of a mouse and she callsher congressman who is just as clueless as she is and they make more laws that make it illegal to think...

] it says DISCONNECTED. i know they are stupid as fuck and i can
]steal their internet with the greatest of ease.

then do it, and don't ask other people to do it for you...

] in theory , how would this be done?

if you hadn't convinced me that you're just going to go off and hurt
some random person who has done nothing to you just because you can, i would answer this...but consider what you just asked me, you just
emailed me and asked how to hack your neighbors...some advice for you, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do
something...leave your neighbors alone damn-it...

] if you don't want to code such a tool, I will obtain a C course
]and do this myself I am truly dedicated to stealing internet from
]these fucking faggots.
] thanks, charles.

great well let us hope that by the time you actually do learn c enough to type ifconfig you will gained enough wisdom to know that there is no reason for you to fuck with people that haven't done anything to you...

so mr [HIS IP ADDRESS CENCORED HERE], quit while you're ahead, learn how to actually do something yourself and pray you get some clue before you end up fucking with the wrong people some day, just because you could...

--Abaddon

---

ok, that was a bit pissed off, you'd think he would get the hint that ive lost patience with him...i really hate script kiddies and you should know he is just one in a long line of them that i am forced to endure...but wait...theres more...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
Subject: Re: Regards to Airjack Software - setmac didnt work for me

ninja,
wow sorry bro i didnt mean to piss you off - i didnt mean to come off to you as a script kiddy. im just trying to learn this protocol. im very sorry - please accept my apology i am trying to gain wisdom and knowledge now trying to bother you bro.

im not complaining either, your software is neato. if you were in my shoes you'd understand why jackin' wireless fascinates me. im all about this wireless hype.

like i said sorry for coming off wrong maybe i had the wrong approach.
Patches? none I dont think I need - im using a prism2 stinksys wpc11 pcmcia (gn00bee card). so i was just trying to get some knowledge, ive searched and searched the internet quite a bit and haven't learned much from it. i liked hunter killer though it made me smile with delight. i haven't DoS'd in a long time :)
toss me a line,
charlie.

---

ok, he's a little shit, but still no hard no faul right...we'll just go about our seperate ways and i wont have to deal with him again...or will i...i didnt reply to this one i just let it go...i wish he had done the same...here he emails again to convense me hes not a script kiddie, he just wants to break into his neighbors networks, thats all...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
Subject: Re: further comments

in further reading your email i want you to know i am not with malicious intent.
i dont want to steal peoples data
im not trying to hurt anyone. a little 50k/sec off someones att broadband while they are asleep didnt hurt them did it... like i said - sorry for coming off to you wrong. if you have suggestions for me, im all eyes. if you are AGAINST me having free internet im sorry. ill go somewhere else.
no soccer moms were harmed in the creation of this email. however someones bandwidth was used :)
hack on,
charlie.

---

i ignored this one too, i dont really care, he can be an awful script kiddie on his own time, im pretty much finished with him...

now are you ready, here is the grand finally, this is what set me off and started me on this rant...

---

From: [CENCORED JACKASS]
To: abaddon@802.11ninja.net
Subject: AIRJACK SOFTWARE

I am not accusing you until I have further evidence but I think your software has kernel virus code embedded in it. I am having some experienced programmers look over your software. all of a sudden my keyboard breaks 10 minutes after boot.

---

WOOOOOO!!!!, WTF??...i only wish now that i had backdoored it so i could kill this kid with it...seriously, just when you think you're finished with a person, of all the nerve...

my reply sums up my feelings at the moment...

---

From: Abaddon [abaddon@802.11ninja.net]
To: [CENCORED JACKASS]
Subject: Re: AIRJACK SOFTWARE

fuck you, that code has nothing of the sort, go read the disclaimer, if it crashes your machine thats your problem, it doesn't crash anyone else's, i work in the security industry, i don't write viruses, say something like that publicly and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a law suit...its fucking open source dip-shit, the code isn't secret, so if there was such a virus it would be right there in the code...i released this code at blackhat, probably the largest security conference in the world, if there were such a virus it would have been found there...

i don't even know where you get off, first you ask for my code, then a lot of my help installing it, then you bitch about how it doesn't help you to steal from your neighbors, now you accuse me of writing viruses, you're not very smart are you kid...hows this, email me once more with bullshit like this and you're going to wish you hadn't...now fuck off, i don't ever want to hear from you again...

--Abaddon

-----

ok, thanks for letting me vent...the moral of this story is read the FAQ, and dont be a presumptuious prick when asking a favor from a stranger...

in fact so few people have actually read my FAQ that i had to add a section that contains the following:

ive been getting alot of these type of questions recently
if you email me one of these questions i swear to god im
going to hunt you down, tie you up with duct tape and
rub my balls all over your chin...you'll wash and wash and
wash, but you'll still feel dirty...

anyways, i feel better now...im out...

--Abaddon



 
 
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