CVE-2026-26048
Published: 20 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-26048 is a high-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Cisa (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Direct Network Flood (T1498.001); ranked at the 14.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-18 (Wireless Access) and SC-40 (Wireless Link Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-26048 is a vulnerability in Wi-Fi routers stemming from the absence of management frame protection, which permits the broadcasting of forged deauthentication and disassociation frames without authentication or encryption. This flaw, associated with CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function), enables attackers to disrupt network connectivity. The vulnerability received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) and was published on 2026-02-20.
Any attacker within wireless range can exploit this vulnerability by transmitting spoofed management frames, leading to unauthorized client disconnections and a denial-of-service condition across the affected network. No privileges, user interaction, or special access are required, making it accessible to remote, unauthenticated adversaries with low complexity.
Mitigation details are outlined in the CISA ICS advisory ICSA-26-050-03, available at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-26-050-03, with the full JSON artifact at https://github.com/cisagov/CSAF/blob/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2026/icsa-26-050-03.json. Security practitioners should consult these resources for vendor-specific patches or workarounds.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-8307
Vulnerability details
The Wi-Fi router is vulnerable to de-authentication attacks due to the absence of management frame protection, allowing forged deauthentication and disassociation frames to be broadcast without authentication or encryption. An attacker can use this to cause unauthorized disruptions and create…
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a denial-of-service condition.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability directly enables forged deauth/disassoc frame injection (deauth flood) against unprotected Wi-Fi management frames, producing network-wide denial of service without authentication.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly implements controls to protect wireless links from exploitation via forged deauthentication and disassociation frames lacking authentication or encryption.
Enforces encryption requirements and authentication mechanisms for wireless access to mitigate unauthorized management frame broadcasts.
Protects system resources against denial-of-service events specifically from deauthentication attacks on Wi-Fi networks.