REDHAT-BUG-2264593: Medium severity wpa_supplicant wpa_supplicant vulnerability

Published Feb 16, 2024
·
Updated

In wpasupplicant, a flaw was discovered in the implementation of PEAP, which allows an attacker to skip the second phase of authentication when the target device has not been properly configured to verify the authentication server. Note that PEAP is the most common authentication method for Enterprise networks. By skipping Phase-2 authentication, it’s much easier for an attacker to create a rogue clone of a trusted WiFi network and trick the victim into connecting, all without knowing their password.

Typical Attack Prerequisites: - The attacker needs to know the SSID of the target Enterprise WPA2/3 network - The attacker must be within range of their victim, who can be located anywhere, i.e. they don’t need to be in range of the network being impersonated during the attack - wpasupplicant must be configured to not verify the authentication server’s TLS certificate

It is trivial to harvest SSIDs from around office buildings or to advertise popular Enterprise network names such as eduroam, Vodafone Homespot, TelenetWiFree or Unitymedia WifiSpot for example, and simply wait for an unsuspecting victim to connect. The misconfiguration of wpasupplicant is unfortunately a known issue on many systems. Proper configuration is a manual process, whose confusing and tedious nature prompts many users to skip it.

References: https://www.top10vpn.com/research/wifi-vulnerabilities/ https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/commit/?id=8e6485a1bcb0baff

Affected Software

1 affected component
wpa_supplicant wpa_supplicant

Event History

Feb 16, 2024
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·07:21 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of REDHAT-BUG-2264593?

REDHAT-BUG-2264593 is considered a high severity vulnerability due to the potential for authentication bypass.

2

How does the vulnerability REDHAT-BUG-2264593 affect wpa_supplicant?

The vulnerability REDHAT-BUG-2264593 affects wpa_supplicant by allowing an attacker to bypass the second phase of PEAP authentication.

3

How do I fix the issue identified in REDHAT-BUG-2264593?

To fix the issue in REDHAT-BUG-2264593, ensure that the wpa_supplicant is properly configured to verify the authentication server.

4

Is my network at risk due to REDHAT-BUG-2264593?

Yes, your network may be at risk if wpa_supplicant is not configured correctly to validate authentication servers in light of REDHAT-BUG-2264593.

5

What authentication method is primarily affected by REDHAT-BUG-2264593?

The primarily affected authentication method in REDHAT-BUG-2264593 is PEAP, which is widely used in enterprise environments.

Contact

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