New Wi-Fi Vulnerability Enables Network Eavesdropping via Downgrade Attacks

New Wi-Fi Vulnerability Enables Network Eavesdropping via Downgrade Attacks

May 16, 2024 at 12:51PM

Researchers uncovered a new security vulnerability, CVE-2023-52424, in the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard, known as the SSID Confusion attack. This flaw allows attackers to downgrade victims to a less secure network, intercept their traffic, and disable their VPN functionality. Mitigations proposed involve updates to the Wi-Fi standard and avoiding credential reuse across SSIDs.

Meeting Notes Summary:

Date: May 16, 2024
Subject: Newsroom Vulnerability / Network Security

– A security vulnerability known as the SSID Confusion attack, tracked as CVE-2023-52424, has been discovered in the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard.
– This attack impacts all operating systems and Wi-Fi clients, including home and mesh networks using WEP, WPA3, 802.11X/EAP, and AMPE protocols.
– The attack tricks victims into connecting to a less secure wireless network by spoofing a trusted network name (SSID), allowing attackers to intercept traffic and disable certain VPN functionalities.
– The underlying issue is that the Wi-Fi standard does not always authenticate the network name (SSID) and security measures are only required when a device opts to join a network.
– The attack involves deceiving a client into connecting to an untrusted Wi-Fi network by staging an adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attack.
– Proposed mitigations include updating the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard to incorporate the SSID as part of the 4-way handshake and improving beacon protection.
– Specific mitigations for networks include avoiding credential reuse across SSIDs and using distinct RADIUS server CommonNames for enterprise networks or unique passwords per SSID for home networks.

Additional Information:
– Two authentication bypass flaws were disclosed in open-source Wi-Fi software, and the Windows client for Cloudflare WARP was revealed to be susceptible to leaking DNS requests last August.
– For more exclusive content, follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Would you like to add anything else or modify this summary based on your needs?

Full Article