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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2017-13079

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) that supports IEEE 802.11w allows reinstallation of the Integrity Group Temporal Key (IGTK) during the four-way handshake, allowing an attacker within radio range to spoof frames from access points to clients.

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

This is a Key Reinstallation Attack (KRACK) affecting WPA/WPA2 with IEEE 802.11w support. The vulnerability allows reinstallation of the Integrity Group Temporal Key (IGTK) during the four-way handshake, enabling an attacker within radio range to spoof frames from access points to clients.

MitigationApply vendor-specific patches to affected access points and client devices. Where patches are unavailable, consider using WPA3, network segmentation, or enforcing VPN usage as compensating controls.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:all versions= 10= 10.4= 11= 11.1
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 7
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 7
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 42.2= 42.3
HostapdApplication
Affected:= 0.2.4= 0.2.5= 0.2.6= 0.2.8= 0.3.7= 0.3.9= 0.3.10= 0.3.11= 0.4.7= 0.4.8= 0.4.9= 0.4.10
Wpa SupplicantApplication
Affected:= 0.2.4= 0.2.5= 0.2.6= 0.2.7= 0.2.8= 0.3.7= 0.3.8= 0.3.9= 0.3.10= 0.3.11= 0.4.7= 0.4.8

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
Adjacent
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 wpa_supplicant version
    Run 'wpa_supplicant -v' or 'dpkg -l wpa_supplicant' to get the installed version number
    Affected if The version matches one of the listed affected versions: 0.2.4-0.2.8, 0.3.7-0.3.11, or 0.4.7-0.4.8
  2. Identify hostapd version
    Run 'hostapd -v' or 'dpkg -l hostapd' to get the installed version number
    Affected if The version matches one of the listed affected versions: 0.2.4-0.2.6, 0.2.8, 0.3.7, 0.3.9-0.3.11, or 0.4.7-0.4.10
  3. Check if 802.11w is enabled in wpa_supplicant config
    Examine the wpa_supplicant configuration file (typically /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf or /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf) for 'pmf=1' or 'pmf=2' settings
    Affected if The configuration shows 'pmf=1' (optional) or 'pmf=2' (required), indicating IEEE 802.11w protected management frames are enabled
  4. Check if 802.11w is enabled in hostapd config
    Examine the hostapd configuration file (typically in /etc/hostapd/) for 'ieee80211w=1' or 'ieee80211w=2' settings
    Affected if The configuration shows 'ieee80211w=1' or 'ieee80211w=2', indicating the access point has 802.11w support enabled
  5. Check OS version for affected Linux distributions
    Run 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'lsb_release -a' to identify the distribution version
    Affected if Running Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, or 17.04; Debian 8.0 or 9.0; RHEL 7; or OpenSUSE Leap 42.2 or 42.3, and using the associated vulnerable wpa_supplicant/hostapd packages

You are affected if your system runs a vulnerable version of wpa_supplicant or hostapd (as listed) AND has IEEE 802.11w (PMF) enabled in the wireless configuration, allowing a nearby attacker to perform the IGTK reinstallation attack.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-specific patches to affected access points and client devices. Where patches are unavailable, consider using WPA3, network segmentation, or enforcing VPN usage as compensating controls.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation10.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,620
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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-2017-13079 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