Researchers Hack Wi-Fi Driver to Breach Laptop

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Can't wait to read their paper.

Via InfoWorld.

[snip]

Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop
computer by manipulating buggy code in the system's wireless device driver.

The hack will be demonstrated at the upcoming Black Hat USA 2006
conference during a presentation by David Maynor, a research engineer
with Internet Security Systems and Jon Ellch, a student at the U.S.
Naval postgraduate school in Monterey, California.

The two researchers used an open-source 802.11 hacking tool called
LORCON (Lots of Radion Connectivity) to throw an extremely large number
of wireless packets at different wireless cards. Hackers use this
technique, called fuzzing, to see if they can cause programs to fail,
or perhaps even run unauthorized software when they are bombarded with
unexpected data.

Using tools like LORCON, Maynor and Ellch were able to discover many
examples of wireless device driver flaws, including one that allowed
them to take over a laptop by exploiting a bug in an 802.11 wireless
driver. They also examined other networking technologies including
Bluetooth, Ev-Do (EVolution-Data Only), and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink
Packet Access).

[snip]

More:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/21/79536_HNwifibreach_1.html

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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