WEP Key in AP Config File

[joneswil1]

I have a real simple question. In my Cisco 1200 access point configuration file the WEP key line looks something like this...

encryption key 1 size 128bit 7 BA41D6B702925C981BA4142B70C9 transmit-key

My question is, is that the actual WEP key or is it an encrypted version of the WEP key?

[Stephen Rodriguez]

128bit 7 BA41D6B702925C981BA4142B70C9 transmit-key. The 7 right before the key, indicates this is an encrypted value. One thing to note, if you have lost your key and need to recover, you will probably be better served by just changing the key. I have not found a good utility to crack this particular hash, since it is not an ascii value but is hex.

[joneswil1]

Thanks. That's helpful. So does that mean you enter the 7 then the actual WEP key initially, then in the future when you look at the AP configuration file the WEP key will show up garbled instead of as the original key you entered? I'm just trying to understand the mechanics of what happens.

[Stephen Rodriguez]

actually you need to enter it as a 0 for the first time, then the service password-encryption commmand will encrypt it. After that if you wan to Copy and Paste the config, you can use 7 since the key will already be encrypted. Basically a 0 means what follows is not yet encrypted, and a 7 means what follows is already encrypted.