UTF-8 Codec Error: Wifite crashes on SSIDs with invalid characters

[charles-kamga]

Hello,

After a recent full-upgrade on Kali Linux, Wifite started crashing with the following error when scanning Wi-Fi networks:

I suspect the crash occurs when Wifite tries to display SSIDs containing invalid or non-UTF-8 characters (e.g. emojis or special symbols). This did not happen with earlier versions.

System Info:

• Wifite version: 2.7.0
• OS: Kali Linux (fully updated)
• Python version: 3.13.x (after system upgrade)
• Wireless card: Intel Wireless 8260 (iwlwifi driver)

How to reproduce:

1. Run sudo wifite --kill
2. Scan networks where one or more SSIDs contain special characters
3. Observe crash just before or during handshake/PMKID process

It might help to add .decode(errors='ignore') handling or sanitize SSIDs before processing.

Thanks in advance!

[PSubutai]

I get this error after PMKID CAPTURE: Failed to capture PMKID

Error: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xa1 in position 155: invalid start byteut:4m59s