---
name: "athkey"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "madwifi-tools"
version: "1:0.9.4+r3685.20080531+dfsg-1"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/athkey"
---

# athkey(8)

manage encryption type and keys of madwifi devices

## NAME

**athkey** - manage encryption type and keys of madwifi devices

## SYNOPSIS

**athkey** \[-i device\] \[-d\] keyix cipher keyval \[mac\]

## DESCRIPTION

Each device may have up to four keys; the first argument required is the key index. The "-d" option may be specified to delete the key associated with the selected key index. Otherwise, the other arguments required are a cipher type and a key value encoded as a hexadecimal literal. A MAC address may be given as a final argument; if given, the key will be considered valid only for the specified MAC address.

## OPTIONS

- **-i device**

  The madwifi device to apply the settings to. If no device is specified,  **athkey** defaults to wifi0.

- **-d keyix**

  Delete a specified key index.

- **keyix**

  A key index of 1, 2, 3 or 4.

- **cipher**

  Cipher type values: \[wep\|tkip\|ocb\|ccm\|aes\|ckip\|none\]

- **keyval**

  A key value encoded as a hexadecimal literal with an optional leading 0x or 0X. Embedded periods, colons and dashes are ignored.

- **mac**

  MAC address encoded as an hexadecimal literal. If a MAC address is specified when adding a key value, the key will be valid only for the specified MAC.

## EXAMPLES

- **athkey -i wifi1 -d 1**

  Remove key value of index 1 for wifi1.

- **athkey 1 wep 0123456789**

  Set a wep key of "0123456789" on index 1 on wifi0.

- **athkey -i wifi2 2 tkip 0123456789 00:9b:5c:63:e6:b4**

  Set a key of 0123456789 using the tkip cipher for a MAC of 00:9b:5c:63:e6:b4  on index 2 on wifi2.

## SEE ALSO

[**athchans**(8)](/athchans/8.md), [**athctrl**(8)](/athctrl/8.md), [**athstats**(8)](/athstats/8.md)

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Kel Modderman \<kelrin@tpg.com.au\> and was based upon previous text written by Eric S. Raymond and Thorsten von Eicken.