[Pkg-kde-extras] Bug#433061: encryption status does not work for unprivileged users

[Kel Modderman]

Package: knemo
Version: 0.4.6-2+b1
Severity: minor

knemo's two backends both use iwlib methods for determining if an encryption 
key is being used for the current wireless link or not. Nettools uses it 
indirectly by parsing iwconfig output and matching a regexp, while the Sys 
backend basically borrows code from iwconfig.c of wireless-tools.

The iwlib method (from iwconfig.c) used to determine if an encryption key is 
set on an iface is:

iw_get_ext(skfd, ifname, SIOCGIWENCODE, &wrq)

When run by an unprivileged user that will return -EPERM, and thus knemo's Sys 
backend will fail to know that a key is in use, or iwconfig simply will not 
display an "Encryption key:" field for the Nettools backend to match.

iwlist run as user is another good example of a user attempting to access 
encryption key information, it uses the same method to access enc. key 
information:

$ iwlist ath0 encryption
ath0      3 key sizes : 40, 104, 128bits
          4 keys available :
Error reading wireless keys (SIOCGIWENCODE): Operation not permitted

As far as I can see, using the above the encryption status of knemo can never 
be useful when knemo is run as regular user, it will always say encryption is 
not in use.

For nettools backend, it could parse iwlist scan iformation for the current 
ssid and match the "Encryption key:" field, but to do the same with system 
calls strikes me as overly complex.

Thanks, Kel.