Venus OS v3.66: Raspberry Pi WiFi connectivity broken with PMF/802.11w enabled

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WiFi connections fail on Raspberry Pi devices running Venus OS when the access point has PMF (802.11w / Protected Management Frames) enabled, even in optional mode. Issue confirmed on v3.66 with Compute Module 4. Connections only succeed when PMF is completely disabled on the AP.

Venus OS v3.55 may have been the last version with stable wifi for Raspberry Pi Zero W 2.

Related Issues

Cannot access BT or Wifi: Venus OS on RPi 3B+

Hi there, This is somewhat a frustrating experience, I downloaded and flashed the latest Venus OS large image and can boot it on a Raspberry Pi 3B+. I see it in Victron connect, but if I want to connect it fails, telling me to reboot the phone, etc. No success. I then tried to setup WIFI on the Rpi, first, there is no raspi-config (why?!). Then the OS is read-only. After re-mounting it rw and changing the WPA-Supplicant it still doesn’t connect after reboot. How do you actually set this up? …

Affected Devices

• Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 (Broadcom BCM43436, 802.11b/g/n)

• Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

Both tested on Venus OS v3.66 with identical PMF connection failures.

Symptoms

• WiFi shows “Connecting…” indefinitely

• Never obtains DHCP address

• AP side logs (OpenWrt hostapd) show:

  • Device authenticates successfully

  • Device associates successfully (visible in station dump, good signal)

  • AP-STA-POSSIBLE-PSK-MISMATCH error despite correct password

  • Connection fails during 4-way handshake

What Changed

WiFi connectivity with PMF optional worked on previous Venus OS version (likely v3.55). After upgrading to v3.66, connections fail with PMF enabled on the access point. Testing with Compute Module 4 (different WiFi chip) on v3.66 showed identical failures, confirming this is a Venus OS software regression.

Workaround

Disable PMF on the access point:

• OpenWrt: option ieee80211w '0' in /etc/config/wireless

Connection works immediately after disabling PMF.

Additional Information

Full diagnostic output including iw phy info and AP-side logs available in OpenWrt forum post: Pi Zero W 2 wifi won't connect - PMF optional breaks auth, disable to fix - Installing and Using OpenWrt - OpenWrt Forum

Note: The Venus OS upgrade to v3.66 happened at the same time as I was changing access points, which initially caused confusion about whether this was a router compatibility issue or a Venus OS regression. Testing with the Compute Module 4 on v3.66 confirmed it’s a Venus OS issue.