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Identifying Wireless Chipsets and Drivers in Kali

2 min read Mar 17, 2026

Before enabling monitor mode or running any injection-based technique, confirm which chipset your adapter uses and which kernel driver is bound to it. This determines whether monitor mode and injection are supported, which tool flags to use, and whether any driver workarounds are needed.

List Connected USB Adapters

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ lsusb 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0cf3:9271 Qualcomm Atheros AR9271
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0b05:17d1 ASUSTek Computer MT7610U
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0bda:8812 Realtek RTL8812AU

The vendor:product ID is the most reliable way to look up chipset compatibility when the description is vague or incorrect. For full details on a specific device:

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ lsusb -v -d 0bda:8812 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "idVendor|idProduct|iProduct|iManufacturer" 
  idVendor           0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
  idProduct          0x8812 RTL8812AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
  iManufacturer           1 Realtek
  iProduct                2 802.11n WLAN Adapter

List PCIe Wireless Adapters

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ lspci | grep -i network 
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)
03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor RTL8812AE 802.11ac

For full details on a specific PCIe device:

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ lspci -vnn -s 03:00.0

Check the Active Driver with airmon-ng

Run without arguments to see all wireless interfaces, their drivers, and chipsets at once:

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ airmon-ng 
PHY     Interface   Driver          Chipset
phy0    wlan0       iwlwifi         Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200
phy1    wlan1       mt76x2u         MediaTek MT7612U
phy2    wlan2       8812au          Realtek RTL8812AU

The driver name tells you immediately whether you have a supported chipset. Intel AX200 with iwlwifi does not support injection. MT7612U with mt76x2u does.

Check the Driver with ethtool

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ ethtool -i wlan1 
driver: mt76x2u
version: 6.1.0-kali7-amd64
firmware-version: N/A
bus-info: usb-0000:00:14.0-2

Check Which Kernel Module is Loaded

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ lsmod | grep -i "8812\|mt76\|ath9k\|ath10k\|iwl" 
mt76x2u               45056  0
mt76x2_common         90112  1 mt76x2u
mt76                  98304  2 mt76x2u,mt76x2_common

If nothing appears for your expected driver, the module is not loaded. See the driver management page.

Quick Reference: Common Chipsets on Kali

The key question is whether the chipset supports mac80211 injection. Chipsets that use a FullMAC architecture, where the firmware handles MAC-layer operations, typically do not support injection regardless of driver.

References