WiFi Pineapple has been around for well over a decade (first released in 2008) and is quite a popular pentesting tool. This post will look into the unboxing and setup of the latest version: WiFi Pineapple Mark VII.
WiFi Pineapple Unboxing
It’s a small package, so there’s not much to unbox. You see this when you open the package:
The box contains
- WiFi pineapple Mark VII
- USB-C cable
- 3 identical antennas
- Info card
All components out of their wrappers:
Assembled WiFi pineapple:
It doesn’t come with a book, but an ebook is freely available on their website. At the time of this writing, the PDF is for firmware version 1.x and does not cover the latest 2.x version. You can get the latest version for free as well, but you have to go through the checkout process.
WiFi Pineapple Setup
WiFi Pineapple can be powered via USB-C or Ethernet. As the info card says, you need a 2A power source. The most common scenario would be to run it on a power bank.
Before plugging in the pineapple, go to WiFi Pineapple downloads and get the latest firmware. This is going to be needed shortly.
Select Mark VII
and get the latest stable firmware.
Now plug your pineapple into a power source. I used a power bank in my case.
The blue light should start blinking, and you should see a WiFi AP such as Pineapple_xxxx. The last 4 digits are random. Connect to that network, and you should now see you have an IP in 172.16.42.x range.
Then, open a browser tab and go to 172.16.42.1:1471
You should see a selection screen such as this:
If you are setting this up at home, which I was, I will go with WiFi AP Enabled mode. So press the button for about 4 seconds as the message says, and you should see another screen:
However, you don’t have to connect to your network as you’ve already prepared the latest firmware before this step.
Click upload a firmware file. You should see the option to navigate to the file you downloaded earlier. Select and upload. You should now see the verification has started:
Wait for the verification to complete, and it should start flashing the device:
During this process, you will see the Pineapple light will light alternating blue and red. After the flashing, the device will reboot.
After you’ve connected back to the pineapple post-reboot, you should now see the setup page:
The next step is to verify your device. You need to press the same button as before so that the Continue with Radios Enabled button becomes enabled.
Click Continue with Radios Enabled.
Next, you’re shown the changelog. You can read through the latest updates in the firmware. When done, click Continue to proceed.
In the next step, you choose a password for your root user:
Click Next to proceed.
In the networking setup, you have the option to create 2 different access points: One secured management AP and one open for targets to join. This way, when you connect to the management AP, you are completely isolated from the targets that are also connected to the pineapple.
Specify the details for both networks and click Next.
Next, you specify Client Filter. You can choose between Allow List and Deny List. Allow List means only the whitelisted clients can connect. Deny List is the opposite. Everyone except blacklisted users can connect. Whitelisting approach initially is more secure and gives more control until you learn the ropes so I’d recommend using Allow List.
Click Next to continue.
Similarly, in the next screen, you specify SSIDs to allow or deny associations.
Select Allow List and click Next to continue.
The next step is theme selection. Everything must have a Dark Theme these days, and pineapple is no exception. Choose the colour scheme and click Next.
Next, read and accept the Terms and Conditions and click Finish.
You should now see the setup complete screen:
In the WiFi networks around you, you should see the management AP. Connect to it by using the passphrase you chose during the setup and go to the same IP: port (172.16.42.1:1471). You should see a different screen now:
Login with your root credentials.
The final step in the setup is networking. By default, your pineapple is offline. So if a target connects to it, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. So the setup explains 3 methods to establish connectivity with another dialogue:
Those shown in the image are not buttons, but they rather contain links to more info. You can click on Network Settings to connect your pineapple to the internet if you’re ready to do so.
Close the dialogue and go back to the dashboard, and you should see something like this:
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you looked from unboxing a WiFi Pineapple Mark VII to a complete setup. This is, of course, just the beginning of your journey with pineapple. I hope it’s been useful for getting through this hurdle. In my opinion, the setup could be simpler. For example, downloading the firmware could be communicated to the user instead of warning about insecure environments. Also, it would be nice to let you know that during the reboot after flashing, you may end up on the wrong network while needlessly waiting for the setup to finish but overall it was not too complicated so far and I’m looming forward to publishing more articles based on this setup.
