Why does Windows machine is showing a wireless security as WPA3 when it is not ?

Question

Have several laptops with Windows 11 are reporting that the wireless security in use is WPA3-Enterprise . Did netsh wlan show networks as well as netsh wlan networks mode=bssid ..

WLAN is set to use only WPA2-Enterprise : AES 128 bit | CCMP | SHA2. Wireless scan with NetAlly scanner shows SSID is using WPA2-Enterprise so does the wireless management NMS and the wireless controller.

The Window machines -several keep showing WPA3-Enterprise The PCs NIC are using the Intel chip sets AX211 with 802.11AX are capable of 2.4/5/6 GHz. The access points are only 2.4/5 GHz. Strange that the laptop shows WPA3 .

Updated the driver Intel to the latest available driver -rebooted and still network thinks it is using WPA3-Enterprise

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

WPA3 Enterprise networks are a subset of WPA2 Enterprise networks. Internally, when processing scan results, Windows will mark WPA3Enteprise networks as both WPA2Enterprise and WPA3Enterprise. This is used during what we call the “capability match” which is basically a three-way filtering based on what is supported by profiles, by networks and by drivers – we select the strongest authentication algorithm supported by all three. Since the network is marked with both WPA2 and WPA3, it will allow us to default to WPA2 if WPA3 is not supported.

Windows will actively compare the wireless profile to the driver’s supported authentication and cipher suites.

• There are checks done in both Netsh and WlanSvc.
• Each one throws a different message, but both will block a profile add when the driver does not support the wireless profile's authentication or cipher algorithm.

Run this command to confirm what authentication and cipher suites the wireless driver supports.

netsh wlan show driver

Sample output:

In this example, only "WPA3-Enterprise 192 Bits GCMP-256" is supported by the wireless driver. Using a normal WPA3ENT profile will fail because it is not on the "Authentication and cipher supported in infrastructure mode" list.

I hope the information above is helpful.

Best regards

Zunhui

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