The wireless driver in some Wi-Fi access points (such as the ATHEROS-based Netgear WNDAP330) do not correctly parse malformed reserved management frames.
Credit:
The information has been provided by Laurent Butti.
The bug can be triggered by a malicious reserved management frame sent to the wireless access point (truncated packet). This can be achieved only after a successful 802.11 authentication (in "Open" mode according to the configuration of the wireless access point) and a successful 802.11 association with appropriate security parameters (e.g. WPA w/ TKIP unicast, TKIP multicast) which depends on the configuration of the wireless access point.
As it is a wireless driver specific issue, the wireless vendor should use the latest chipset wireless driver for their access point firmwares. This security vulnerability was reported to Netgear, updated firmwares should be available on their web site. Any other wireless device relying on this vulnerable wireless driver is likely to be vulnerable.
Disclosure Timeline:
2008-09-30 - Vulnerability reported Netgear
2008-10-02 - PoC sent to Netgear
2009-10-14 - Netgear released a patched firmware (3.0.3)
2009-11-10 - Release of this security advisory
