MAC address spoofing not working in macOS 12 Monterey

WiFi.. or an ethernet adapter?

WiFi: according to the replies it seems possible if you follow some steps, have not tried it yet

Ethernet adapters:

On my MBP 14" 2023 I can ONLY get the Apple TB Ethernet adapter working with the ifconfig ether command.

Every single other ethernet adapter does not allow me to change the MAC address, but they behave differently - falling into four categories:

1. Network adapters connected over PCI / Thunderbolt containing the same chipset as the Apple TB adapter (such as the Thunderbolt display)
2. Network adapters connected over PCI / Thunderbolt AND using a chipset Apple uses too (in the 10GbE Mac Mini for example)
3. Network adapters connected over USB with driver support
4. Network adapters connected over USB using a generic driver provided by macOS

Category 4 results in the error message, and so does 3 (sometimes). Category 2 however does accept the command without an error message, but does not actually do anything. According to another user this is even the case for the Aquantia 10GbE chipset in the Mac Mini 2023!

Only category 1, so the Broadcom chipset used by the old TB adapter seems to actually do the right thing.

My guess... Apple has decided to not update their current drivers. Maybe it isn't intentional.. but if it is, I really do not appreciate them not acknowledging it.

Just wanted to add to this chaos. I can also confirm mac address changing of ethernet adapters does not work on OSX Ventura as newts pointed out. I even ordered the Apple Thunderbolt 3 USB-C to Ethernet adapter thinking it would work but it does not. The newer M1 Macbooks do not have the older thunderbolt ports. Does anybody have a list of USB-C to Ethernet adapters that is known to work like newts mentioned?

Hi guys,

after trying to solve this on Ventura 13.4.1. I came to conclusion that macOS won't accept any mac address - you need to be careful to generate a mac address with apple vendor prefix. You can use this tool to generate a new mac address https://dnschecker.org/mac-address-generator.php and for apple mac address prefixes you can use this link http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/?string=apple to find them out or just google for them.

You would first need to run this to disassociate from all networks

sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z

and then run the following command

sudo ifconfig en0 ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (generated mac from dnschecker tool)

I hope this helps! I can finally use my hotel's wifi again! Yaay!

Cheers

Why do you need to change the MAC address? If it's to test routes, below probably won't work.

On the other hand, there are situations where it does work, as I verified on Sonoma.

Change the MAC address in a virtual machine. It might get you what you need.

A solution for macOS 14.5:

1. Get your interface name by ⌥-clicking the Wi-Fi icon and checking "Interface Name". Normally it's en0.
2. Disconnect from the Wi-Fi hotspot. Turning Wi-Fi off is not a solution; instead open the Wi-Fi menu and click the blue network to make it grey.
3. Run sudo ifconfig en0 ether 12:34:56:78:9a:bc in Terminal (en0 is the interface name from p1; use any MAC you want).
4. Connect back to the Wi-Fi hotspot.

The new MAC won't show anywhere in the UI nor in the networksetup -listallhardwareports output, but the router will see the new address. The address will reset when the device restarts.

My problem was daemon running in background Little Snitch . Kill it/disable it + turn off wifi

u/Mareks-MacBook-Pro-M1 LaunchDaemons % ls -al /Library/LaunchDaemons  total 16 drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   160 May 14 13:49 . drwxr-xr-x  71 root  wheel  2272 May 15 14:50 .. -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   621 Apr 20  2023 at.obdev.littlesnitch.daemon.plist lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel   103 Dec 17  2022 com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist -> /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   572 Jul  6  2022 com.xk72.charles.ProxyHelper.plist