Research on Real MAC Address Acquisition Technology for WIFI Connection

Abstract

Due to the global uniqueness of the MAC address, the MAC address is used by attackers to track users, leaking users’ privacy. In response to this situation, various smartphone manufacturers have applied MAC address randomization to protect users’ privacy. However, whether the realization of MAC address randomization can completely prevent MAC addresses from leaking is a problem. This paper studies the current mainstream smartphone manufacturers’ methods to implement random MAC addresses, and uses the combination of beacon attack and karma attack to exploit the vulnerabilities implemented by most mobile phone random MAC addresses, and the proposed evaluation method improved by 5.45%. In the experiment of 12 volunteers, the 6 real MAC addresses of 12 were obtained through attacks, and the proportion of real MAC addresses obtained reached 50%. The results show that there is hidden risk in the MAC address randomization strategy in some smartphones. Thus this article has guiding significance for further MAC address randomization strategy.