BWFM(4) FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual BWFM(4)
NAME
bwfm - Broadcom and Cypress IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network
device
SYNOPSIS
bwfm* at pci?
bwfm* at sdmmc?
bwfm* at usb?
DESCRIPTION
The bwfm driver provides support for Broadcom and Cypress FullMAC
wireless network adapters.
The following table summarizes supported chipsets and their capabilities,
as well as the bus attachments recognized by the bwfm driver:
Chipset Spectrum Type MIMO Bus
BCM43143 2GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC/USB
BCM43236 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 USB
BCM4324 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 SDMMC
BCM43242 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 USB
BCM4329 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 SDMMC
BCM4330 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 SDMMC
BCM4334 2GHz/5GHz 11n 2x2 SDMMC
BCM43340 2GHz/5GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43341 2GHz/5GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC
BCM4335 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43362 2GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43364 2GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC
BCM4339 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43430 2GHz 11n 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43455 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 1x1 SDMMC
BCM43456 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 SDMMC
BCM4350 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 PCI
BCM4354 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 SDMMC
BCM4356 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 PCI/SDMMC
BCM43569 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 USB
BCM43602 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 3x3 PCI
BCM4371 2GHz/5GHz 11ac 2x2 PCI
BCM4378 2GHz/5GHz 11ax 2x2 PCI
BCM4387 2GHz/5GHz 11ax 2x2 PCI
These are the modes the bwfm driver can operate in:
BSS mode Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when
associating with an access point, through which all
traffic passes. This mode is the default.
Host AP In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base
station) for other cards.
The bwfm driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA1 and WPA2). WPA2 is currently the most
secure encryption standard for wireless networks supported by OpenBSD.
It is strongly recommended that neither WEP nor WPA1 are used as the sole
mechanism to secure wireless communication, due to serious weaknesses.
WPA1 is disabled by default and may be enabled using the option
"wpaprotos wpa1,wpa2". For standard WPA networks which use pre-shared
keys (PSK), keys are configured using the "wpakey" option. WPA-
Enterprise networks require use of the wpa_supplicant package. The bwfm
driver relies on the software 802.11 stack for the WPA handshake. Both
encryption and decryption of data frames are handled by the firmware.
The firmware automatically selects the transmit speed and the channel
depending on the received signal strength.
The bwfm driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot
with hostname.if(5).
FILES
The driver needs a firmware file which is loaded when the driver
attaches. A prepackaged version of the firmware can be installed using
fw_update(8).
EXAMPLES
The following example scans for available networks:
# ifconfig bwfm0 scan
The following hostname.if(5) example configures bwfm0 to join network
"mynwid", using WPA key "mywpakey", obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
nwid mynwid wpakey mywpakey
inet autoconf
The following hostname.if(5) example creates a host-based access point on
boot:
mediaopt hostap
nwid mynwid wpakey mywpakey
inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
SEE ALSO
arp(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), pci(4), usb(4),
hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)
HISTORY
The bwfm driver first appeared in OpenBSD 6.3.
AUTHORS
The bwfm driver was written by Patrick Wildt <
[email protected]>.
CAVEATS
The firmware is outdated and contains known vulnerabilities.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 March 27, 2025 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8