In hostapd 2.10 and earlier, the PKEX code remains active even after a successful PKEX association. An attacker that successfully bootstrapped public keys with another entity using PKEX in the past, will be able to subvert a future bootstrapping by passively observing public keys, re-using the encrypting element Qi and subtracting it from the captured message M (X = M - Qi). This will result in the public ephemeral key X; the only element required to subvert the PKEX association.

The remote Debian 11 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dla-4123 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian LTS Advisory DLA-4123-1                debian-lts@lists.debian.org     https://www.debian.org/lts/security/                   Bastien Roucaris     April 12, 2025                                https://wiki.debian.org/LTS
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : wpa     Version        : 2:2.9.0-21+deb11u3     CVE ID         : CVE-2022-23303 CVE-2022-23304 CVE-2022-37660

    Multiple vulnerabilities were found in wpa, a set of tools including     the widely-used wpasupplicant client for authenticating with WPA     and WPA2 wireless networks.

    CVE-2022-23303

        The implementations of SAE in hostapd         are vulnerable to side channel attacks as a result of         cache access patterns.

    CVE-2022-23304

        The implementations of EAP-pwd are vulnerable         to side-channel attacks as a result of cache access patterns.

    CVE-2022-37660

        The PKEX code remains active even after         a successful PKEX association. An attacker that successfully         bootstrapped public keys with another entity using PKEX in         the past, will be able to subvert a future bootstrapping         by passively observing public keys.

    For Debian 11 bullseye, these problems have been fixed in version     2:2.9.0-21+deb11u3.

    We recommend that you upgrade your wpa packages.

    For the detailed security status of wpa please refer to     its security tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/wpa

    Further information about Debian LTS security advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://wiki.debian.org/LTS

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - In hostapd 2.10 and earlier, the PKEX code remains active even after a successful PKEX association. An     attacker that successfully bootstrapped public keys with another entity using PKEX in the past, will be     able to subvert a future bootstrapping by passively observing public keys, re-using the encrypting element     Qi and subtracting it from the captured message M (X = M - Qi). This will result in the public ephemeral     key X; the only element required to subvert the PKEX association. (CVE-2022-37660)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The remote Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 24.10 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-7317-1 advisory.

    George Chatzisofroniou and Panayiotis Kotzanikolaou discovered that wpa_supplicant and hostapd reused     encryption elements in the PKEX protocol. An attacker could possibly use this issue to impersonate a     wireless access point, and obtain sensitive information. (CVE-2022-37660)

    Daniel De Almeida Braga, Mohamed Sabt, and Pierre-Alain Fouque discovered that wpa_supplicant and hostapd     were vulnerable to side channel attacks due to the cache access patterns. An attacker could possibly use     this issue to obtain sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2022-23303,     CVE-2022-23304)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
234255	Debian dla-4123 : eapoltest - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	critical
224810	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-37660	Nessus	Misc.	medium
218383	Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 24.10 : wpa_supplicant and hostapd vulnerabilities (USN-7317-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	critical

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2022-37660

medium

Tenable Plugins

critical

medium

critical