Currently (all tested with hwsim) you can do stupid
things like setting up an AP on a certain channel,
then adding another virtual interface and making
that associate on another channel -- this will make
the beaconing to move channel but obviously without
the necessary IEs data update.
In order to improve this situation, first make the
configuration APIs (cfg80211 and nl80211) aware of
multi-channel operation -- we'll eventually need
that in the future anyway. There's one userland API
change and one API addition. The API change is that
now SET_WIPHY must be called with virtual interface
index rather than only wiphy index in order to take
effect for that interface -- luckily all current
users (hostapd) do that. For monitor interfaces, the
old setting is preserved, but monitors are always
slaved to other devices anyway so no guarantees.
The second userland API change is the introduction
of a per virtual interface SET_CHANNEL command, that
hostapd should use going forward to make it easier
to understand what's going on (it can automatically
detect a kernel with this command).
Other than mac80211, no existing cfg80211 drivers
are affected by this change because they only allow
a single virtual interface.
mac80211, however, now needs to be aware that the
channel settings are per interface now, and needs
to disallow (for now) real multi-channel operation,
which is another important part of this patch.
One of the immediate benefits is that you can now
start hostapd to operate on a hardware that already
has a connection on another virtual interface, as
long as you specify the same channel.
Note that two things are left unhandled (this is an
improvement -- not a complete fix):
* different HT/no-HT modes
currently you could start an HT AP and then
connect to a non-HT network on the same channel
which would configure the hardware for no HT;
that can be fixed fairly easily
* CSA
An AP we're connected to on a virtual interface
might indicate switching channels, and in that
case we would follow it, regardless of how many
other interfaces are operating; this requires
more effort to fix but is pretty rare after all
Signed-off-by: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Signed-off-by: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
Add new commands for requesting the driver to remain awake
on a specified channel for the specified amount of time
(and another command to cancel such an operation). This
can be used to implement userspace-controlled off-channel
operations, like Public Action frame exchange on another
channel than the operation channel.
The off-channel operation should behave similarly to scan,
i.e. the local station (if associated) moves into power
save mode to request the AP to buffer frames for it and
then moves to the other channel to allow the off-channel
operation to be completed. The duration parameter can be
used to request enough time to receive a response from
the target station.
Signed-off-by: Jouni Malinen <jouni.malinen@atheros.com>
Signed-off-by: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Signed-off-by: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
"cfg80211: validate channel settings across interfaces"
contained a locking bug -- in the managed-mode SIWFREQ
call it would end up running into a lock recursion.
This fixes it by not checking that particular interface
for a channel that it needs to stay on, which is as it
should be as that's the interface we're setting the
channel for.
Reported-by: Reinette Chatre <reinette.chatre@intel.com>
Reported-by: Kalle Valo <kalle.valo@iki.fi>
Signed-off-by: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Tested-by: Kalle Valo <kalle.valo@iki.fi>
Tested-by: Reinette Chatre <reinette.chatre@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
Currently, there's a problem that affects regulatory
enforcement and connection stability, in that it is
possible to switch the channel while connected to a
network or joined to an IBSS.
The problem comes from the fact that we only validate
the channel against the current interface's type, not
against any other interface. Thus, you have any type
of interface up, additionally bring up a monitor mode
interface and switch the channel on the monitor. This
will obviously also switch the channel on the other
interface.
The problem now is that if you do that while sending
beacons for IBSS mode, you can switch to a disabled
channel or a channel that doesn't allow beaconing.
Combined with a managed mode interface connected to
an AP instead of an IBSS interface, you can easily
break the connection that way.
To fix this, this patch validates any channel change
with all available interfaces, and disallows such
changes on secondary interfaces if another interface
is connected to an AP or joined to an IBSS.
Signed-off-by: Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>
Signed-off-by: John W. Linville <linville@tuxdriver.com>
