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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-2011-2480

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.2 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
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
Information Disclosure vulnerability in the 802.11 stack, as used in FreeBSD before 8.2 and NetBSD when using certain non-x86 architectures. A signedness error in the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl allows a local unprivileged user to cause the kernel to copy large amounts of kernel memory back to the user, disclosing potentially sensitive information.

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

A signedness error in the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl handler in the FreeBSD and NetBSD 802.11 wireless stack allows a local unprivileged user to read beyond intended buffer boundaries, causing the kernel to leak sensitive kernel memory contents to user space.

MitigationUpgrade FreeBSD to version 8.2 or later, or apply the corresponding vendor patch for NetBSD on non-x86 architectures to fix the signedness error in the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl handler.

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
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:< 8.2
NetbsdOperating system
Affected:all versions

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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Identify the operating system
    Run 'uname -s' to confirm the system is FreeBSD or NetBSD
    Affected if The system is not FreeBSD or NetBSD (this CVE only affects those OSes)
  2. Check FreeBSD version
    Run 'uname -r' to get the release version
    Affected if FreeBSD version is less than 8.2 (for NetBSD, all versions are affected)
  3. Verify wireless stack is active
    Check for wireless interfaces using 'ifconfig -a' or 'wlanconfig -l' to list 802.11 interfaces
    Affected if A wireless interface exists and is configured, meaning the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl handler is accessible
  4. Check if IEEE 802.11 module is loaded
    On FreeBSD, run 'kldstat' to list loaded kernel modules and look for wlan or wifi related modules (such as wlan, wlan_amrr, wlan_tkip, etc.)
    Affected if The wireless kernel module is loaded, making the vulnerable ioctl handler active

You are affected if you are running FreeBSD versions prior to 8.2 or any NetBSD version with an active 802.11 wireless interface using the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl.

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 8.2 or later
Fixed in 8.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FreeBSD to version 8.2 or later, or apply the corresponding vendor patch for NetBSD on non-x86 architectures to fix the signedness error in the IEEE80211_IOC_CHANINFO ioctl handler.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $2,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,576.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2011-2480 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