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Related · high · value 2.997
QUERY · ISSUE

ESP32 WLAN.scan() returns incorrect hidden flag

openby zcattaczopened 2023-05-06updated 2023-05-06
bug

Hi, new comer to micropython on ESP boards here. Just start to use this and realized the hidden flag in WLAN.scan() result is incorrect.

  • The documentation mentioned this flag as (ssid, bssid, channel, RSSI, authmode, hidden) , 0 - visible, 1 - hidden; but it's a bool not int.
  • In my test, all APs in results are always with hidden = False, though apparently the SSID returned is b'' and in wavmon these are reported as <Hidden SSID> (I mean confirmed as hidden not AP with empty SSID)

uos.uname() = (sysname='esp32', nodename='esp32', release='1.19.1', version='v1.19.1 on 2022-06-18', machine='ESP32 module with ESP32')

CANDIDATE · ISSUE

network.WLAN(...).scan() on Pico W returns out of range security and hidden parameters

openby mrmabsopened 2022-11-19updated 2025-07-17
bug

Hi all,

When doing wifi scans, the returned values regularly have values 5 of 7 in security, and values varying from 0 to 8 in hidden; the documentation states security should be 0-4 and hidden should be 0 or 1.

I've tried to go through the source from micropython to the cyw43 pico driver, but I'm not able to identify the issue (as I don't believe I understand the code enough to make a definitive statement). My [poorly informed] assumption is the security values aren't being translated from the CYW43 driver (CYW43_AUTH_), and maybe the hidden variable is getting overrun because it only ever appears to be set to 1 (network_cyw43_scan_cb() in extmod/network_cyw43.c), which would be hidden and should probably be 0 for visible. But neither of those assumptions completely make sense.

I have used two different firmware releases:

  • pimoroni-picow-v1.19.10-micropython
  • rp2-pico-w-20221118-unstable-v1.19.1-705-gac5934c96

I initially followed the scanning code from this website, and quoting from the website where you can see the example output shows out of range values:

import network #import required module
wlan = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF) #initialize the wlan object
wlan.active(True) #activates the wlan interface
accessPoints = wlan.scan() #perform a WiFi Access Points scan
for ap in accessPoints: #this loop prints each AP found in a single row on shell
    print(ap)

'>>> %Run -c $EDITOR_CONTENT
(b'****er-1', b'\xac\x9e\x17k\xd6@', 2, -47, 5, 5)
(b'*********G3P4', b'\xc8Z\x9f\xdc\xa47', 11, -81, 5, 3)
(b'*********TWEB', b'\xcaZ\x9f\xdc\xa47', 11, -80, 5, 2)

And this blog post also mentions unusual output values:
https://dev.webonomic.nl/scanning-network-with-the-raspberry-pi-pico-w

My end goal is to get reliable values to generate logs for wardriving.

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