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Using Hex and ASCII Encryption Keys

Explains the procedure to follow in order to establish wireless communication between IEEE 802.11b devices when the method of entering encryption keys mismatch. Might happen when for instance the AccessPoint only accepts ASCII strings as encryption key, while the client devices only accept hexadecimal input.

Uploaded by

Yahya Fadlilah
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
192 views

Using Hex and ASCII Encryption Keys

Explains the procedure to follow in order to establish wireless communication between IEEE 802.11b devices when the method of entering encryption keys mismatch. Might happen when for instance the AccessPoint only accepts ASCII strings as encryption key, while the client devices only accept hexadecimal input.

Uploaded by

Yahya Fadlilah
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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...

Using Hex and ASCII encryption keys


ORiNOCO Technical Bulletin 041 / A February 2001
Introduction
This bulletin explains the procedure to follow in order to establish wireless
communication between IEEE 802.11b devices when the method of entering
encryption keys mismatch. This might happen when for instance the AccessPoint
only accepts ASCII strings as encryption key, while the client devices only accept
Hexadecimal input. An example of this case is the situation where a client
computer with a Cisco WiFi compliant card needs to communicate with an Agere
Systems RG-1000. (The RG-1000 accepts only ASCII strings, while the Cisco
cards only operate with Hexadecimal input for their encryption keys).
To overcome this problem one of the strings has to be converted to the format that
is acceptable by the other device, and entered in that manner. In the above
example the ASCII string used by the RG-1000 could be converted to a
hexadecimal string and entered as such in the appropriate fields for on the
encryption GUI.

Code conversion
Conversion from one format to the other is not a mathematical process, but has to
follow a code table, such as the one below. ASCII codes can be printable (such as
the ones normally entered and displayed as a string, or non-printable (representing
control characters such as ^M (CR) which is “Carriage Return”). The complete
table is 128 positions so that all hexadecimal combinations from Hex ’00’ to Hex
’7F’ are used. Using the table below a string can be converted one character at the
time.
Ascii hex Ascii hex Ascii hex Ascii hex
^@ (NUL) 0 20 @ 40 ` 60
^A (SOH) 1 ! 21 A 41 a 61
^B (STX) 2 " 22 B 42 b 62
^C (ETX) 3 # 23 C 43 c 63
^D (EOT) 4 $ 24 D 44 d 64
^E (ENQ) 5 % 25 E 45 e 65
^F (ACK) 6 & 26 F 46 f 66
^G (BEL) 7 ' 27 G 47 g 67
^H (BS) 8 ( 28 H 48 h 68
^I (HT) 9 ) 29 I 49 i 69
^J (LF) 0a * 2a J 4a j 6a
^K (VT) 0b + 2b K 4b k 6b
^L (FF) 0c , 2c L 4c l 6c
^M (CR) 0d - 2d M 4d m 6d
^N (SO) 0e . 2e N 4e n 6e
^O (SI) 0f / 2f O 4f o 6f
^P (DLE) 10 0 30 P 50 p 70
^Q (DC1) 11 1 31 Q 51 q 71
^R (DC2) 12 2 32 R 52 r 72
^S (DC3) 13 3 33 S 53 s 73
^T (DC4) 14 4 34 T 54 t 74
^U (NAK) 15 5 35 U 55 u 75
^V (SYN) 16 6 36 V 56 v 76
^W (ETB) 17 7 37 W 57 w 77
^X (CAN) 18 8 38 X 58 x 78
^Y (EM) 19 9 39 Y 59 y 79
^Z (SUB) 1a : 3a Z 5a z 7a
^[ (ESC) 1b ; 3b [ 5b { 7b
^\ (FS) 1c < 3c \ 5c | 7c
^] (GS) 1d = 3d ] 5d } 7d
^^ (RS) 1e > 3e ^ 5e ~ 7e
^_ (US) 1f ? 3f _ 5f ^? (DEL) 7f

TB-041.doc Copyright © 2000, 2001 Agere Systems Page 1 of 2


... Using Hex and ASCII encryption keys

How to use the table:


ASCII to Hexadecimal
Locate the ASCII character that needs to be translated in the left column and find
the corresponding Hexadecimal value in the right hand column.
Example: 1g7Ap translates to 3167374170
Hexadecimal to ASCII
Locate the 2-digit hexadecimal value that needs to be translated in the right-hand
column and find the corresponding ASCII character in the left hand column.
Example: 6733604535 translates to g3`E5

Translation tools
The above procedure illustrates the manual translation of strings, and is useful for
incidental translations of relative short strings. If larger strings need to be
translated or in case this operation has to be performed frequently, a software
utility to translate complete strings could be applied. Though this represents a fairly
easy operation to execute, no Windows-based tools were located on the Internet in
the various shareware libraries, that would meet these needs.
A locally developed (simple) DOS-based tool is available and can be downloaded
from the ORiNOCO web-site which performs the same operation. When executing
this tool under Windows it has to be executed in a DOS window from the
command prompt.
This conversion tool consists of a single executable named ASC2HEX.EXE. When
it is executed from the DOS prompt, it will reply by asking the user to enter the
ASCII string. On return it will reply with the Hexadecimal value.
The attached screen capture illustrates its operation:

TB-041.doc Copyright © 2000, 2001 Agere Systems Page 2 of 2

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