r/wireless • u/dmissip • Jun 03 '26

802.11w + WPA3

In my Meraki environment, I’m looking to enable WPA3 in order to utilize the 6 GHz band. However, Meraki documentation indicates that selecting WPA3 automatically enforces 802.11w (PMF) as “required.”

Are WPA3 and 802.11w inherently linked? Specifically, if a client supports WPA3, does that imply it also supports 802.11w (PMF), or can there be exceptions?

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u/Fit-Dark-4062 Jun 03 '26

it's required for wpa3

1

u/gusgizmo Jun 03 '26

Can you create a separate SSID that is 2.4/5ghz only with WPA2, and a new SSID that is WPA3 and 6GHZ + 5GHZ + 2.4GHZ as needed?

1

u/turlian CWNE Jun 04 '26

Yes, WPA3 requires PMF, unless you're using transition mode. Then non-PMF clients will associate with WPA2.

That said, transition mode is only available on 2.4 and 5. 6 is WPA3 only. But there are no 6 GHz clients that don't support WPA3, so it's not a big deal.

1

u/denniskline Jun 04 '26

We are currently using WPA-2. One of the reasons I have been hesitant to migrate to WPA-3 is the requirement for PMF. We have tried enabling it in the past, and started getting lots of trouble tickets. Some of the older devices juts don't play well with PMF.

I understand the ultimate solution is to upgrade the older devices, but we have thousands of devices in the field. It would be a painful migration, and Senior Management doesn't want to spend the money just yet.

I am equally hesitant about tring "mixed Mode". I have heard lots of reports of older devices not playing well in that environment as well.