Re: [PATCH wireless-next 3/3] wifi: mac80211_hwsim: Advertise support for IEEE 802.1X authentication protocol

[Kavita Kavita <kavita.kavita@oss.qualcomm.com>]

On 2/26/2026 7:23 PM, Johannes Berg wrote:
> On Thu, 2026-02-26 at 19:20 +0530, Kavita Kavita wrote:
>>
>> On 2/26/2026 2:06 PM, Johannes Berg wrote:
>>> On Thu, 2026-02-26 at 12:24 +0530, Kavita Kavita wrote:
>>>> Advertise support for the IEEE 802.1X authentication protocol in
>>>> mac80211_hwsim to enable testing scenarios.
>>>
>>> Do we even need this in drivers vs. mac80211 just setting it?
>>>
>>> All the code for it is in mac80211, so it shouldn't matter?
>>>
>>> I'd actually argue NL80211_EXT_FEATURE_EPPKE is the same, mac80211
>>> should set it instead of the driver (I didn't merge [1] yet anyway) and
>>> only NL80211_EXT_FEATURE_ASSOC_FRAME_ENCRYPTION should be in the driver?
>>
>>
>> For (Re)Association frame encryption, additional changes are required in the
>> driver and firmware. Because of this dependency, we initially thought it was
>> best to let the driver set the EPPKE and IEEE 802.1X Authentication feature
>> flags as well.
>> However, since no lower-layer changes are actually needed for EPPKE and
>> IEEE 802.1X Authentication, these can safely be advertised directly in mac80211.
>> The driver should only set the (Re)Association frame encryption feature flag,
>> and mac80211 can then conditionally enable the EPPKE and IEEE 802.1X Authentication
>> feature flags based on that indication. 
>>
>> I will send the updated patch set with these changes. Thank you.
> 
> Right, works for me. Can you please also resend the hwsim patch for
> EPPKE/assoc frame encryption then, that I linked to earlier? Feel free
> to just put it into this patchset (instead of this one) of course.
> 
> I'm planning to apply the AAD/nonce fix soon, and then this can go in.


Sorry, I missed one case earlier. EPPKE mandates (Re)Association frame
encryption support, so we should only advertise EPPKE when the driver indicates
support for (Re)Association frame encryption in mac80211.

On the other hand, IEEE 802.1X Authentication can operate with or without
(Re)Association encryption support, as specified in IEEE P802.11bi/D4.0, clauses
12.16.5 and 12.16.8.2. I am thinking to advertise IEEE 802.1X Authentication
support directly from mac80211, without any (Re)Association encryption
support indication from the driver.


> 
> johannes