Re[2]: Denial of Service Vulnerability in IEEE 802.11 Wireless Devices

[Jason Ostrom <jpo () pobox com>]

I wasn't there, but I know the Deauth Flood attack [1] is a very effective
attack that most 802.11b networks are vulnerable to.  In security
testing, it is trivial to use a Prism2 based card with the HostAP
drivers and flip your wireless NIC into an AP, spoof the BSSID of the AP
station, and flood the wireless clients with deauth frames -
legitimate traffic never passes as a result.  Reyk Floeter's Void11 Penetration testing tools
implement this attack [2].

I saw this attack mentioned in at least one book, but I don't know why
it wasn't released as a vulnerability.  It is similar to the released
vulnerability, but involves spoofed frames instead of the physical layer.

[1] Aruba Networks "Thwarting DoS Attacks"
http://www.arubanetworks.com/products/whitepapers/secure-wireless/index.php?pg=3       `
[2] WLSec Projects
http://www.wlsec.net/projects/


Casper Dik> In last year's Usenix security symposium an attack which
Casper Dik> looked very much like one in the first
Casper Dik> paragraph was performed
Casper Dik> agains tthe audience (immediate linkloss was the result of the
Casper Dik> presenter pressing a button on his laptop).

Casper Dik> This was with with plain COTS components, so what is different
Casper Dik> with this attack or is it the same attack rediscovered?
Casper Dik> I don't remember it getting any press.

Casper Dik> Casper