Provided by: plc-utils-extra_0.0.6+git20230504.1ba7d5a0-1_amd64 
NAME
mac2pw - Qualcomm Atheros Ethernet Device Password Generator
SYNOPSIS
mac2pw [options] address [address] [...]
DESCRIPTION
Print a range of consecutive Ethernet addresses and passwords on stdout such that each device has a
unique password. Program output is suitable as input to the Qualcomm Atheros HomePlug AV Production Test
System or may be used in custom production systems. A starting address and an address range are
specified. Computed passwords consist of upper case letters and digits with optional group separators.
Output consists of address/password pairs in text format.
This program is designed to generate passwords for a large number of consecutive device addresses. It
complements program mac2pwd which generates passwords for non-consecutive device addresses occurring in
unspecified order.
This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. See the AMP man page for an overview and
installation instructions.
CAVEATS
Atheros provides this program as a simple means of generating unique device passwords for a large volume
of Ethernet devices. Two different password algorithms are implemented but neither one is required for
HomePlug AV compliance. Vendors are free to use other methods to generate their own device passwords and
are encouraged to do so.
Random Method
Generate passwords based on system entropy. A different set of passwords is generated for a given
address range with each program execution. There is no correlation at between addresses and
passwords. This method is secure but requires care when programming and labelling devices at the
factory. It may be necessary to maintain a database if regular device maintenance and firmware
upgrade are needed.
Device Method
Generate passwords based on device address. The same set of passwords will be generated for a
given address range with each program execution. This method may be appropriate on system where
regular maintenance and firmware updates are required. This method is not secure because device
addresses can be determined using a variety of network management programs. Anyone having access
to this program, or the algorithm, could compute the device password and gain access to device
features reserved for privileged users. This program does provide features to mitigate the risks
of using this method.
OPTIONS
-b bunch
The password bunching factor. Passwords consists of count uppercase letters and digits optionally
displayed in groups separated by hyphens. The bunching factor specifies the number of letters and
digits in each group. When bunch is 0 or greater than count, bunching is suppressed. Separating
hyphens increase overall password length. The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 255. The default
is 0 which suppresses bunching.
-e Compute passwords based on host system entropy. Passwords consist of uppercase letters [A-Z]
optionally grouped using option -b. This method produces a non-repeatable set of unique passwords
over a given address range. This method is the default and is secure.
-l count
The number of letters in the password string. Overall password length is the sum of count plus
the number of delimiters implied by bunch. The minimum is 12 and the maximum is 64. The default
is 16.
-m Compute passwords based on target device address. Passwords consist of uppercase letters [A-Z].
This method produces a repeatable set of unique passwords over a given address range. This method
is not secure.
-n number
The number of consecutive addresses and passwords to compute and print. The minimum is 0 and the
maximum is 1677215 or 0xFFFFFF. The default is 1. In addition, number cannot exceed the
remaining available addresses in the vendor range. For example, given start address
00:B0:52:FF:FF:00, there are only 255 remaining addresses in the 00:B0:52 vendor range so it would
be an error to request more than that number.
-q Quiet mode. Exclude the device address on output. This option can be used in scripts to return
the password associated with a given device address.
-v Verbose mode. Prefix each line with a '0' column. The Atheros Production Test System (PTS) uses
the first column of a password database file to indicate which addresses and passwords have
already been used.
-?,--help
Print program help information on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the
command line.
-!,--version
Print program version information on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on
the command line. Use this option when sending screen dumps to Atheros Technical Support so that
they know exactly which version of the Linux Toolkit you are using.
ARGUMENTS
address
The first Ethernet address expressed as 12 consecutive hexadecimal digits. Puncutation is not
permitted. The final address of the range is computed by adding number to this address. This
argument is required. There is no default address. If more than one device address is specified
then an address/password series will be computed for each.
EXAMPLES
The following example prints the given device address and a random password string on stdout. The
default password length is 25 characters long but the length can be changes using option -l.
# mac2pw 00B052000001
00B052000001 5KAXCQFQNN4PPNC76XN2YUWMS
Repeating the command will generate a new password string. This is the default behaviour and is the same
as specifying option -e for "entropy".
# mac2pw 00B052000001
00B052000001 CA35TM5JLG4S6XBKSM3HSU6J4
This example ommits the device address. Repeating the command produces a new password string.
# mac2pw 00B052000001 -q
2LJ6P5JPEHE6V63GZWC337Q8E
# mac2pw 00B052000001 -q
5Z8J7EGGL2HJDKMZ978W8V94W
The next example shows how to generate passwords for three different devices with one command. The
program generates a password for each device address specified on the command line.
# mac2pw 00B052000001 00B05200BABE 00B05200DEAD
00B052000001 NJHWXEFRPVVW87C9J4BQEHYYE
00B05200BABE 5PT9Z64Z4TVRPEJCK8LR2XFMR
00B05200DEAD 7R2LJYGJB42329AS4NM29H8V4
The next example prints 10 consecutive device addresses and random passwords on stdout. The starting
device address is given and option -n specifies the number of addresses to print. Output can be piped to
a file or another process.
# mac2pw 00B052000001 -n 10
00B052000001 LEKWS42VX92YR3LLL6KBD5RCG
00B052000002 BHYKXG3VEVXNZ7CF2UERCU4G6
00B052000003 UBP87NFZMMW5WY8KK5GJFAWS3
00B052000004 CU7Y7JKFNASS6E4GQ3XL3HWGZ
00B052000005 9RN3WTXAQUXV8THZUB898ZGB3
00B052000006 HCXNPW2CM9JVHBJN2TZVRVDU6
00B052000007 DFD5QY5HATC5NFC5SF3AWL2PD
00B052000008 837GAN4HSG9U6TTRCPRXMG84T
00B052000009 HBLZHG32FSZKQ8TANGK5U8DS9
00B05200000A KEY9D3DW66HX68AWZRCD4VPD9
The following example prints 10 consecutive device addresses and passwords but inserts a 0 at the start
of each line to indicate that the address and password have not been used. The Qualcomm Atheros
Production Test System (PTS) will set the 0 to 1 after it programs a device. This format is simlar to
PTS DBBuilder Utility output.
# mac2pw 00B052000006 -n 10 -v
0 00B052000006 VZNKWJUHAV2687NV6EJYUVQ4D
0 00B052000007 RENKKWRNFLU4ZNZ3P6K4SZ4PG
0 00B052000008 NEL6LL2V2YZAL2Q27E2DJ25BG
0 00B052000009 MYX2T5HM68T5JCK7YYJNDWH2P
0 00B05200000A 6UY4MPYP43GXSD39VLTNZCJEZ
0 00B05200000B MD47KPFZLSNL9XRLJTN3MKJ5N
0 00B05200000C BKVTVYE47LE4DKMUNQPPXR7HL
0 00B05200000D RBJ8DA5DB48TZUTAQXZ9CPFTM
0 00B05200000E HSK6N9ZGZPGV4T5YXST4DH3W8
0 00B05200000F BLW8QQ4JMEVSQJYHRPBDGG5RS
The next example prints 10 consecutive device addresses and passwords, as before, but changes password
length and character bunching. Option -l specifies 12 characters and option -b specifies a bunching
factor of three.
# mac2pw 00B052000001 -n 10 -l 12 -b 3
00B052000001 S2J-V4B-NB6-37M
00B052000002 QEX-292-CYF-AVV
00B052000003 5VH-2KR-FYP-EVH
00B052000004 NYU-TPB-ZK3-6H6
00B052000005 MGX-GB7-P2P-42B
00B052000006 DDM-UD8-8NS-BZA
00B052000007 MLZ-86G-F4G-MS8
00B052000008 DTY-U8D-DT8-3G2
00B052000009 6BY-WVU-GB9-UEB
00B05200000A TX3-NUS-TKM-LVL
The next example prints 10 consecutive device addresses and passwords, as before, but starts from a
different device address. We specified option -m so that passwords are generated based on the MAC
address. This ensures that the same password is generated each time for a given device address. We also
specified password length or 16 characters using option -l and bunching factor of 4 with option -b.
# mac2pw 00B052000001 -m -l 16 -b 4 -n 10
00B052000001 HBXY-FVHN-COML-MVLY
00B052000002 KYCC-KFFD-BHCN-CSUL
00B052000003 LQXF-TULV-IOQB-SKJI
00B052000004 SOBX-FRNC-EIHL-KBPW
00B052000005 XPAC-KESG-MDYY-OFPQ
00B052000006 SFTQ-DWEF-GHYC-VOWW
00B052000007 NNZQ-FCTW-VQLG-ESBV
00B052000008 SEPC-KYYS-JZEO-HHVT
00B052000009 OYPS-DSDV-QILZ-JYOV
00B05200000A HQYV-FIWJ-CJDZ-XPNZ
The following example prints 10 consecutive device addresses and passwords, as before, but starts from a
different device address. The address range here overlaps the range shown above but identical device
addresses have identical passwords. Address based passwords may be of interest on large private networks
requireing frequent firmware upgrades or device configuration.
# mac2pw 00B052000006 -m -l 16 -b 4 -n 10
00B052000006 SFTQ-DWEF-GHYC-VOWW
00B052000007 NNZQ-FCTW-VQLG-ESBV
00B052000008 SEPC-KYYS-JZEO-HHVT
00B052000009 OYPS-DSDV-QILZ-JYOV
00B05200000A HQYV-FIWJ-CJDZ-XPNZ
00B05200000B MQIG-KUKM-YQSJ-KPRM
00B05200000C VTLW-DAVK-JCMU-JQLU
00B05200000D PIQB-OITS-RFCY-PUVE
00B05200000E IWAV-KYJM-JBEM-GPMR
00B05200000F LQJY-DSEX-WDHE-FVMB
DISCLAIMER
Qualcomm Atheros reserves the right to modify program names, functionality, input format or output format
in future toolkit releases without any obligation to notify or compensate toolkit users.
SEE ALSO
hpavkey(1), hpavkeys(1), keys(1), mac2pwd(1), rkey(1)
CREDITS
Charles Maier
Pouyan Sepehrdad
Ning Shang
open-plc-utils-0.0.3 Feb 2015 mac2pw(1)