NetHunter Kernel — Redmi 5A (riva)

01 — capabilities

What's Included

📡

Wi-Fi Injection

Full packet injection support for external adapters. Run aircrack-ng, aireplay-ng, and the full Aircrack suite directly from your Redmi 5A.

👁

Monitor Mode

Enable monitor mode on supported external USB Wi-Fi adapters. Capture raw 802.11 frames across 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

⌨️

HID Injection

Broad HID device support including keyboard injection, gamepad, and mouse emulation. /dev/hidg0, hidg1, hidg2 ready to use.

📻

SDR Support

Software Defined Radio driver support included where hardware allows. Unlock RF analysis and spectrum monitoring capabilities.

🔵

Bluetooth

HCIUSB support for Broadcom, Realtek, Atheros, Intel, Qualcomm & Marvell. RFCOMM and RFCOMM TTY fully enabled.

📺

DVB Support

Digital Video Broadcasting driver support included. USB mass storage improvements and enhanced OTG (USB 2.0/3.0) compatibility.

🔌

Driver Coverage

Realtek RTL88xx family, Ralink, Mediatek MT7921, Atmel, ath9k, ADMtek, Broadcom, VMware VMXNET3, and many more integrated.

🔒

Signed Modules

All distributed .ko modules are signed with the kernel's own module-signing key, ensuring integrity. Custom modules require recompile.

02 — installation

Quick Install Guide

PREREQUISITES

You need: OrangeFox Recovery installed on your device, an unlocked bootloader, and crDroid Android 14 (riva) as your ROM. Root via Magisk 28.0 — not KernelSU (crDroid's bundled version may be outdated).

INSTALL ORANGEFOX RECOVERY

Flash OrangeFox (or another compatible custom recovery) to your Redmi 5A (riva). You'll need an unlocked bootloader. Boot into fastboot and flash the recovery image before proceeding.

INSTALL CRDROID ANDROID 14

Download and flash crDroid Android 14 for riva. Boot into OrangeFox recovery, wipe data/cache, then flash the crDroid zip. This kernel only works with crDroid Android 14 — no other ROMs.

FLASH THE NETHUNTER KERNEL

While still in OrangeFox recovery, flash Crdroid14_Riva_NetHunter-V1.4.zip from the Releases page. Do not reboot to system yet if you haven't rooted.

27de1273108248502081d80f88eac8b4b3908ae05989c59ee08667838144cc04

ROOT WITH MAGISK 28.0

Flash Magisk 28.0 via OrangeFox recovery. After flashing, reboot to Android. Open the Magisk app to complete setup. crDroid ships with KernelSU, but Magisk 28.0 is strongly recommended for best compatibility.

INSTALL WIRELESS FIRMWARE MODULE

Many external USB Wi-Fi adapters require firmware blobs. Install wirelessFirmware.zip as a Magisk module. Open Magisk app → Modules → Install from storage. Select the zip and reboot.

LOAD KERNEL MODULES

Open the Kali NetHunter app → Modules. Long-press any module to view its dependencies — load dependencies first, then your target module. Connect your external USB Wi-Fi adapter via OTG and verify with iwconfig or airmon-ng.

# Start a root shell
su

# Load a module manually
insmod /system/lib/modules/88XXau.ko

# Or via modprobe
modprobe 88XXau
        

adb push 88XXau.ko /data/local/tmp/
adb shell
su
insmod /data/local/tmp/88XXau.ko
        

HID SETUP (IF NEEDED)

If HID injection isn't working after setup, run this as root to create the device node. Note: /dev/hidg1 = keyboard, /dev/hidg2 = mouse, /dev/hidg0 = dummy.

mknod --mode=666 /dev/hidg0 c 240 0 && dmesg | grep hidg

03 — kernel modules

Available Modules

v1.4 ships with 35+ loadable kernel modules including the complete Realtek RTL88xx driver family, plus two new additions: gspca_main.ko (USB video capture) and r8723bs.ko (RTL8723BS SDIO combo driver). All modules are signed — unsigned/custom modules will be rejected unless you recompile the kernel with your own signing key.

⚠ MODULE DEPENDENCIES

Modules depend on each other. In the NetHunter app, long-press a module to check its dependencies. Load dependencies first, then the target module. To unload, reverse the order.

88XXau.ko

88x2bu.ko

rtw_core.ko

rtw_usb.ko

rtw_sdio.ko

rtw_8703b.ko

rtw_8723x.ko

rtw_8723cs.ko

rtw_8723d.ko

rtw_8723ds.ko

rtw_8723du.ko

rtw_8812a.ko

rtw_8812au.ko

rtw_8814a.ko

rtw_8814au.ko

rtw_8821a.ko

rtw_8821au.ko

rtw_8821c.ko

rtw_8821cs.ko

rtw_8821cu.ko

rtw_8822b.ko

rtw_8822bs.ko

rtw_8822bu.ko

rtw_8822c.ko

rtw_8822cs.ko

rtw_8822cu.ko

rtw_88xxa.ko

efivarfs.ko

slcan.ko

lcd.ko

rdbg.ko

rmnet_shs.ko

rmnet_perf.ko

gspca_main.ko

r8723bs.ko

04 — releases

Version History

v1.4 — Critical Bug Fix & Performance Update

Released: April 18, 2026

Critical bug-fix and performance update. Resolves a serious kernel panic that caused the device to crash into recovery upon Wi-Fi adapter hot-unplug. Adds two new kernel modules and brings general stability improvements.

FIX Kernel panic / crash to recovery on USB Wi-Fi adapter hot-disconnect — now fully resolved. Safe to connect/disconnect OTG adapters at any time.

OPT General kernel performance and stability improvements for better responsiveness.

NEW gspca_main.ko — USB webcam / video capture device support via V4L2/GSPCA framework.

NEW r8723bs.ko — RTL8723BS SDIO Wi-Fi + Bluetooth combo chip driver.

RET All 33 modules from v1.3-Final retained — no regressions in Wi-Fi adapter support.

SHA-256: 27de1273108248502081d80f88eac8b4b3908ae05989c59ee08667838144cc04

⬇ DOWNLOAD

v1.3-Final — NetHunter Kernel for Redmi 5A (riva)

Released: October 29, 2025

Final feature release of the 1.x line. Ports all remaining 5GHz Realtek RTL88xx family drivers as loadable kernel modules. Adds comprehensive RTL88xx coverage including RTL8703B, RTL8723X, RTL8812AU, RTL8814AU, RTL8821X, RTL8822X, and more.

SHA-256: d8dcb4e84ed1b8651908e2bd50f06224ebce130939ccc7c84cb5ca9281629165

⬇ DOWNLOAD

v1.2 — Added RTL88x2BU Module

Released: October 05, 2025

Minor feature release adding 88x2bu.ko for Realtek RTL88x2BU USB adapters alongside the existing 88XXau.ko, enabling 5GHz band external adapter support.

SHA-256: e601ecdf3587ebac25fd30fca90c248096faa4545d82c8f336aac58c35ff20bc

⬇ DOWNLOAD

v1.1 — Added RTL88xxAU Module

Released: October 05, 2025

Added out-of-tree 88XXau.ko module for Realtek 88xx USB adapters. Enables external USB adapter usage for monitor/injection on 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands via NetHunter app or manual insmod.

SHA-256: 6fa7d97fd75c3bf7a60430f0bebcf78f9df5be32e1e4ccc73a6ffa58626fbf98

⬇ DOWNLOAD

v1.0 — Initial NetHunter Port

Released: October 04, 2025

Initial release. RTL88xxAU drivers, Wi-Fi injection & monitor mode, HID support & injection, SDR, Bluetooth, DVB, USB mass storage, and numerous NetHunter patches. Includes wirelessFirmware Magisk module.

SHA-256: adf552e2cd737686bab0cfc8c482cca5de56f704f2a2c56f6acdcbf2cd31fcc2

VIEW

05 — troubleshooting

Common Issues

Adapter not detected? Make sure you've installed wirelessFirmware.zip as a Magisk module and rebooted. Many external adapters require firmware blobs that aren't bundled with Android by default.

Module load errors? Check and load module dependencies first. Long-press the module in the NetHunter app to inspect its deps. Load dependencies before the target module. Unload in reverse order.

Unresolved symbol errors on insmod? The module is incompatible with your running kernel build. Ensure the kernel zip you flashed matches your current running kernel. Don't mix .ko files from different versions.

HID not working? Run as root: mknod --mode=666 /dev/hidg0 c 240 0 && dmesg | grep hidg. Remember: hidg1 = keyboard, hidg2 = mouse, hidg0 = dummy.

Custom modules not loading? All shipped modules are signed with the kernel's private key. Unsigned or externally built modules will be rejected. You must recompile the kernel with your own signing key to use custom modules. Disabling signature enforcement is not recommended.

Still crashing on adapter disconnect? Confirm you are on v1.4 — run uname -r to verify. This crash was fully fixed in v1.4 and does not affect earlier versions which were already stable in other regards.

Monitor/injection not working on your adapter? Not all RTL88xx adapters support monitor mode and injection equally. Verify your adapter's specific chipset against upstream driver documentation before reporting issues.

Filing an issue? Open an issue on GitHub and include: device model, crDroid build version, kernel version (uname -r), exact steps to reproduce, dmesg logs, and external adapter chipset if relevant.

NETHUNTERKERNEL

What's Included

Quick Install Guide

Available Modules

Version History

Common Issues

Built on Giants

NETHUNTER
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