[News] Report on the State of USB WiFi on Linux (December 2025)

[morrownr]

Hello everyone,

This year has been a very good year for USB WiFi adapters. Driver support continues to make great progress. With the merge of the networking patch for kernel 6.19, we see:

- WiFi drivers:
   - RealTek (rtw89):
     - support USB devices RTL8852AU and RTL8852CU
     - initial work for RTL8922DE
     - improved injection support
   - MediaTek (mt76):
     - WED support for >32-bit DMA
     - airoha NPU support
     - regdomain improvements
     - continued WiFi7/MLO work

With the addition of drivers for the rtl8852au and rtl8852cu chips, that means all Realtek WiFi 6 chips have good in-kernel drivers. However, there is a warning: Very few adapters that use Realtek WiFi 6 chips are single-state (no windows driver onboard). That is the reason that you do not see any USB WiFi adapters that use Realtek WiFi 6 chips in The Plug and Play List. I am actively seeking information about single-state adapters that use the Realtek WiFi 6 chips and will make that information available.

I started a long term test on a new adapter in July of this year. The adapter is the Netgear A9000. It is the first USB WiFi adapter to use the new mt7925 (WiFi 7) chip. Here is my report:

• I tested managed mode during July and August. I had to create and send a patch to linux-wireless to get the VID/PID included so that the adapter can be plug and play. I also had to work with a Mediatek dev to correct a small problem that was limiting speed but those issues were taken care of and I am not aware of any problems in managed mode at this point. I see stable, fast operation.

• I tested AP mode over September and October. I could not find any problems and was able to create a new example WiFi 7 hostapd.conf:

https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/blob/main/home/AP_Mode/hostapd-WiFi7.conf

You can also find that link on the Main Menu. Overall, AP mode seems to be working well.

• I have been testing monitor mode over November and December. I have pushed it hard and have tested all capabilities that I think monitor mode users would want. Here are the latest test results:

2025-12-07
Adapter: Netgear A9000 (WiFi 7, BE6500, tri-band)
state: single, no Windows driver onboard.
driver: mt7925u
version: 6.18.0-v8+
firmware-version: ____000000-20251124093023
VIF: valid interface combinations:
         * #{ managed, P2P-client } <= 2, #{ P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
           total <= 3, #channels <= 2
         * #{ managed, P2P-client } <= 2, #{ AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
           total <= 3, #channels <= 1
SSIDs deteched: sudo iw dev wlan0 scan | grep SSID:  - 12
SSIDs deteched: sudo nmcli dev wifi list - 28
*
Test 1: Is monitor mode and packet injection working?
Command line: sudo aireplay-ng --test wlan0mon
  Trying broadcast probe requests...
  Injection is working!
Result: Pass
*
Test 2: Is monitor mode and packet injection working?
Command line: sudo hcxdumptool --tot=2 --rcascan=active
  17815 Packet(s) captured by kernel
  663 Packet(s) dropped by kernel
  exit on TOT
Result: Pass
*
Test3: Is active monitor mode capability working:?
Command line: sudo hcxdumptool --tot=2 --rcascan=active -A
  12454 Packet(s) captured by kernel
  108 Packet(s) dropped by kernel
  exit on TOT
Result: Pass, device supports active monitor (which will ACK incoming frames)
iw list: shows support
*
Test4: How long does it take to successfully attack a target:
Command line: time sudo hcxdumptool --exitoneapol=14
  1494 Packet(s) captured by kernel
  0 Packet(s) dropped by kernel
  exit on EAPOL M1M2ROGUE
  real	0m19.336s
  user	0m0.005s
  sys	0m0.025s
*

That is a rather impressive overall result for the mt7925u WiFi 7 driver. I think we will be enjoying this driver for a long time. I expect additional adapters using this chip to become available over the next few months.

I am hoping that the new driver for the rtl8922/12au chip goes into kernel 7.0. We'll have to see about that.

The new Brostrend AX9L adapter was recently added to The Plug and Play List. It is selling very well and is getting really good reviews from Linux users. See the entry for this adapter in The Plug and Play List for more information.

It appears that monitor mode is broken in the mt7921u driver currently. Tests on kernel 6.17 and 6.18 are not good. If you use monitor mode and have an adapter that uses the mt7921u driver, please stop by the following issue and see if you can help us track down the problem: #682

Let me know if you have any questions or information that you think should be posted on this site.

@morrownr