w1fi hostapd CVE-2019-9494 vulnerability in W1fi and Other Products
Published on April 17, 2019

The implementations of SAE in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side-channel attacks

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The implementations of SAE in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side channel attacks as a result of observable timing differences and cache access patterns. An attacker may be able to gain leaked information from a side channel attack that can be used for full password recovery. Both hostapd with SAE support and wpa_supplicant with SAE support prior to and including version 2.7 are affected.

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Weakness Types

Observable Timing Discrepancy

Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not. In security-relevant contexts, even small variations in timing can be exploited by attackers to indirectly infer certain details about the product's internal operations. For example, in some cryptographic algorithms, attackers can use timing differences to infer certain properties about a private key, making the key easier to guess. Timing discrepancies effectively form a timing side channel.

Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information

The code uses a cache that contains sensitive information, but the cache can be read by an actor outside of the intended control sphere. Applications may use caches to improve efficiency when communicating with remote entities or performing intensive calculations. A cache maintains a pool of objects, threads, connections, pages, financial data, passwords, or other resources to minimize the time it takes to initialize and access these resources. If the cache is accessible to unauthorized actors, attackers can read the cache and obtain this sensitive information.


Products Associated with CVE-2019-9494

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Affected Versions

Wi-Fi Alliance hostapd with SAE support: Wi-Fi Alliance wpa_supplicant with SAE support:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
1.45%
Percentile
80.56%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.