Major release. 5GHz hotspots now work on Intel adapters, hotspot creation succeeds out of the box on hardware that previously failed with an unhelpful error, and two security issues are fixed.
Highlights
5GHz hotspots on Intel adapters. Intel cards keep the regulatory domain in firmware and mark every 5GHz channel no IR, which forbids beaconing — so the card could join a 5GHz network but never host on one. There is now a guide and helper scripts that restore the removed iwlwifi lar_disable parameter, including the Secure Boot key enrollment.
Hotspot creation no longer fails when you are connected to WiFi. Since Linux 6.11 iwlwifi only advertises AP mode in a single-channel interface combination, so the access point has to share your client's channel. create_ap now reads this from the driver and follows the channel automatically instead of dying with hostapd's Failed to set beacon parameters.
The GUI shows what actually went wrong. Errors from create_ap are surfaced instead of failing silently, and the full log is available in a scrollable view rather than just the last line.
Wider channels. --ieee80211ac can finally reach 80MHz — it previously emitted ieee80211ac=1 without the VHT operating width, so it never got past 40MHz. New --vht-chwidth option.
Security fixes. --mkconfig could overwrite arbitrary files, and a root file read issue is fixed.
What's Changed
- Add option to create dhcp-host values into dnsmasq.conf by @dopplerreflect in #407
- fix(ui): tweak style of IEEE 802.11n/ac/ax by @Integral-Tech in #415
- Added information on copr repo by @Kaleemsafi19 in #421
- SECURITY: Prevent create_ap's --mkconfig switch from overwriting any file without explicit authorization by @swomf in #423
- Making a fix for a root file read vulnerability by @CastorDYvaine in #447
- scripts: create_ap: haveged_watchgod: Move mutex inside if logic by @patrickelectric in #455
- fix: attempt to use channel of $WIFI_IFACE if default channel fails by @sudoAlphaX in #466
- Wait for create_ap to exit after AP-ENABLED in UI by @joanbm in #474
- Welcome contributors by @lakinduakash in #480
- fix: resolve build errors by @Integral-Tech in #481
- Change shebang for portability by @Kansattica in #507
- Fix GUI crashes when parsing /etc/create_ap.conf (NULL deref + buffer overflow) by @Hadixel in #522
- Make hotspot creation work out of the box (forced 2.4GHz + NM unmanaged hang) by @Hadixel in #523
- Fix hotspot creation failing out of the box on brcmfmac adapters, and surface create_ap errors in the GUI by @lakinduakash in #525
- Fix channel/band selection on single-channel AP adapters, and make 5GHz work on Intel by @lakinduakash in #527
New Contributors
- @dopplerreflect made their first contribution in #407
- @Kaleemsafi19 made their first contribution in #421
- @swomf made their first contribution in #423
- @CastorDYvaine made their first contribution in #447
- @patrickelectric made their first contribution in #455
- @sudoAlphaX made their first contribution in #466
- @Kansattica made their first contribution in #507
- @Hadixel made their first contribution in #522
Installing
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lakinduakash/lwh
sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-wifi-hotspotThe attached linux-wifi-hotspot_5.0.0_amd64.deb is built on Ubuntu 26.04 and targets Ubuntu 24.04 and newer — it depends on the 64-bit time_t library names (libgtk-3-0t64, libpng16-16t64). On older releases use the PPA or build from source.
Full Changelog: v4.7.2...v5.0.0
