CVE-2022-47522
Published: 15 April 2023
Summary
CVE-2022-47522 is a high-severity Authentication Bypass by Spoofing (CWE-290) vulnerability in Ieee Ieee 802.11. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
The vulnerability CVE-2022-47522 is a design flaw in the IEEE 802.11 specifications through 802.11ax. It occurs because access points are not required to purge their transmit queue before removing a client's pairwise encryption key after receiving certain management frames, enabling frames destined for a target to be intercepted in a possibly cleartext state.
Physically proximate attackers with no credentials can exploit the issue on affected wireless networks by spoofing a target's MAC address, transmitting Power Save frames to the access point, and then sending authentication or re-association frames that strip the target's original security context. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to obtain frames that would otherwise be protected, producing a CVSS 7.5 impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The associated EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.2043, indicating that exploitation interest increased after public disclosure. Related updates appear in vendor advisories such as FreeBSD-SA-23:11.wifi and the Wi-Fi Alliance Passpoint documentation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-50283
Vulnerability details
The IEEE 802.11 specifications through 802.11ax allow physically proximate attackers to intercept (possibly cleartext) target-destined frames by spoofing a target's MAC address, sending Power Save frames to the access point, and then sending other frames to the access point (such…
more
as authentication frames or re-association frames) to remove the target's original security context. This behavior occurs because the specifications do not require an access point to purge its transmit queue before removing a client's pairwise encryption key.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Reveals spoofed logon attempts through unexpected previous logon timestamps upon legitimate login.
Training specifically addresses recognizing spoofed communications and phishing that enable authentication bypass.
Requiring verifiable identity evidence at appropriate assurance levels makes it substantially harder for attackers to successfully spoof or impersonate users to obtain accounts.
Unique device authentication makes successful spoofing of device identity substantially more difficult to achieve.
Unique identification of non-organizational users reduces the feasibility of authentication bypass by spoofing.
Unique identification and authentication of services before communications makes spoofing of service identities substantially harder.
Isolated trusted path ensures the user interacts only with genuine system components, preventing spoofing of authentication interfaces or prompts.
Directly counters DNS response spoofing by requiring cryptographic origin authentication artifacts from the authoritative source.