CVE-2015-4143
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 · uneditedThe EAP-pwd server and peer implementation in hostapd and wpa_supplicant 1.0 through 2.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and crash) via a crafted (1) Commit or (2) Confirm message payload.
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 confidenceOut-of-bounds read vulnerability in the EAP-pwd implementation of hostapd and wpa_supplicant versions 1.0 through 2.4. Remote attackers can cause denial of service by sending specially crafted Commit or Confirm message payloads, triggering an out-of-bounds read and crash.
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= 1.0= 1.1= 2.0= 2.1= 2.2= 2.3= 2.4= 1.0= 1.1= 2.0= 2.1= 2.2= 2.3= 2.4= 13.1= 13.2CVSS 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
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if wpa_supplicant is installedCheck for the presence of wpa_supplicant binary: run 'which wpa_supplicant' or 'dpkg -l | grep wpa_supplicant' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep wpa_supplicant' (RHEL)Affected if wpa_supplicant is installed and its version is 1.0 through 2.4
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Identify if hostapd is installedCheck for the presence of hostapd binary: run 'which hostapd' or 'dpkg -l | grep hostapd' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep hostapd' (RHEL)Affected if hostapd is installed and its version is 1.0 through 2.4
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Determine installed wpa_supplicant versionRun 'wpa_supplicant -v' or check the package version as shown in step 1Affected if The version output shows 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, or 2.4
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Determine installed hostapd versionRun 'hostapd -v' or check the package version as shown in step 2Affected if The version output shows 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, or 2.4
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Check if EAP-pwd authentication is enabledReview wpa_supplicant or hostapd configuration files (typically in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf or /etc/hostapd.conf) for lines containing 'eap=pwd' or 'IEEE8021X' with EAP-pwd method configuredAffected if EAP-pwd is configured as an enabled authentication method in the configuration file
The system is affected if wpa_supplicant or hostapd versions 1.0 through 2.4 are installed AND EAP-pwd authentication is enabled in the configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to a version beyond 2.4 where the vulnerability has been patched. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider network-level controls to limit exposure of WPA/WPA2 authentication to untrusted networks.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2015-4143 — 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-2015-4143 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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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.
- 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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