Hostapd
CVE-2019-11555
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 5.9 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
The EAP-pwd implementation in hostapd (EAP server) before 2.8 and wpa_supplicant (EAP peer) before 2.8 does not validate fragmentation reassembly state properly for a case where an unexpected. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. This NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability could allow attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. The EAP-pwd implementation in hostapd (EAP server) before 2.8 and wpa_supplicant (EAP peer) before 2.8 does not validate fragmentation reassembly state properly for a case where an unexpected fragment could be received. This could result in process termination due to a NULL pointer dereference (denial of service). This affects eap_server/eap_server_pwd.c and eap_peer/eap_pwd.c. Affected products include: W1.Fi Hostapd, W1.Fi Wpa Supplicant. Version information: before 2.8.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
The EAP-pwd implementation in hostapd (EAP server) before 2.8 and wpa_supplicant (EAP peer) before 2.8 does not validate fragmentation reassembly state properly for a case where an unexpected fragment could be received. This could result in process termination due to a NULL pointer dereference (denial of service). This affects eap_server/eap_server_pwd.c and eap_peer/eap_pwd.c.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) that supports IEEE 802.11r allows reinstallation of the Pairwise Transient Key (PT
The implementations of EAP-PWD in wpa_supplicant EAP Peer, when built against a crypto library missing explicit validati
The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd EAP Server, when built against a crypto library missing explicit validation on
The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd EAP Server and wpa_supplicant EAP Peer do not validate the scalar and element
wpa_supplicant and hostapd 0.7.2 through 2.2, when running with certain configurations and using wpa_cli or hostapd_cli
hostapd 0.6.7 through 2.5 and wpa_supplicant 0.6.7 through 2.5 do not reject \n and \r characters in passphrase paramete
The Open Connectivity Foundation UPnP specification before 2020-04-17 does not forbid the acceptance of a subscription r
An invalid authentication sequence could result in the hostapd process terminating due to missing state validation steps
Denial of service in hostapd 2.11 through pre-2.12 development snapshots (built with CONFIG_IEEE80211BE) lets an unauthe
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) allows reinstallation of the Station-To-Station-Link (STSL) Transient Key (STK) du
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) allows reinstallation of the Pairwise Transient Key (PTK) Temporal Key (TK) during
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) allows reinstallation of the Tunneled Direct-Link Setup (TDLS) Peer Key (TPK) duri
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB