Arch Linux

Orangestar

Member

Registered: 2024-05-13

Posts: 2

Spoofing a Wired Connection to Appear Wireless

TL;DR: Can I spoof my wired internet connection to appear as a wireless one when a program queries it?

I'm running KDE (6.0.4) so my network connection is handled by KNetworkManager, and thus, NetworkManager. My logical setup has my desktop connecting via Ethernet to a router running DD-WRT in Client Bridge mode, which itself connects wirelessly to my outbound router proper. The connection appears in the KNetworkManager applet - and NetworkManager, and any apps that ask about the connection - as an Ethernet connection.

This setup works fine, but if I'm using an application that wants a tight connection speed with no latency (like a teleconference program or an online fighting game) it will tell others I'm using a wired connection or apply presets assuming a fully wired setup.

Is there any way I can edit the connection in NetworkManager or KNetworkManager to appear as a wireless one? Searching for the problem gives me the opposite (people attempting to spoof their wireless network to appear wired) and the solution for that is to set up a network bridge, but there's no way to make a network bridge "appear" as a wireless connection as far as I know.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,321

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Re: Spoofing a Wired Connection to Appear Wireless

it will tell others I'm using a wired connection or apply presets assuming a fully wired setup

What is it here, specifically.  Very few programs could even do this, and I don't know of any that do.  A vast majority of client programs just make network requests and have no interest in the network infrastructure.  Programs can monitor latency and bandwidth and respond differently based on these metrics, and in theory they could gather information on the underlying network, but this is not trivial to do and - again - I'm not aware of any client programs that would gather such information.

So would limiting the bandwidth to the program suffice?  This can certainly be done.

Last edited by Trilby (2024-05-13 23:56:57)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Crunchbang

Member

From: Script headers everywhere

Registered: 2024-04-25

Posts: 22

Re: Spoofing a Wired Connection to Appear Wireless

Not at my Linux machine so I cant give you steps but:  you could create a bridge to a virtual adaptor wlan0 <==> eth1.   Make eth1 your default device etc. (IF all this is possible while using NetworkManager).    Linux apps are not going to parse much deeper than that - But why?    Im with trilby, if anything limiting the bandwidth is the clear logical r choice if you must do this.   Is this for extra paranoid network obscurity?   or perhaps QoS'ing ?   I cant for the life of me think of any other non-nefarious reasons...

and again, as trilby stated - Any app that really wants to gather more info, and has the permissions to do so will glean how your network is structured

Orangestar

Member

Registered: 2024-05-13

Posts: 2

Re: Spoofing a Wired Connection to Appear Wireless

Admittedly, it's primarily for video games. Street Fighter 6 can (somehow) glean whether the user is on WiFi or Wired connection, which I presumed was by probing the OS for this information.

When I use a wireless adapter (which gives me drops so I can't use it frequently) the icon appears as normal, but on my stable network bridge it appears as a wired connection.

This annoys other players when my supposedly-wired connection confers input delay due to wireless latency, so I'd like to spoof it to be a more courteous player.