CVE-2009-3836
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedArubaOS 3.3.1.x, 3.3.2.x, RN 3.1.x, 3.4.x, and 3.3.2.x-FIPS on the Aruba Mobility Controller allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (Access Point crash) via a malformed 802.11 Association Request management frame.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceArubaOS on Mobility Controllers fails to properly handle malformed 802.11 Association Request management frames, allowing remote attackers to crash Access Points via specially crafted network packets.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 3.1.1= 3.3.1.16= 3.3.1.29= 3.3.1.30= 3.3.2.6= 3.3.2.14= 3.4.0all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify device as Aruba Mobility Controller or ArubaOSRun 'show version' or 'show system' to confirm the device is an Aruba Mobility Controller or ArubaOS device. Look for product name containing 'Aruba' or 'Mobility Controller'.Affected if Device is an Aruba Mobility Controller or ArubaOS-based device.
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Check installed ArubaOS versionExecute 'show version' and locate the ArubaOS version string (typically shown as 'ArubaOS Version X.X.X'). Note the exact version number.Affected if Version matches 3.1.1, 3.3.1.16, 3.3.1.29, 3.3.1.30, 3.3.2.6, 3.3.2.14, or 3.4.0, OR if the device is a Mobility Controller running any version.
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Verify wireless Access Point functionality is enabledRun 'show wlan summary' or 'show ap database' to check if the device or its managed APs have wireless interfaces configured and active.Affected if Wireless AP functionality is enabled and the device processes 802.11 management frames (Association Requests).
You are affected if you are running any version of Aruba Mobility Controller, or if your ArubaOS version is 3.1.1, 3.3.1.16, 3.3.1.29, 3.3.1.30, 3.3.2.6, 3.3.2.14, or 3.4.0 and wireless AP functionality is active.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate ArubaOS to a patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted 802.11 management traffic.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-3836 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-3836 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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