So, I use Kali as my daily driver. Usually, I boot my Kali from Monday to Friday and never power it off before the weekend. However, last week, after rebooting the machine, I realized that the Wi-Fi was no longer working.
For additional info, here are the current hardware and software details:
Kernel:
Linux nakano 6.12.13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Kali 6.12.13-1kali1 (2025-02-11) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Network Device:
╰─>$ inxi -N
Network:
Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
driver: r8169
I also made sure the Wi-Fi is not blocked via rfkill.
╰─>$ rfkill list
1: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: phy1: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
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The firmware is not missing; it’s loaded successfully.
[ 6.442818] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[ 6.444487] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected crf-id 0x3617, cnv-id 0x20000302 wfpm id 0x80000000
[ 6.444506] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: PCI dev 06f0/0074, rev=0x351, rfid=0x10a100
[ 6.444510] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz
[ 6.453886] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 89.3.35.37
[ 6.454768] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: firmware: failed to load iwl-debug-yoyo.bin (-2)
[ 6.454785] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: firmware: failed to load iwl-debug-yoyo.bin (-2)
[ 6.454788] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 77.2753b721.0 QuZ-a0-hr-b0-77.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[ 6.749976] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected RF HR B3, rfid=0x10a100
[ 6.816055] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: base HW address: xxxxxxxx
[ 12.083635] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Registered PHC clock: iwlwifi-PTP, with index: 0
The problem is that I can’t bring my interface up.
┬─[nino@nakano:~]─[03:12:45 AM]
╰─>$ ip link show wlan0
5: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether xxxxx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff permaddr xxxx
┬─[nino@nakano:~]─[03:12:47 AM]
╰─>$ sudo ip link set wlan0 up
┬─[nino@nakano:~]─[03:12:56 AM]
╰─>$ ip link show wlan0
5: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether xxxxxxx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff permaddr xxxxxxxx
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This is error from the NetworkManager service.
╰─>$ sudo service NetworkManager status
● NetworkManager.service - Network Manager
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-03-22 03:20:14 WIB; 21s ago
Invocation: f041a588830e49a7983f340c5cdb3364
Docs: man:NetworkManager(8)
Main PID: 24389 (NetworkManager)
Tasks: 4 (limit: 28339)
Memory: 4.7M (peak: 5.9M)
CPU: 157ms
CGroup: /system.slice/NetworkManager.service
└─24389 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon
Mar 22 03:20:14 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <info> [1742588414.1183] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_SITE
Mar 22 03:20:14 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <info> [1742588414.1185] device (eth1): Activation: successful, device activated.
Mar 22 03:20:14 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <info> [1742588414.1187] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_GLOBAL
Mar 22 03:20:14 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <info> [1742588414.1226] agent-manager: agent[a31629c946436655,:1.56/org.freedesktop.nm-applet/1000]: agent registered
Mar 22 03:20:14 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <error> [1742588414.1921] device (wlan0): Couldn't initialize supplicant interface: GDBus.Error:fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.UnknownError: wpa_sup>
Mar 22 03:20:19 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <info> [1742588419.8230] manager: startup complete
Mar 22 03:20:24 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <warn> [1742588424.6751] device (wlan0): re-acquiring supplicant interface (#1).
Mar 22 03:20:24 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <error> [1742588424.7791] device (wlan0): Couldn't initialize supplicant interface: GDBus.Error:fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.UnknownError: wpa_sup>
Mar 22 03:20:34 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <warn> [1742588434.6832] device (wlan0): re-acquiring supplicant interface (#2).
Mar 22 03:20:34 nakano NetworkManager[24389]: <error> [1742588434.7600] device (wlan0): Couldn't initialize supplicant interface: GDBus.Error:fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.UnknownError: wpa_sup>
I can confirm it is not hardware problem since i can scan and detect SSID using iw command.
sudo iw dev wlan0 scan | grep -i SSID
I tried all the possible solutions I find, but the problem still persists. Try reloading the firmware using modprobe, reinstalling the kali-linux-firmware and firmware-iwlwifi, restarting NetworkManager, etc.
Also, I don’t think it is related to the Intel driver, since the problem still persists when I use my Netgear USB. I cant bring the interface up, and the applet just says ‘device not ready’.
I even did a full upgrade because of the frustration by using:
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
which didn’t solve my problem but added more issues, as both python and the UI are broken. However, I don’t care about that for now, I can fix it later. I just want to fix the Wi-Fi problem first. Do you have any idea what I should do next? Reinstalling the OS will be my last option, and I don’t want to do that now.
1 Like
got same problem , did you solved the issue ?
1 Like
nope. still figuring out.
1 Like
Ok, so I solved the problem. The whole issue was the d*mn SSL.
When i check the wpa_suppiciant service, i got this error
Mar 23 20:02:30 nakano wpa_supplicant[18428]: SSL: Failed to initialize TLS context.
Mar 23 20:02:30 nakano wpa_supplicant[18428]: Failed to initialize EAPOL state machines.
Mar 23 20:02:30 nakano wpa_supplicant[18428]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DSCP-POLICY clear_all
........
For compatibility issues while solving an old CTF machine, last week I changed the value of MinProtocol in /etc/ssl/kali.conf to TLSv1.0, blindly following tutorials from the internet. I didn’t know that would affect my WiFi. Changed it back to TLSv1.2 and restart the wpa_suppliciant service solve the issue.
This is my current /etc/ssl/kali.cnf value
[kali_wide_compatibility]
MinProtocol = TLSv1.2
CipherString = ALL:@SECLEVEL=0
Options = UnsafeLegacyRenegotiation
................
and then just run
sudo systemctl restart wpa_supplicant
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager
And the wlan0 is working!!
╰─>$ nmcli device status
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
eth1 ethernet connected Wired connection 2
lo loopback connected (externally) lo
wlan0 wifi disconnected --
wlan1 wifi disconnected --
Thanks. Hope this help others.
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