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LinuxOperating system · Gentoo

CVE-2010-1159

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-10-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.0 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Multiple heap-based buffer overflows in Aircrack-ng before 1.1 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and execute arbitrary code via a (1) large length value in an EAPOL packet or (2) long EAPOL packet.

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 · high confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities in Aircrack-ng versions prior to 1.1 exist in the EAPOL packet parsing logic. Attackers can trigger the overflow via malformed EAPOL packets containing oversized length values or excessively long packet data, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or causing the application to crash.

MitigationUpgrade to Aircrack-ng version 1.1 or later to obtain the patched code that properly validates EAPOL packet length fields before buffer allocation.

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
LinuxOperating system
Affected:all versions
Aircrack NgApplication
Affected:<= 1.0= 0.1= 0.2= 0.2.1= 0.3= 0.4= 0.4.1= 0.4.2= 0.4.3= 0.4.4= 0.5= 0.6

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Aircrack-ng is installed
    Run 'aircrack-ng --help' or check package manager (e.g., 'equery list aircrack-ng' on Gentoo, 'dpkg -l aircrack-ng' on Debian, 'rpm -qa | grep aircrack' on RHEL)
    Affected if Aircrack-ng is found on the system
  2. Determine installed version number
    Run 'aircrack-ng --version' or check via package manager as above to see the exact version string
    Affected if Version is 0.1, 0.2, 0.2.1, 0.3, 0.4, 0.4.1, 0.4.2, 0.4.3, 0.4.4, 0.5, 0.6, or 1.0 (any version prior to 1.1)
  3. Confirm vulnerable component is in use
    The flaw affects EAPOL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN) packet parsing. Check if airodump-ng, aireplay-ng, or other aircrack-ng tools are being used to process wireless traffic capture files or live monitor Mode
    Affected if You use aircrack-ng tools to analyze pcap files or inject/capture wireless packets containing EAPOL frames (common in WPA/WPA2 handshakes)

You are affected if Aircrack-ng versions 0.1 through 1.0 are installed AND you process EAPOL packets from wireless traffic captures.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Aircrack-ng version 1.1 or later to obtain the patched code that properly validates EAPOL packet length fields before buffer allocation.

Fix this in Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-1159 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data