What is wifite?

Wifite is a Python script for Linux that automates wireless network auditing. Rather than requiring you to run a series of separate tools manually, it strings together a collection of existing Linux security programs and runs them in sequence, handling the repetitive steps of scanning for networks and attempting to capture authentication data without requiring you to type many commands yourself. The README opens with a prominent notice that this repository tracks the older version 1, which is no longer actively maintained and has known bugs. A newer version called Wifite2 exists in a separate repository and is the recommended choice for anyone starting fresh. For the older version described here, the requirements are a Linux system, Python 2.7, a wireless card with drivers that support monitor mode and packet injection, and the aircrack-ng suite of tools. Several optional programs can also be detected and used if present, including reaver for attacking WPS-enabled routers and pyrit for GPU-accelerated password cracking. The tool is designed for use on dedicated security testing Linux distributions such as Kali Linux. The README notes it must be run as root and recommends running it from a bootable live environment rather than a permanent installation, both for security reasons and because virtual machines typically cannot access wireless hardware directly. The project is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and was developed between 2010 and 2012. Given its age and the existence of the maintained successor project, this repository is primarily of historical interest.