This devious Wi-Fi security flaw could let hackers eavesdrop on your network with ease


Experts have identified a way to “confuse” your device when it tries to connect to a trusted Wi-Fi network. As a result, the device is instead connected to a rogue network, where threat actors can snoop in on network traffic and possibly even steal sensitive information passing through.
A report from The Hacker News found the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard is vulnerable to a flaw tracked as CVE-2023-52424.
It affects all operating systems and all Wi-Fi clients, and home networks, mesh networks are all vulnerable, regardless of if they are based on WEP, WPA3, 802.11X/EAP, or AMPE protocols.
Conditions and prerequisites
The researchers explained that by spoofing a trusted network name (SSID), the attackers can essentially “downgrade” the victim to a less secure network.
“A successful SSID Confusion attack also causes any VPN with the functionality to auto-disable on trusted networks to turn itself off, leaving the victim’s traffic exposed,” the researchers added.
CVE-2023-52424 revolves around the idea that SSIDs aren’t always authenticated, and security measures kick in only when a device requests joining a specific network.
“In our attack, when the victim wants to connect to the network TrustedNet, we trick it into connecting to a different network WrongNet that uses similar credentials,” the researchers explained. “As a result, the victim’s client will think, and show the user, that it is connected to TrustedNet, while in reality it is connected to WrongNet.”
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Before the attack can be successful, the victim needs to meet a few conditions, though, including wanting to connect to a trusted network, having a separate network with the same authentication credentials available, and the attacker being in range to perform an Attacker-in-the-middle attack between the victim and the trusted network.
The easiest way to address SSID Confusion attacks is to update to the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard, the researchers concluded.
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Experts have identified a way to “confuse” your device when it tries to connect to a trusted Wi-Fi network. As a result, the device is instead connected to a rogue network, where threat actors can snoop in on network traffic and possibly even steal sensitive information passing through. A report…
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