#6130·linux

WPA3 broken on Pi 3 with 6.6 (and works with 6.1)

Author: spockfishCreated Apr 29, 2024Updated Sep 10, 2026

Describe the bug

When I run a 6.1 kernel on a Pi 3, using IWD, WPA3 works as expected. However, simply switching to the 6.6 kernel breaks this: the interface does not come up.

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

Run a 6.6 kernel, on a Pi 3, accessing a WPA 3 network.

Device (s)

Raspberry Pi 3 Mod. B

System

custom built OS (buildroot), with latest 6.1 or 6.6 kernel, IWD for wireless interface mgt.

Logs

No response

Additional context

There's another strange thing going on: I'm using the 'rpi-firmware-nonfree' release (https://github.com/RPi-Distro/firmware-nonfree), but the latest release does not support SAE offload, which is required for WPA3 to function.

So, the latest firmware reports (iw phy) the following:

Supported extended features:
		* [ CQM_RSSI_LIST ]: multiple CQM_RSSI_THOLD records
		* [ 4WAY_HANDSHAKE_STA_PSK ]: 4-way handshake with PSK in station mode
		* [ 4WAY_HANDSHAKE_STA_1X ]: 4-way handshake with 802.1X in station mode

And thus WPA3 not functioning, where switching back to the upstream firmware (https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/) reports this:

Supported extended features:
		* [ CQM_RSSI_LIST ]: multiple CQM_RSSI_THOLD records
		* [ 4WAY_HANDSHAKE_STA_PSK ]: 4-way handshake with PSK in station mode
		* [ 4WAY_HANDSHAKE_STA_1X ]: 4-way handshake with 802.1X in station mode
		* [ SAE_OFFLOAD ]: SAE offload support

And thus results in a working WPA3 connection, if using 6.1.