All the attacker needs is
physical proximity to the target wireless network to attempt to exploit vulnerable systems.
Further, since Beacon frames are sent to the broadcast address, an attacker can potentially
compromise multiple victims simultaneously with one transmitted frame.
Exploiting wireless driver vulnerabilities is an attractive attack technique for an
adversary for several reasons;
??? No network access is required: The attacker does not require authenticated access to
the wireless network to exploit many of the reported driver vulnerabilities. Physical
Wireless Local Area Network Security 159
proximity to a vulnerable station is the only requirement for the attacker to take
advantage of these flaws.
??? Applicable regardless of encryption or authentication selection: As of the time of this
writing, all of the reported wireless driver vulnerabilities take advantage of
unauthenticated management frames, which are present in all IEEE 802.11 wireless
networks, independent of a selected encryption mechanism or EAP type. With the
ratification of the IEEE 802.11w amendment, Deauthentication and Disassociation
frames will be protected, mitigating driver vulnerabilities that take advantage of these
frames.
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