Has anyone actually gotten 802.11w (Protected Management Frame) to work in the real world?

[Leroy Plock]

Hi. I've been experimenting with 802.11w (Protected Management Frame) and can't get it to work at all. None of the devices I've tested with seem to support it.

Before I spend any more time on this, has anyone actually seen it work in the real world, or is this just one of those "sounds good on paper" things?

[marce1000]

- As stated many devices  don't support it, below you can find a compacted list from Cisco on devices which support 802.11w. It is far from complete. Googling with relevant search terms may get you more device-listings :

          https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-0/device_classification_guide.html

M.

[Leroy Plock]

Yep, you can find supported/unsupported lists and implementation instructions all over the place. But that's not my question. My question is: Has anyone reading this actually made it work in the real world? There's the theoretical world and there's the real world, and often the gap between the two is very large indeed.

[marce1000]

 - Vendor claims could be verified by activating MFP for a particular Wlan and check whether devices that support it still have WiFi connectivity. Of course if it said to Mandatory then other devices may not be able to use that particular Wlan.

 M.

[Leroy Plock]

BTW, I would consider this a more authoritative source.

https://www.wi-fi.org/product-finder-results?sort_by=default&sort_order=desc&certifications=33

[Arne Bier]

Can't say I have ever seen this in the wild. Probably came into most vendors' equipment to ensure a tick in the RFC process.

Future Look:  As soon as you start deploying WPA3 you will have this on by default because it is required as part of the WPA3 standard. Not many clients out there that do WPA3 yet - but this requirement will take care of this discussion in future deployments. If you give users/vendors too much choice to make things optional then of course they will take the path of least resistance. WPA3 will usher in a new era :)