ieee80211_input.c in MadWifi before 0.9.3 does not properly process Channel Switch Announcement Information Elements (CSA IEs), which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (loss of communication) via a Channel Switch Count less than or equal to one, triggering a channel change.

The madwifi driver and userland packages were updated to 0.9.3.1.
Please note that while the RPM version still says '0.9.3', the content is the 0.9.3.1 version.

This updates fixes following security problems :

  - The 802.11 network stack in net80211/ieee80211_input.c     in MadWifi before 0.9.3.1 allows remote attackers to     cause a denial of service (system hang) via a crafted     length field in nested 802.3 Ethernet frames in Fast     Frame packets, which results in a NULL pointer     dereference. (CVE-2007-2829)

  - The ath_beacon_config function in if_ath.c in MadWifi     before 0.9.3.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial     of service (system crash) via crafted beacon interval     information when scanning for access points, which     triggers a divide-by-zero error. (CVE-2007-2830)

  - Array index error in the (1)     ieee80211_ioctl_getwmmparams and (2)     ieee80211_ioctl_setwmmparams functions in     net80211/ieee80211_wireless.c in MadWifi before 0.9.3.1     allows local users to cause a denial of service (system     crash), possibly obtain kernel memory contents, and     possibly execute arbitrary code via a large negative     array index value. (CVE-2007-2831)

'remote attackers' are attackers within range of the WiFi reception of the card.

Please note that the problems fixed in 0.9.3 were fixed by the madwifi Version upgrade to 0.9.3 in SLE10 Service Pack 1. (CVE-2005-4835 / CVE-2006-7177 / CVE-2006-7178 / CVE-2006-7179 / CVE-2006-7180).

Multiple flaws in the MadWifi driver were discovered that could lead to a system crash. A physically near-by attacker could generate specially crafted wireless network traffic and cause a denial of service. (CVE-2006-7177, CVE-2006-7178, CVE-2006-7179, CVE-2007-2829, CVE-2007-2830)

A flaw was discovered in the MadWifi driver that would allow unencrypted network traffic to be sent prior to finishing WPA authentication. A physically near-by attacker could capture this, leading to a loss of privacy, denial of service, or network spoofing.
(CVE-2006-7180)

A flaw was discovered in the MadWifi driver's ioctl handling. A local attacker could read kernel memory, or crash the system, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2007-2831).

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200704-15 (MadWifi: Multiple vulnerabilities)

    The driver does not properly process Channel Switch Announcement     Information Elements, allowing for an abnormal channel change. The     ieee80211_input() function does not properly handle AUTH frames and the     driver sends unencrypted packets before WPA authentication succeeds.
  Impact :

    A remote attacker could send specially crafted AUTH frames to the     vulnerable host, resulting in a Denial of Service by crashing the     kernel. A remote attacker could gain access to sensitive information     about network architecture by sniffing unencrypted packets. A remote     attacker could also send a Channel Switch Count less than or equal to     one to trigger a channel change, resulting in a communication loss and     a Denial of Service.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

The ath_rate_sample function in the ath_rate/sample/sample.c sample code in MadWifi before 0.9.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (failed KASSERT and system crash) by moving a connected system to a location with low signal strength, and possibly other vectors related to a race condition between interface enabling and packet transmission. (CVE-2005-4835)

MadWifi, when Ad-Hoc mode is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) via unspecified vectors that lead to a kernel panic in the ieee80211_input function, related to packets coming from a malicious WinXP system. (CVE-2006-7177)

MadWifi before 0.9.3 does not properly handle reception of an AUTH frame by an IBSS node, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) via a certain AUTH frame. (CVE-2006-7178)

ieee80211_input.c in MadWifi before 0.9.3 does not properly process Channel Switch Announcement Information Elements (CSA IEs), which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (loss of communication) via a Channel Switch Count less than or equal to one, triggering a channel change. (CVE-2006-7179)

ieee80211_output.c in MadWifi before 0.9.3 sends unencrypted packets before WPA authentication succeeds, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information (related to network structure), and possibly cause a denial of service (disrupted authentication) and conduct spoofing attacks. (CVE-2006-7180)

Updated packages have been updated to 0.9.3 to correct this issue.
Wpa_supplicant is built using madwifi-source and has been rebuilt using 0.9.3 source.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
29517	SuSE 10 Security Update : madwifi (ZYPP Patch Number 3897)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	critical
28080	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS / 6.10 / 7.04 : linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15/.17/.20 vulnerabilities (USN-479-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	critical
25060	GLSA-200704-15 : MadWifi: Multiple vulnerabilities	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	high
25033	Mandrake Linux Security Advisory : madwifi-source (MDKSA-2007:082)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2006-7179

high

Tenable Plugins

critical

critical

high

high