macOS wifi Extension attributes

Here is an updated script that works for macOS 26 devices, seems Apple will change the ability to get the SSID via terminal and will most likely remove it at some point. 

#!/bin/bash

# Enable verbose mode for ipconfig
sudo ipconfig setverbose 1

# Get the current SSID and display it for interface en0
SSID=$(ipconfig getsummary en0 | awk -F ' SSID : ' '/ SSID : / {print $2}')

# Check if SSID is found
if [ -n "$SSID" ]; then
    echo "Connected SSID: $SSID"
else
    echo "SSID not found or not connected."
fi

# Result for Jamf
echo "<result>$SSID</result>"

Enjoy!

Might also be a good idea to follow that with a “sudo ipconfig setverbose 0” to restore the redaction.

Very annoying behaviour from Apple to block all these APIs.  Especially as this info is clearly available in the system preferences.

Luckily they forgot about the WiFi scan cache, so I’m fudging around this like so:

 

#!/bin/bash

# macOS Tahoe WiFi SSID extraction
# Apple redacts SSID from all public APIs, but the CachedScanRecord
# in scutil still contains the actual network data in a binary plist!

get_ssid_from_scutil() {
    local hex_data xml_data

    # Query scutil for the AirPort state (contains CachedScanRecord)
    hex_data=$(scutil <<EOF 2>/dev/null | grep "CachedScanRecord" | sed 's/.*<data> 0x//'
open
show State:/Network/Interface/en0/AirPort
quit
EOF
)

    [[ -z "$hex_data" ]] && return

    # Decode hex → binary plist → XML, then extract SSID-like strings
    xml_data=$(echo "$hex_data" | xxd -r -p | plutil -convert xml1 -o - - 2>/dev/null)

    # Filter for network names: starts with letter, no underscores, not all-caps technical keys
    echo "$xml_data" \
        | grep -oE '<string>[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9 -]{1,31}</string>' \
        | sed 's/<[^>]*>//g' \
        | grep -v '^[A-Z][A-Z]' \
        | grep -v '^[A-F0-9]\{12\}$' \
        | grep -vi 'Quantenna\|Topaz\|Broadcom\|Intel\|Realtek\|Atheros\|Mediatek' \
        | head -1
}

# Get the SSID
SSID=$(get_ssid_from_scutil)

# Fallback if extraction failed
if [[ -z "$SSID" ]]; then
    CHANNEL=$(system_profiler SPAirPortDataType 2>/dev/null | awk '
        /^ *Current Network Information:/ { in_curr=1; next }
        in_curr && /^ *Channel:/ { print $2; exit }
    ')

    case "$CHANNEL" in
        [1-9]|1[0-3])               SSID="WiFi (2.4GHz)" ;;
        3[6-9]|[4-9][0-9]|1[0-6][0-9]) SSID="WiFi (5GHz)" ;;
        *)                          SSID="WiFi (?)" ;;
    esac
fi

echo "$SSID"

​@DPop I just saw this, i have been using that slow version as  work around but going to setverbose 1 temporarily to pull it for certain scripts until Apple probbably removes it as well.

I use the following Script which also lists an active LAN Device. Thanks to ​@dan-snelson to find the SSID name.

#!/bin/sh

####################################################################################################
#
#   A Jamf Pro EA which determines the Mac's currently selected network interface.
#
####################################################################################################
#
#   Based on a EA Script from Dan K. Snelson (@dan-snelson)
#
####################################################################################################

function currentSSID() { 
export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin/
wirelessInterface=$( networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En 's/^\(Hardware Port: (Wi-Fi|AirPort), Device: (en.)\)$/\2/p' )
ipconfig setverbose 1
SSIDname=$( ipconfig getsummary "${wirelessInterface}" | awk -F ' SSID : ' '/ SSID : / {print $2}')
ipconfig setverbose 0
}

# Get the list of active devices from scutil
active_devices=$(/usr/sbin/scutil --nwi | awk -F': ' '/Network interfaces:/{print $NF}')

# Loop over the list of active devices
for device in $(printf '%s\n' "$active_devices"); do
	if [[ ! "$device" =~ "utun" ]]; then
		# Get the name of the port associated with the device id, such as "Wi-Fi"
		port_name=$(/usr/sbin/networksetup -listallhardwareports | grep -B1 "$device" | awk -F': ' '/Hardware Port:/{print $NF}')
    	# Add that name into an array
    	port_names+=("$port_name")
	fi
done

# Prepare the Result
ActiveNetworkInterface="Missing"
ActiveNetworkInterface=$(printf '%s\n' "${port_names[@]}")
if [[ "$ActiveNetworkInterface" = "" ]]; then
	result="Missing"
elif [[ "$ActiveNetworkInterface" =~ "Wi-Fi" ]]; then
	currentSSID
	result="$ActiveNetworkInterface - $SSIDname"
else
	result="$ActiveNetworkInterface"
fi

# Print back the array as the returned value
echo "<result>$result</result>"

See, that still gives me:
<result>Wi-Fi - <redacted></result>

Hence my other hacky solution to pull the name from the scan cache..

With all the posts thanking ​@dan-snelson nobody has actually posted the link to his multiply updated blog post regarding Apple’s Wi-Fi Hide-And-Seek fascination, and a working EA so here it is: https://snelson.us/2024/09/determining-a-macs-ssid-like-an-animal/

Well, you have to run the script as Root … it works :-)

I needed an EA which lists all current Network Interfaces, see Dans comment in his script, he got help by someone else :-)

Thanks, ​@sdagley!

oops, this does actually work as root.  Doh!
Thanks, ​@JevermannNG 

Doh!  You’re right, it works as root!  Thank you!  :)
(Sorry, was testing in a non-MDM environment)