Set up ALFA AWUS036ACHM

I’ve noticed there’s not too many guides about correctly setting up the ALFA AWUS036ACHM WiFi Adapter in Kali Linux, I wrote this guide early this year before my WIFU exam with OffSec but I’m only just posting it now. So Here are the commands in a short and sweet article on how to do it. The main issue is that the MediaTek driver cannot be installed using standard methods from the past. An update to Kali Linux earlier this year messed things up. I found the answer to fixing this from an article from the SAPSAN team in September last year. It doesn’t outline that this fixed the issue for the ALFA AWUS036ACHM card specifically though, so I’ve tested it so you don’t have to and am writing this to assist other users of the card get it working in Kali

Just for reference the following version of Kali Linux was what I installed the adapter on.

└─$ uname -a                
Linux kali 6.11.2-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Kali 6.11.2-1kali1 (2024-10-15) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Uninstall any previous drivers to ensure there’s no conflicting dependencies.

Check your driver status here └─$ dkms status

These two commands will uninstall previously detected drivers. └─$ sudo dkms uninstall 8812au/5.6.4.2_35491.20191025 └─$ sudo dkms remove 8812au/5.6.4.2_35491.20191025 --all

Then clone the repository └─$ git clone -b v5.6.4.2 https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git

Change directories └─$ cd rtl8812au

Need to change to a historic commit that works Using this command downloads the required one that worked for me. └─$ git checkout 63cf0b4

Make the install └─$ sudo make dkms_install

Reboot your machine └─$ sudo reboot

When you’ve rebooted you should be able to see the MediaTek adapter when you run sudo airmon-ng, previously I did not.

└─$ sudo airmon-ng         
[sudo] password for kali: 

PHY     Interface       Driver          Chipset

phy0    wlan0           mt76x0u         MediaTek Inc. WiFi

It also now appears when running iwconfig

└─$ iwconfig 
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

docker0   no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=7 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

To ensure it’s working correctly can run Wifite to test it’s operating as expected.

└─$ sudo wifite   
   .               .    
 .´  ·  .     .  ·  `.  wifite2 2.7.0
 :  :  :  (¯)  :  :  :  a wireless auditor by derv82
 `.  ·  ` /¯\ ´  ·  .´  maintained by kimocoder
   `     /¯¯¯\     ´    https://github.com/kimocoder/wifite2

 [!] Warning: Recommended app hcxdumptool was not found. install @ apt install hcxdumptool
 [!] Warning: Recommended app hcxpcapngtool was not found. install @ apt install hcxtools
 [!] Conflicting processes: NetworkManager (PID 658), wpa_supplicant (PID 1060)
 [!] If you have problems: kill -9 PID or re-run wifite with --kill                                                 

    Interface   PHY   Driver              Chipset                                                                   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. wlan0       phy0  mt76x0u             MediaTek Inc. WiFi            

 [+] Enabling monitor mode on wlan0... enabled!

   NUM                      ESSID   CH  ENCR    PWR    WPS  CLIENT                                                  
   ---  -------------------------  ---  -----   ----   ---  ------
     1                  Kaibersec    11  WPA-P   78db   yes                                                          
     2               Security       11  WPA-P   78db    no                                                          
     3                     Testing   4  WPA-P   78db   yes                                                          
     4                     and       4  WPA-P   78db    no                                                          
     5               Engineering    11  WPA-P   57db   yes                                                          
     6                 Rocks!        7  WPA-P   46db    no                                                          

There you go working as intended, excellent!