Mac Randomization Challenge Solutions
Mac Randomization Challenge Solutions
Solution Guide
Overview
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
INTENDED AUDIENCE 3
OVERVIEW 4
PROPOSED SOLUTIONS 5
Solution Configuration 11
Step 1 – Create the Authentication Server in SmartZone 11
Step 2 – Create the WLAN in SmartZone 12
Step 3 – Create a DPSK Pool in Cloudpath 13
Step 4 – Create a Single DPSK 13
Deliver the Passphrases Using the Tenant Portal 14
Acessing the Tenant Portal 14
Using a Cloudpath Enrollment Workflow to Create and Deliver the DPSKs 15
User Experience 16
CONCLUSION 23
2 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Intended Audience
This document provides an overview of how to use DPSKs to solve the MAC Randomization issue. It gives details
on how to configure SmartZone with Cloudpath eDPSK, presents several methods to deliver DPSK passphrases,
and also covers solutions for Captive Portals and traffic monitoring using DPSKs.
This document is intended for use by technical engineers with background in Wi-Fi design and 802.11/wireless
engineering principles.
For more information on how to configure CommScope products, please refer to the appropriate CommScope
user guide available on the CommScope RUCKUS support site at https://support.ruckuswireless.com/
3 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Overview
With the launch of iOS 8 in 2014, Apple introduced a feature to protect the user's privacy in public locations.
This feature allowed the device to search Wi-Fi networks using a private, or made-up random MAC address.
Fast forward to 2020 and iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS7. Apple has taken this a step further. With these new
operating systems, Apple uses the random, private MAC address not only to search networks, but also when a
device associates to a network.
This can be a huge issue for networks, depending on how they are configured. Some of the issues that spring to
mind are:
• MAC authentication used to authenticate a device when joining the WLAN.
• MAC address block lists used when a malicious or problematic user device has been identified.
• Any MAC address bypass method, such as a MAC address-based whitelist to bypass a captive portal.
• DHCP reservation (for example MAC address aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff will always get assigned IP address
10.10.10.10).
• DHCP IP address pool exhaustion.
By following forums and testing their beta software, we expect Apple to further continue that trend in 2021 and
beyond, releasing a new OS that will change the private MAC address every 24 hours.
That will cause even further challenges, like breaking applications that rely on a permanent MAC address for
monitoring traffic or marketing campaigns.
The following application types might be affected:
• Traffic Monitoring – Statistics will be inaccurate if the client MAC address changes every day.
• Captive Portals – If Joe's identity is determined by his MAC address the second time he connects, the
captive portal will not be able identify him.
FIGURE 1 – M ONITORING TRAFFIC BY MAC A DDRESS AND CLIENT RETURNING TO A C APTIVE PORTAL
In fact, Android devices running version 11 developer version already have the capability to turn on MAC
changes every 24 hours, as well as computers running Windows 10.
4 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Proposed Solutions
In a traditional WPA2 network, all users share the same passphrase. Dynamic Pre-Shared Key (DPSK) is patented
technology that enables unique PSK credentials for each user on the same network.
DPSK was developed to provide secure wireless access, while eliminating the burdens of manual device
configuration and the security drawbacks of shared PSKs.
So, to avoid most of the MAC Randomization issues, we can transition the traditional networks to authentication
using DPSKs.
DPSK will not solve the use case where a Captive Portal needs to identify a client that is returning, since the
access to the portal is done via redirection through an unauthenticated WLAN. To solve that, the Captive Portal
needs to look for additional parameters in the redirection URL. More on that later in this document.
5 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
6 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Smaller Networks
Unleashed is a “Controllerless” solution in which one of the APs in the network not only serves clients but also
acts as the controller and management interface to the network. Unleashed supports DPSK for those devices
that won’t be changing their MAC addresses every 24 hours, as well as Shared (Group) DPSK and External DPSK if
the requirements call for it.
ZoneDirector 1200 is the traditional WLAN controller appliance that most people think of when it comes to Wi-Fi
network controllers. ZoneDirector 1200 also supports DPSK, Shared (Group) DPSK, and External DPSK just like
Unleashed.
While the number of APs and client devices supported differ between the 2 platforms, when it comes to the
DPSK support they are pretty similar.
The key point to know in this solution is the Shared DPSK function is tied to the number of client devices using
the network. This means that while a mobile device that changes its MAC address will appear to be more than 1
device over time, at any given time only 1 MAC address will be online to count against the capacity of the
platform.
7 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
8 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
When the device counts start to exceed the limit, the solution is to switch from the Internal Group DPSK to
External DPSK (eDPSK) using Cloudpath. For clarification, Cloudpath sees and calls every DPSK a Group DPSK or
Unbound.
RUCKUS Cloudpath
Cloudpath is a platform that delivers secure wired and wireless network access for BYOD, guest, and IT-owned
devices. One of the methods that it uses to deliver access is by utilizing DPSK, making it the perfect solution for
large networks that exceed the limits found with the internal Group DPSK.
Of all of the advantages to using external DPSK (eDPSK) with Cloudpath, the primary one is that it can handle a
lot more DPSKs, since they are stored within RADIUS instead of on the WLC. Another is that it treats all DPSKs as
Unbound Group DPSKs by design, which allows it to be a natural solution for devices using a DPSK network, but
will still be changing their MAC address every 24 hours.
Within Cloudpath, administrators can build accounts with multiple DPSKs. Since the client is identified by the
DPSK passphrase and not by their MAC address, the functionality of the network is still there, and the end users
won’t know that they are using a Private MAC address that keeps changing. More importantly, the network
operator doesn’t need the end user to manually disable Private MAC addresses on their device in order to
maintain a functional service for the end user.
Each DPSK within the account can then be assigned profiles, that when returned to the WLC, can assign different
attributes to the client, depending on which DPSK password they entered on their device when associating to
the network.
Cloudpath communicates with the controllers using standard RADIUS protocols, which allows Cloudpath to
return almost any RADIUS attribute associated with a Role Based Access Control (RBAC) type service.
DPSK’s can be created manually, or an enrollment workflow can be created that allows the end user to connect
to an enrollment SSID that walks the user to create its own DPSK, but can still include other factors (like user
credentials) to define what the network allows the end user to do.
Cloudpath 5.8 brought the addition of the Tenant Portal, which is another way to deliver DPSK passphrases, and
allow the end-user or tenant to manage their own Group DPSK as well as manage a “Guest” Group DPSK.
Unleashed, ZoneDirector 1200, SmartZone and RUCKUS Cloud support Cloudpath eDPSKs today.
9 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Cloudpath DPSKs can have from 8 to 63 characters, using only numbers, alphabetic, alphanumeric, printable
ASCII characters, lowercase and uppercase. The passphrase’s expiration times range from minutes to years,
unlimited or up to a specific date.
Whether it is spreading malware/ransomware across a network or establishing a MITM position in order to carry
out other attacks (which in theory could be planting malware on a device waiting for it to connect to a corporate
network before spreading) maintaining control over who, and what, is accessing the network, is more important
than ever before.
Cloudpath Revisited
By design, Cloudpath always uses Unbound Group DPSKs. There is no limit to the number of DPSKs that can be
created. The Cloudpath administrator can create multiple DPSK pools with different policies, and each pool can
be associated with one or more external DPSK WLANs created on the SmartZone controller.
Policies allow for mapping authentication requests to a set of RADIUS response attributes based on dynamic
conditions, such as a user physical location, username, or the time of day. Each policy has an associated
attribute group to define the response RADIUS attributes (such as VLAN ID, filter ID, and class).
You can manually generate DPSKs, and provide to the users the passphrases they need to connect.
You can create an enrollment workflow to generate DPSKs for the user dinamically, and to deliver the
passphrases during the enrollment.
Finally, the passphrases can also be delivered via the Tenant Portal.
10 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Solution Configuration
Step 1 – Create the Authentication Server in SmartZone
On the SmartZone UI, navigate to Services&Profiles/Authentication, the click on the Proxy (SZ Authenticator)
tab, select the desired domain and click on +Create.
Enter the following information:
• Name: Define a name for the authentication service
• IP Address: Enter the Cloudpath IP address
• Port: Enter the UDP port configured for the RADIUS service in Cloudpath
• Shared Secret and Confirm Secret: Enter the shared secret for the RADIUS service configured in
Cloudpath at Configuration/RADIUS Server/Status/RADIUS Server Setttings
11 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
12 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
This completes the basic configuration. A client device can now use the DPSK to connect to the external WLAN
created in SmartZone. The next sections will cover the Tenant Portal and Enrollment Workflows.
13 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
FIGURE 16 – E MAIL AND SMS WITH DPSK PASSPHRASE AND LINK TO ACCESS THE TENANT PORTAL
14 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
The Tenant Portal includes icons to show the passphrase, a QR code, change the passphrase or device names.
15 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
User Experience
A solution using DPSKs delivered by Cloudpath workflows require two WLANs configure in SmartZone. Through
the first WLAN, the user gets access to the Cloudpath portal. Normally, that’s an unsecure network. The figure
below shows what the enrollment process looks like.
After the user enter his or her credentials and get authenticated, the DPSK passphrase and QR codes are shown.
Using the passphrase or the QR code the user can now connect to the secure network.
16 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
For some of those functions, such as identifying repeat visitors or collecting traffic statistics from the controller,
most captive portal solutions currently relies on a fixed, permanent client MAC address. If the client MAC
address changes every 24 hours, that poses a problem for many captive portals. For instance, the portal will
never know that it’s the same client returning to the portal (because it is seeing a new MAC address), and any
traffic aggregation per user performed by the portal back-end administration might result in incorrect data.
17 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
18 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
An authentication server is always associated with the WLAN, therefore if a previous user name is seen using the
same wlanName and domain_name in the URL redirection reaching the portal, then it is a client returning to
the portal, because the user names must be unique in the authentication server.
Using a Captive Portal to Distribute DPSK Passphrases
The DPSKs generated by SmartZone, Ruckus Cloud, ZoneDirector 1200, Unleashed or Cloudpath can be imported
to a database in the portal administration back-end, using the APIs for each of those products.
The Captive Portal can distribute the DPSK passphrases by sending an e-mail or SMS message to the client, and
following that, the client uses the passphrase to authenticate against a WPA2 WLAN.
Because the Captive Portal is being used to distribute the DPSKs to the clients, the back-end platform can keep
track of which DPSKs were distributed to every client, poll the RUCKUS controller periodically to get the new
DPSK & MAC address association, and retrieve client traffic counters for those MAC addresses.
Finally, the platform can aggregate the traffic for all MAC addresses under the same DPSK.
19 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
FIGURE 23 – THE MAC ADDRESSES CHANGE , BUT THE DPSK (USER NAME ) DOES NOT
Client Device Using a Random MAC address
This example uses an iPhone configured with a random MAC address. It's called a Private Address in the iPhone:
20 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
It is connected to the eDPSK SSID, as shown in the SZ UI and in the API call response:
21 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
FIGURE 27 – SMART Z ONE WIRELESS C LIENTS AND API RESPONSE AFTER MAC ADDRESS CHANGE
Python Script Example
This is a bare minimum python script to demonstrate the concept. It aggregates traffic from a single DPSK
connected to a WLAN, using only one device, whose MAC address changes overtime.
22 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
The MAC Randomization Challenge and Proposed Solutions
Conclusion
Securing networks will always be a work in progress. New methods are always in development and attackers are
always looking for a way to bypass the latest method. Where most network operators struggle, especially
applicable for Wi-Fi networks, is finding the balance between what is the best methods available, the effort
(time and money) the business is willing to invest into making those methods work, and what the devices using
the network are capable of doing. Unfortunately, when that balance point is found, it doesn’t always point to
the latest and most advanced methods of securing networks.
CommScope RUCKUS is committed to helping network operators find the best possible option to secure their
networks in this ever-changing world. While offering support for the latest standards in 2021 like WPA3-
Enterprise and Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE), RUCKUS also realizes that there still needs to be a
strategy for securing devices that don’t support the latest technology. DPSK is that balance point and when
combined with Cloudpath, it offers one of the best options for securing whatever Wi-Fi device that needs to
connect, no matter how limited or advanced the capabilities of the device may be.
To learn more about any of these solutions or technologies, please refer to guides that can be found in the
Technical Marketing and Solution SharePoint that can be found here (search for DPSK) and the Partner Portal
that can be found here
23 Design Guide
© 2020 CommScope Inc. All rights reserved.
Ruckus solutions are part of CommScope’s comprehensive portfolio
for Enterprise environments (indoor and outdoor).
commscope.com
Visit our website or contact your local CommScope representative for more information.
© 2020 CommScope, Inc. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, all trademarks identified by ® or ™ are registered trademarks, respectively, of CommScope, Inc. This document is for planning
purposes only and is not intended to modify or supplement any specifications or warranties relating to CommScope products or services. CommScope is
committed to the highest standards of business integrity and environmental sustainability with a number of CommScope’s facilities across the globe certified
in accordance with international standards, including ISO9001, TL9000, ISO14001 and ISO45001. Further information regarding CommScope’s commitment can
be found at www.commscope.com/About-Us/Corporate-Responsibility-and-Sustainability.