Cisco Security Advisory
Framing Frames: Bypassing Wi-Fi Encryption by Manipulating Transmit Queues Affecting Multiple Cisco Products
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On March 27, 2023, the research paper Framing Frames: Bypassing Wi-Fi Encryption by Manipulating Transmit Queues was made public. This paper discusses vulnerabilities in the 802.11 standard that could allow an attacker to spoof a targeted wireless client and redirect frames that are present in the transmit queues in an access point to an attacker-controlled device. This attack is seen as an opportunistic attack and the information gained by the attacker would be of minimal value in a securely configured network.
This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-wifi-ffeb-22epcEWu
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The attacks that are outlined in the paper may be successful when leveraged against Cisco Wireless Access Point products and Cisco Meraki products with wireless capabilities.
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To reduce the probability that the attacks that are outlined in the paper will succeed, Cisco recommends using policy enforcement mechanisms through a system like Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), which can restrict network access by implementing Cisco TrustSec or Software Defined Access (SDA) technologies. Cisco also recommends implementing transport layer security to encrypt data in transit whenever possible because it would render the acquired data unusable by the attacker.
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The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team is aware that proof-of-concept exploit code is available for the vulnerability described in this advisory. This was made available by the researcher at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/vanhoefm/macstealer
The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
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These vulnerabilities were reported to Cisco by Dr. Mathy Vanhoef of New York University Abu Dhabi. Cisco would like to thank Dr. Vanhoef for his continued help and support during the handling of these vulnerabilities.
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To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.
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Show LessVersion Description Section Status Date 1.0 Initial public release. - Final 2023-MAR-27
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