Why am I able to open Wireshark and capture packets in macOS without root privileges?
As far as I know, capturing packets using Wireshark requires root/administrator privileges. In Windows, it prompts for UAC elevation and runs with administrative privileges. The same thing in Ubuntu; it prompts for a password to authorize access before showing me the interfaces.
However, in macOS, there is no authorization required. I don't have to enter a password. Instead, Wireshark is directly showing me the interfaces and I am able to capture packets.
How is Wireshark able to do this on macOS? What is special about macOS that allows interfaces and packets to be monitored without administrative access?
root wireshark
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
add a comment |
As far as I know, capturing packets using Wireshark requires root/administrator privileges. In Windows, it prompts for UAC elevation and runs with administrative privileges. The same thing in Ubuntu; it prompts for a password to authorize access before showing me the interfaces.
However, in macOS, there is no authorization required. I don't have to enter a password. Instead, Wireshark is directly showing me the interfaces and I am able to capture packets.
How is Wireshark able to do this on macOS? What is special about macOS that allows interfaces and packets to be monitored without administrative access?
root wireshark
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16
add a comment |
As far as I know, capturing packets using Wireshark requires root/administrator privileges. In Windows, it prompts for UAC elevation and runs with administrative privileges. The same thing in Ubuntu; it prompts for a password to authorize access before showing me the interfaces.
However, in macOS, there is no authorization required. I don't have to enter a password. Instead, Wireshark is directly showing me the interfaces and I am able to capture packets.
How is Wireshark able to do this on macOS? What is special about macOS that allows interfaces and packets to be monitored without administrative access?
root wireshark
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
As far as I know, capturing packets using Wireshark requires root/administrator privileges. In Windows, it prompts for UAC elevation and runs with administrative privileges. The same thing in Ubuntu; it prompts for a password to authorize access before showing me the interfaces.
However, in macOS, there is no authorization required. I don't have to enter a password. Instead, Wireshark is directly showing me the interfaces and I am able to capture packets.
How is Wireshark able to do this on macOS? What is special about macOS that allows interfaces and packets to be monitored without administrative access?
root wireshark
root wireshark
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
edited Feb 28 at 6:42
jksoegaard
20k2150
20k2150
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
asked Feb 27 at 12:04
scipsychoscipsycho
12910
12910
What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16
add a comment |
What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16
What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The reason is that the Wireshark installer installs a LaunchDaemon (i.e. something that runs with superuser privileges on boot) for setting special permissions to capture network packets. More specifically you can look at the file /Library/LaunchDaemon/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist to see what it does and when it is run.
As creating these LaunchDaemons require superuser privileges in itself, the Wireshark installer requires you to be a superuser (i.e. you have to enter an administrator user password to install the software).
If you look at the actual script run by the LaunchDaemon in /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF, you'll see that it creates 256 devices entries /dev/bpf0 to /dev/bpf255 and sets to that everyone in the access_bpf group can read and write to these device files.
The access_bpf groups is actually also created by Wireshark installer. This also requires superuser privileges. If you open System Preferences and then Users & Groups, you'll be able to fold out the "Groups" part of the tree and see "access_bpf" listed there. You can then add/remove users from that group to give or remove permission to capture network packets within Wireshark.
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
How do thesebpfdevices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
|
show 1 more comment
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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The reason is that the Wireshark installer installs a LaunchDaemon (i.e. something that runs with superuser privileges on boot) for setting special permissions to capture network packets. More specifically you can look at the file /Library/LaunchDaemon/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist to see what it does and when it is run.
As creating these LaunchDaemons require superuser privileges in itself, the Wireshark installer requires you to be a superuser (i.e. you have to enter an administrator user password to install the software).
If you look at the actual script run by the LaunchDaemon in /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF, you'll see that it creates 256 devices entries /dev/bpf0 to /dev/bpf255 and sets to that everyone in the access_bpf group can read and write to these device files.
The access_bpf groups is actually also created by Wireshark installer. This also requires superuser privileges. If you open System Preferences and then Users & Groups, you'll be able to fold out the "Groups" part of the tree and see "access_bpf" listed there. You can then add/remove users from that group to give or remove permission to capture network packets within Wireshark.
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
How do thesebpfdevices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
|
show 1 more comment
The reason is that the Wireshark installer installs a LaunchDaemon (i.e. something that runs with superuser privileges on boot) for setting special permissions to capture network packets. More specifically you can look at the file /Library/LaunchDaemon/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist to see what it does and when it is run.
As creating these LaunchDaemons require superuser privileges in itself, the Wireshark installer requires you to be a superuser (i.e. you have to enter an administrator user password to install the software).
If you look at the actual script run by the LaunchDaemon in /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF, you'll see that it creates 256 devices entries /dev/bpf0 to /dev/bpf255 and sets to that everyone in the access_bpf group can read and write to these device files.
The access_bpf groups is actually also created by Wireshark installer. This also requires superuser privileges. If you open System Preferences and then Users & Groups, you'll be able to fold out the "Groups" part of the tree and see "access_bpf" listed there. You can then add/remove users from that group to give or remove permission to capture network packets within Wireshark.
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
How do thesebpfdevices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
|
show 1 more comment
The reason is that the Wireshark installer installs a LaunchDaemon (i.e. something that runs with superuser privileges on boot) for setting special permissions to capture network packets. More specifically you can look at the file /Library/LaunchDaemon/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist to see what it does and when it is run.
As creating these LaunchDaemons require superuser privileges in itself, the Wireshark installer requires you to be a superuser (i.e. you have to enter an administrator user password to install the software).
If you look at the actual script run by the LaunchDaemon in /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF, you'll see that it creates 256 devices entries /dev/bpf0 to /dev/bpf255 and sets to that everyone in the access_bpf group can read and write to these device files.
The access_bpf groups is actually also created by Wireshark installer. This also requires superuser privileges. If you open System Preferences and then Users & Groups, you'll be able to fold out the "Groups" part of the tree and see "access_bpf" listed there. You can then add/remove users from that group to give or remove permission to capture network packets within Wireshark.
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
The reason is that the Wireshark installer installs a LaunchDaemon (i.e. something that runs with superuser privileges on boot) for setting special permissions to capture network packets. More specifically you can look at the file /Library/LaunchDaemon/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist to see what it does and when it is run.
As creating these LaunchDaemons require superuser privileges in itself, the Wireshark installer requires you to be a superuser (i.e. you have to enter an administrator user password to install the software).
If you look at the actual script run by the LaunchDaemon in /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF, you'll see that it creates 256 devices entries /dev/bpf0 to /dev/bpf255 and sets to that everyone in the access_bpf group can read and write to these device files.
The access_bpf groups is actually also created by Wireshark installer. This also requires superuser privileges. If you open System Preferences and then Users & Groups, you'll be able to fold out the "Groups" part of the tree and see "access_bpf" listed there. You can then add/remove users from that group to give or remove permission to capture network packets within Wireshark.
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
answered Feb 27 at 12:47
jksoegaardjksoegaard
20k2150
20k2150
How do thesebpfdevices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
|
show 1 more comment
How do thesebpfdevices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
How do these
bpf devices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
How do these
bpf devices work exactly? Does this imply there' a performance-cost to having wireshark installed, even when not capturing?– Alexander
Feb 28 at 2:23
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
At what level do you want the explanation? (I.e. are you home user, programmer, kernel developer?). In general terms they work like any other device. A program reads from the device and receives data. In this case the data is network packets. The program uses ioctl() to configure which NIC to listen on, set packet filters, etc. BPF is a common system which is also available on other systems like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. It does not mean that there’s a performance cost to having Wireshark installed. BPF is not a part of Wireshark, it is a standard part of the macOS kernel (Darwin).
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 6:38
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
I'm a dev, but not a kernel dev. What I was thinking was "does all network traffic have to be piped through these devices, so that it could be intercepted for logging by wireshark, whether wireshark is actually capturing or not?"?
– Alexander
Feb 28 at 17:29
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
No, it doesn't work like that at all.
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 17:40
1
1
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
Just open Terminal.app on any Mac and run the command: "man bpf"
– jksoegaard
Feb 28 at 19:39
|
show 1 more comment
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What kind of wireshark are you running? GUI (app) or command line?
– IconDaemon
Feb 27 at 12:40
Did you login as a standard user or as an administrator user?
– jksoegaard
Feb 27 at 12:40
The question in the title and the question in the body of your post aren't the same. The reason why you can open Wireshark without root privileges is because you can use it to analyze packet dumps, which are just ordinary files.
– Mark
Feb 27 at 20:53
@IconDaemon I am talking about GUI app.
– scipsycho
Feb 28 at 14:16