Standalone mode

Introduction

The most curious concept of Proxmark3 is the standalone mode functionalities.

With a battery power option, your device can enter a custom standalone function. You don't need a PC/Laptop with the Proxmark3 client software. The standalone mode is usually limited to a certain function, e.g. reading and then emulating a Legic Prime RFID tag. This also means the user interaction with the device is limited to the LEDs and the button.

LEDS	BUTTONPRESS
4 leds (A,B,C,D)	short, long or multiple (twice)

All standalone modes uses this differently and is hard to find out what is what. Looking at the source code might help.

To enter the currently flashed standalone mode, press and hold the button until the LEDs play a short animation.

Remember for all standalone modes that targets all Proxmark3 devices that they will loose of data on the device if you cut the power or drain the battery. This is a serious limit to all NON-RDV4 devices. Standalone modes that takes advantage of RDV4 specific features overcomes this limit.

implement your own

You can implement your own mode or you can use others already implemented modes. Have a look at https://github.com/RfidResearchGroup/proxmark3/blob/master/armsrc/Standalone/readme.md

Supported standalone modes

For any iceman based repo the current most popular public standalone modes is quite easy to compile and install. In this repo its even easier than before. The default standalone mode is HF_MSDSAL.

Table of built-in standalone modes:

STANDALONE	DESCRIPTION	AUTHOR	DEVICE TARGET
LF_SKELETON	Standalone mode skeleton	Iceman1001	All
LF_EM4100EMUL	Simulate predefined EM4100 tags	Artyom Gnatyuk	All
LF_EM4100RSWB	Read/simulate/brute/clone EM4100 tags	Monster1024	All
LF_EM4100RWC	Read/simulate/clone EM4100 tags	Artyom Gnatyuk	All
LF_HIDBRUTE	HID corporate 1000 bruteforce	Federico dotta & Maurizio Agazzini	All
LF_ICEHID	LF HID / IOprox / AWID / EM4100 collector to flashmem	Iceman1001	RDV4
LF_PROXBRUTE	HID ProxII bruteforce	Brad Antoniewicz	All
LF_SAMYRUN	HID26 read/clone/sim	Samy Kamkar	All
HF_14ASNIFF	HF 14a sniff with to flashmem	Michael Farrell	RDV4
HF_AVEFUL	MIFARE Ultralight read/simulation	Ave Ozkal	All
HF_BOG	HF 14a sniff with ULC/ULEV1/NTAG auth to flashmem	Bogito	RDV4
HF_COLIN	MIFARE ultra fast sniff/sim/clone to flashmem	Colin Brigato	RDV4
HF_ICECLASS	iCLASS 4-1 mode sim/read & dump/loclass/glitch & config to flashmem	Iceman1001	RDV4
HF_LEGIC	Read/simulate Legic Prime tags (RDV4: + save to flashmem)	Stefanie Hofmann & Uli Heilmeier	All / RDV4 *
HF_MATTYRUN	MIFARE sniff/clone	Matías A. Ré Medina	All
HF_MSDSAL (def)	Read and emulate MSD Visa cards	Salvador Mendoza	All
HF_TCPRST	IKEA Rothult ST25TA, Standalone Master Key Dump/Emulation	Nick Draffen	Yes
HF_YOUNG	MIFARE sniff/simulation	Craig Young	Yes

* take notice, that some standalone modes takes advantage of RDV4 specific features which may or may not allow for a generic non-rdv4 device to use the mode. You will most likely read the source code to understand what is supported.

Activate/Change a standalone mode

The standalone modes can be switched in the file Makefile.platform. Only one standalone mode can be chosen at a time.

• Rename Makefile.platform.sample -> Makefile.platform
• Edit the "STANDALONE" row inside Makefile.platform. You need to uncomment it and chose a standalone mode.

A valid Makefile.platform could look like this:

PLATFORM=PM3RDV4
#PLATFORM_EXTRAS=BTADDON
STANDALONE=LF_EM4100RWC

After changing your standalone mode, don't forget to build and flash the code to the Proxmark3.

• make clean
• make -j
• ./pm3-flash-fullimage

Additional information

Some community efforts has been done to document these.

@Hacker warehouse did a nice video on youtube.

Troy also has a nice image of the leds for LF SAMY_RUN.

A forum user detailed some modes.

The user @Tinker wrote a blogpost about badge cloning by Tinker.

Iceman, @herrmann1001, made a walkthru of the HF legic standalone mode and HF iceclass standalone mode.

The user @quentynblog made a nice video about the HF ST rothult standalone mode.

Development

If you want to write and implement your own standalone mode, the best starting point is to read and understand the readme document found here.