RSN

The robust security network element — the negotiated terms of protection for this BSS.

Reading a capture

Sent in the clear, necessarily, because it is how two parties agree on the protection they have not yet established. Everything an attacker needs to know about which cipher suite is in use is readable before a single encrypted frame exists.

Subfields

• Version — Always 1. No version 2 has ever been defined.
• Group Data Cipher Suite — The cipher protecting broadcast and multicast traffic: three octets of organisation identifier, then one selecting the suite.
• Pairwise Cipher Suite Count — How many pairwise cipher suites follow.
• Pairwise Cipher Suite List — The ciphers offered for unicast traffic, four octets each.
• AKM Suite Count — How many authentication and key management suites follow.
• AKM Suite List — How a station proves it may join and how the keys get derived.
• RSN Capabilities — What this station or AP supports about management frame protection.

Where it sits

RSN

• Open in the explorer — Association Request
• Open in the explorer — Probe Response

Accuracy

Clause

802.11-2024 §9.4.2.24

Verified

Not verified against the standard. Treat this as a claim, not a fact.