wpa_supplicant spams syslog

[Malte S. Stretz]

Binary package hint: wpasupplicant

I just had a look at powertop and it regularly complain that

The program 'rsyslogd' is writing to file 'daemon.log' on /dev/dm-1.
This prevents the disk from going to powersave mode.

When I had a look at daemon.log, I noticed that it is spammed heavily by wpa_supplicant:

May 10 20:06:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:07:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:08:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:09:48 Otherland avahi-daemon[1705]: Invalid query packet.
May 10 20:11:01 Otherland avahi-daemon[1705]: last message repeated 2 times
May 10 20:14:49 Otherland avahi-daemon[1705]: Invalid query packet.
May 10 20:15:37 Otherland avahi-daemon[1705]: last message repeated 2 times
May 10 20:15:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:16:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:17:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:18:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:19:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:20:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:22:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:23:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:24:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:26:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:28:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:30:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:31:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:32:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:33:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:34:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:35:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:36:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:37:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:39:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:41:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:43:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:44:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:47:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:48:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:49:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:50:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:55:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:56:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:57:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 20:59:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:00:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:01:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:02:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:03:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:04:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:06:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:11:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:12:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:13:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:14:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:15:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:16:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:17:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
May 10 21:18:37 Otherland wpa_supplicant[1741]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: wpasupplicant 0.6.9-3ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon May 10 21:17:05 2010
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: wpasupplicant

[linuxwarrior (linuxwarrior)]

I can confirm the bug, my syslog is full of

May 25 18:04:46 phenomy wpa_supplicant[971]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

I get 1 message per minute ...

amd64 too

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Do you have special configuration for wpasupplicant or are you using NetworkManager or wicd to manage wireless?

[Malte S. Stretz (mss)]

I use (K)NetworkManager. Seems like it got better though, I don't see the message once per minute anymore.

[rCX (rcx)]

I use the NetworkManager and have the same problem. Once per minute. Like clockwork...

Sep 28 18:48:05 edge wpa_supplicant[1175]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Sep 28 18:49:05 edge wpa_supplicant[1175]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Sep 28 18:50:05 edge wpa_supplicant[1175]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Sep 28 18:51:05 edge wpa_supplicant[1175]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Sep 28 18:52:05 edge wpa_supplicant[1175]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

...and so on

[bijay987 (bijay987)]

 11 15:48:29 anjali-laptop kernel: [ 4155.364747] generic-usb 0003:062A:0000.0002: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [HID 062a:0000] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1/input0
Oct 11 15:49:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:50:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:51:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:52:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:53:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:54:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:55:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:56:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:57:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:58:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 15:59:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 16:00:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Oct 11 16:01:06 anjali-laptop wpa_supplicant[833]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

[Wolfgang Zukrigl (wolfgang-zukrigl)]

I can also confirm the bug, my syslog ist full of these messages too:

Dec 17 18:40:28 lzukw-netbook wpa_supplicant[774]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Dec 17 18:41:28 lzukw-netbook wpa_supplicant[774]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Dec 17 18:42:28 lzukw-netbook wpa_supplicant[774]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE
Dec 17 18:43:28 lzukw-netbook wpa_supplicant[774]: WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 (normal 32-Bit version)

[chris_blues (chris.blues)]

Same here. ubuntu 10.04.2 64bits

[mikewhatever (mikewhatever)]

Confirmed, Ubuntu 10.04, 32bit.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

Still occuring in 14.04.

According to this upstream:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=539915
and
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wpasupplicant/+bug/352118>
This bug should have been fixed in 2011.

$ apt-cache policy wpasupplicant
wpasupplicant:
  Installed: 2.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ cat /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant.service
[D-BUS Service]
Name=fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant
Exec=/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -P /run/sendsigs.omit.d/wpasupplicant.pid -u -s -O /var/run/wpa_supplicant
User=root

[RJVB (rjvbertin)]

Is it possible that the actual scan also causes remote access/clients to "hang" for a few seconds every couple of minutes?

That would be a worse bug than the simple syslog pollution...