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A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to your network card, and some Top Posts
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networks implement MAC address filtering as a method of security. Spoofing a
Ten OS X Command
MAC address can be desired for multiple reasons, and it is very easy to spoof Line Utilities you
your MAC address in both Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5. For the purpose of this might not know
Mac OS X about
article, we are going to assume you want to spoof your Mac’s wireless MAC
Virtualization Firefox keyboard
User friendly address. So without further ado, here’s a 3 step process on how to do it: shortcut to retrieve
server closed tabs
virtualization Retrieving your current MAC address What happens in the
Mac OS X boot
solution for Mac. First, you’re going to want your current wireless MAC address so you can set it back without process?
Learn more!
www.parallels.com
rebooting. Launch the Terminal and type the following command: Instant Handbrake -
A quick and easy
ifconfig en1 | grep ether DVD to iPod
You’ll know see something like: conversion utility
Get the Spoof
Card Here ether 00:12:cb:c6:24:e2 Customize the Mac
OS X Login Screen
The Easy to Way And the values after ‘ether’ makeup your current MAC address. Write this down somewhere so you Spotlight won't
Spoof Phone
don’t forget it. If you do, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll just have to reboot to reset it from a work? Fix a broken
Calls. Free Spotlight menu with
Sample Call for change. these
troubleshooting tips
Limited Time!
www.SpoofCard.com Spoofing a MAC address airport - the Little
Known Command
To spoof your MAC address, you simply set that value returned from ifconfig to another hex value in Line Wireless Utility
Download MAC the format of aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff How to: Add a user
Address Tool from the OS X
Network For this example, we will set our wireless MAC address to 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 by issuing the following command line,
works with Leopard!
Management command:
Software & IT How to spoof your
sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 MAC address in Mac
Tools for Free. OS X
Download Now! The sudo command will require that you enter your root password to make the change. Two must know
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Laptop users
Verifying the Spoofed MAC address worked
Data
Recovery$149 If you want to check that the spoof worked, type the same command as earlier: Ads by Google
Local-- In- ifconfig en1 | grep ether Pismo Wireless
Canada Free Now you will see: Mac Shareware
Diagnostics ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 OS X Leopard
Toronto, Canada T Mac
800-677-6998 Meaning your MAC address is now the value you set it to. If you want to further verify the spoof,
www.datarecoverycorp.ca simply login to your wireless router and look at the ‘available devices’ (or attached devices) list, and Categories
your spoofed MAC address will be part of that list.
10.5 (10)
If you want to set your MAC address back to its real value, simply issue the above ifconfig Apple.com (1)
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Comment from Allaire Recent Posts
Chat on AIM from Time: January 17, 2008, 11:49 am
behind a firewall
Show Hidden Files in
I think you can spoof an ethernet address by doing sudo ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx OS X
I find the wireless a lot more useful, and it shows just how weak the mac address filtering is as a security It’s Oscar night at
Comments Apple.com
implementation on any network
MAMP: From Zero to
Tim Brazer: I was Web Server in 2
looking for a script like minutes
this! Comment from Nando Vieira
Time: January 18, 2008, 9:48 am How To Lock Your
Иван: Приобретаем Desktop in Leopard
трубы б/у 8-913-018- Allaire, I need to use the ethernet connection because is the only one that’s available (at work, there’s no PandoraMan - Music
51-28 Иван. E-mail: without going on a
gruz054-086@mail.ru... wireless). The command you sent still doesn’t work on Leopard.
Safari
TheSkeptic: You don’t Separate
need to download Backgrounds in OS X
anything - or enable Comment from ks
Spaces
Fast User Switching. Time: January 26, 2008, 10:46 pm
Gruhlke is on the right Checking in on the
path -... Doesn’t work with ethernet connection. Works for my wireless. Any ideas how to get this to work for Skype Beta
Rubni110: Sizzling ethernet en0? Screensaver as your
Keys has an option to Desktop Background
create a keyboard in Mac OS X
shortcut to start up the Mac OS X: Change
Comment from James Nevara
screen saver, which your User ID
works better... Time: January 28, 2008, 3:16 pm
Command Line Back
Web Designer: Thanks Changing the above command to en0 worked for me in Mac OS X 10.4.11, I don’t have Leopard so I can’t Ups in OS X
dude! I am been using verify:
XAMPP ever since I used
windows but I now I
switched to Mac I dont
sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 Our Feeds
know...
You can check if it worked by doing ifconfig, and your ethernet MAC address will be identified as that Atom/RSS
address
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multiple reasons, and it is very easy to spoof your MAC address in both Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5. [...]

Comment from Poptarts


Time: February 13, 2008, 6:48 pm

Changing or spoofing does not seem to work on the en0 (wired ethernet) of MacBook Pros even in 10.5.2.
Does anyone know a way to resolve this issue?

Pingback from - simply chris - » Blog Archive » spoof mac-address in mac/linux


Time: February 23, 2008, 6:20 pm

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Time: February 23, 2008, 6:35 pm

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Comment from Horuden


Time: March 2, 2008, 1:00 am

Is there anyway to make the new address stick after I reboot?

Comment from James Wu


Time: March 7, 2008, 2:42 am

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How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X - OS X Daily 25/02/09 11:58 AM

en0 can’t not modify after version 10.5.x

Comment from Jose Vigenor


Time: March 10, 2008, 2:52 am

Mac OS X : How to Set the MAc Address During Startup

Follow these steps to create a script that sets the MAC Address each time the computer restarts:

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/).


2. Type: cd /Library
3. Press Return.
4. Type: mkdir StartupItems
5. Press Return. (If you encounter an error, continue to step 6.)
6. Type: cd StartupItems
7. Press Return.
8. Type: mkdir MACADD
9. Press Return.
10. Type: cd MACADD
11. Press Return.
12. Type: pico MACADD
13. Press Return.
14. In the pico editor, paste in the following text.

Begin copying below this line.


——————————————————————————–

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.common

##
# Configure a network interface MAC Address setting
##
#
# This script will set the MAC Address setting for the specified interface(s)
#
# The name of the interface (ex. en0) must be edited to match the interface
# to which the MACADD setting should be applied
#
##

StartService ()
{
ConsoleMessage “Configuring MACADD”

### uncomment lines and change the value following ‘MACADD’ as appropriate mac address

if [ "${MACADD:=-NO-}" = "-YES-" ]; then

# /sbin/ifconfig en0 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx


# /sbin/ifconfig en1 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

fi

StopService ()
{
return 0
}

RestartService ()
{
return 0
}

RunService “$1″

——————————————————————————–

End copying above this line.

15. Uncomment the /sbin/ifconfig line(s) to set the MACADD for a particular interface.

Note: Removing the number sign (#) from the beginning of a line uncomments it. Typically, en0 is the
interface name for the Built-in Ethernet port and en1 is interface name for the AirPort Card. This is not
always the case, though. To confirm that a network port is associated with a particular interface name,
open the Network Utility (/Applications/Utilities/), and click the Info tab.

16. When you have finished customizing the file, save it (press Control-O), press Return, and exit pico
(press Control-X).

17. Type: chmod 755 MACADD

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How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X - OS X Daily 25/02/09 11:58 AM

18. Press Return.

19. Type: pico StartupParameters.plist

20. Press Return.

21. In the pico editor paste in the following text.

Begin copying below this line.

——————————————————————————–

Description
Can set MACADD
OrderPreference
None
Provides

MACADD

Requires

Network Configuration

——————————————————————————–

End copying above this line.

22. When you have finished customizing the file, save it (Control-O), press Return, and exit pico (Control-
X).
23. Type: chmod 755 StartupParameters.plist
24. Press Return.
25. Type: sudo pico /etc/hostconfig
26. When prompted, enter your password.
27. Press Return.
28. In the pico editor, add this line at the bottom:

MACADD=-YES-

29. Save it (Control-O), press Return, and exit pico (Control-X).

When you restart the computer, MACADD is set for the interface that you specified.

Notes

1. The MACADD will be reset after changing a Location, waking the computer from sleep, or changing the
state of the network interface. To use the script again without having to restart, enter the following
command:

sudo SystemStarter start MACADD

2. If you experience any issues or wish to not set MACADD during startup, you can turn off the new script
by changing the MACADD line in /etc/hostconfig to:

MACADD=-NO-

Comment from Math


Time: March 18, 2008, 6:34 pm

Some correction on the StartupParameters.plist


————–

{
Description = “HomeMade boot param”;
Provides = (”MACADD”);
Requires = (”Network Configuration”);
OrderPreference = “None”;
}
———-

So far it is not working with en0 (LAN), but works fine with en1 (Wireless)
under leopard 10.5.2

Comment from akbarfoto


Time: May 15, 2008, 3:53 pm

i can confirm that en0 (lan) work with leopard. i guess it work on older mac such as powerbook, but not
macbook. i use the “sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr”

System Version: Mac OS X 10.5 (9A581)


Kernel Version: Darwin 9.0.0
Boot Volume: external
Boot Mode: Normal
Computer Name: PowerBook G4 12″ - 867 MHz

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How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X - OS X Daily 25/02/09 11:58 AM

Comment from ps
Time: June 8, 2008, 4:04 pm

(this post can be duplicated as the first submit attempt end up with some database errors, sorry if this is
the case)

I’ve got Macbook w/ Leopard 10.5.3 - and I can confirm that


mac spoofing using ifconfig still doesn’t work with Leopard on ethernet i-face.

Akbarfoto says that it does work on powerbook,


so it might be the driver that does not support such
operation. Maybe it would be possible to use the old driver from Tiger in Leopard?

2nd thought: Has anyone tried to use USB LAN adapters to spoof MAC address?

Comment from SubliminalMac


Time: June 14, 2008, 10:56 pm

Dude, How does that “show how mac address filtering is so weak”? You would have to know the allowed
mac addresses in the first place to put it in, and wouldn’t you have to be on the network or physically use
the computer to know…

Comment from spacec0w


Time: June 20, 2008, 6:49 am

Jose Vigenor or anyone else that knows about these things

Trying to follow his intstructions I get this error when trying to make the MACADD directory. Any ideas?
Have Mac OS X 10.5.3, Powerbook G4 1.5Ghz

Macintosh-3:startupitems chris$ mkdir MACADD


mkdir: MACADD: Permission denied

Comment from AdamB78


Time: June 21, 2008, 11:41 pm

Correction in the MACADD file (at least for Leopard)


ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (xx in your vmx file)

instead of that other ifconfig command.

Got it from this thread:


http://pcwizcomputer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=32

Comment from Murphy Mac


Time: July 5, 2008, 11:39 am

Thanks guys. I’m in a hotel with my iPod touch and a laptop. Now I can use both on the property wifi.
Thanks for filling a need the hotel should help with.

Comment from RancidFerret


Time: August 6, 2008, 11:11 pm

I’m new to Macs, so I could be doing something wrong, but…


Every time I try to do the “sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6″ command it doesn’t work. I enter
the password correctly, but when I check the mac address after with the “ifconfig en1 | grep ether”
command it returns my default mac address.

I am on OSX 10.5.4 so it could be an issue with this release of Leopard. Has anyone else on 10.5.4 gotten
it to work?

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Time: August 20, 2008, 6:00 am

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How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X - OS X Daily 25/02/09 11:58 AM

Time: August 20, 2008, 6:00 am

very interesting weblog

Comment from Inspector Clouzot


Time: November 10, 2008, 7:54 am

Hmmm, why would I want to spoof my MAC address in the first place? What advantages to that and in
which situations? Thanks…

Comment from Brian Allen


Time: November 13, 2008, 7:34 am

@ Inspector Clouzot

Spoofing your can be done for various reasons. Any Internet Service Providers can be expecting a specific
MAC address prior to providing an IP address. You can using spoofing to provide the expected MAC
address.

Where I work, they have a service issue which is caching my old MAC address and it prevents me logging
in the next day if they service doesn’t drop my old connection. With a quick spoof of an MAC address, I
can connect without waiting on IT to fix their problem.

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Time: November 30, 2008, 2:17 am

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Comment from iBook G3


Time: January 15, 2009, 10:12 am

I’m having trouble spoofing my MAC.


I’ve done the right commands, and my original MAC address keeps coming back, well, the MAC address
didn’t change in the first place. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, some tips would
help. Also, I’m running Mac OS X 10.4.11
Thanks.

Comment from Cherooo


Time: January 30, 2009, 12:31 pm

Thank you for your articles

Comment from Cinainfiday


Time: February 6, 2009, 2:55 pm

thank you.

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