This forum post is some sort of a duplication of my forum post some days ago: MAC address randomization by removing the ability to read the hardware mac
I search for the same solution but in a best possible way. Sadly no ideas have been posted in my forum post.
@Doppel-D I know of this OpenWrt functionality that have been added. Sadly this fails often like reported few times on this forum. Its not good if the device itself know the real mac address. The best solution is when the device do not know its own mac address. Then it generates a random one at each boot and at the same time its completely impossible for the device to leak the real mac address because its simply unknown to itself.
The two already known solutions to solve this request are listed in my forum post.
- Remove the MAC address from the device itself (EEPROM, ART partition)
- Remove the code that know where the MAC address is saved (take a look at changesets that 'fix' the random mac issue some devices have and do the opposite)
If no one have a better idea in mind, probably the best solution is number 1. You kind of enable and disable this random mac address by deleting the MAC address from the SPI memory of the device. If you want it back again, its in most cases printed on the devices bottom and you type it back again.
By choosing solution 1, you dont have to rebuild every single OpenWrt release and if you forget rebuilding and use the stock OpenWrt image with settings reverted to default a leak of the real MAC address is still not possible.
And because it looks like most of you did not get the benefits of this:
- For example you use the OpenWrt device as a client for a computer with RJ45 cable. Why should the same travel place you use its Wifi know that you are back again? There is not a single benefit except tracking and that is why modern Android ROM's have enabled random mac by default.
- And for the people who do not get the use case having a random MAC at AP mode. In many countries or local places there are wifi AP's with a widely known SSID. You just scan what is most used and generic in your place and use exactly same. On your Android ROM you enter this SSID and your own password.
What is the privacy result of this: If your Android ROM always use a random MAC at connection, your neighbor still see on his 24/7 running monitor mode device that at the same time when you come back home from work 'some' random mac address connects. The neighbor have only to track one single BSSID for endless time and have a perfect track of your movement.
But now you have from time to time a random BSSID together wirh a SSID also other neighbors have. The tracker have to always look at what BSSID is used now. The tracking is simply more complicated. If you are the only person with a changing BSSID, its still obvious but still better then having 0 additional work at just tracking a single BSSID. When more people join the random BSSID solution, it would be more and more work to have good working tracking. On two AP's with same SSID and both changing the BSSID from time to time with only random-mac-clients on both and both having WPA3 would be really the worst possible case for tracking.
The connection to such a AP would only work, because the phone choose the AP with the stronger signal. Both AP's would still have many random failed login attempts from the other neighbour's clients but this is just how it would be and not that of a huge issue.