The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side-channel attacks as a result of cache access patterns

Vulnerability Description

The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side-channel attacks as a result of cache access patterns. All versions of hostapd and wpa_supplicant with EAP-PWD support are vulnerable. The ability to install and execute applications is necessary for a successful attack. Memory access patterns are visible in a shared cache. Weak passwords may be cracked. Versions of hostapd/wpa_supplicant 2.7 and newer, are not vulnerable to the timing attack described in CVE-2019-9494. Both hostapd with EAP-pwd support and wpa_supplicant with EAP-pwd support prior to and including version 2.7 are affected.

References

• https://w1.fi/security/2019-2/
• https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_16
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/56OBBOJJSKRTDGEXZOVFSTP4HDSDBLAE/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TDOZGR3T7FVO5JSZWK2QPR7AOFIEJTIZ/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SVMJOFEYBGXZLFF5IOLW67SSOPKFEJP3/
• https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-19:03.wpa.asc
• https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/May/40
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152914/FreeBSD-Security-Advisory-FreeBSD-SA-19-03.wpa.html
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00030.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00021.html