nRF BLE Sniffer Won't Show in Wireshark MacOS Big Sur

[WestCoastDaz]

I am trying to get the nRF BLE Sniffer v3.1.0 working on my Mac running Bg Sur using a nRF52840 dongle.  I have followed all the instructions listed in the sniffer document but the interface won't show no matter what.  What's interesting is running ./nrf_sniffer_ble.sh returns the interface details.  Also when I try running Wireshark from the command line and listing the interface the BLE sniffer is listed but when I start Wireshark this way the interface doesn't capture anything and Wireshark locks up when you stop a capture.

I have the ZigBee 802.15.sniffer working no problem.

MacOS Big Sur: 11.1

Wireshark: 3.0

Python: 3.7.3

PySerial: 3.5

Sniffer: 3.1.0

I also tried v3.0.0 on an nRF52DK with no luck.

Thoughts,

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

I am seeing some other python related issues currently when I attempt to test on my side. However, I wonder if it would be worth testing the newest Wireshark (3.4.2), as it seems the rest of your setup is working?

[WestCoastDaz]

Einar,

I'm a little hesitant to move to Wireshark 3.4.2 because I have the 802.15.4 sniffer working well and I need it weekly for testing.

The Python issues are interesting, is there anything I can do to debug what's going on or to provide logs for you team?

Anything else to try?

Thanks,

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

Searching through our issue database again I see that there are known issues with Early Wireshark 3.x.x versions. What you are seeing is reported and it seems you need to upgrade Wireshark to versions >= 3.2.1 (specifically you need the Wireshark fix from this commit).

[WestCoastDaz]

Einar,

Thanks for the help.  I made some progress. but it's not perfect.  I upgraded to 3.4.3 and I have the BLE Sniffer working but only when I start Wireshark from the command line.  When I start it using Spotlight the BLE Sniffer interface doesn't show up.

Thoughts,

[Einar Thorsrud]

I am not sure what could cause this. Could it be some permission issue? Do you have to use sudo from the command line, or does it also work without it? How do you start it? Is it only when starting from spotlight this is an issue, or with all other methods than starting from the command line?