VulnerabilityPublished 22 Feb 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-52160: wpa_supplicant · Improper Authentication

Affects wpa_supplicantSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium : upgrade to 2.10 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 67% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.10

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Feb 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade the to 2.10.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Debiandebian/wpa_supplicant`pkg:deb/debian/wpa_supplicant`Other threats	Affected <2.10	Fixed in 2.10
Fedorafedora/wpa_supplicant`pkg:rpm/fedora/wpa_supplicant`Other threats	Affected <2.10	Fixed in 2.10

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Enforce strict TLS certificate validation in wpa_supplicant configurations to prevent clients from accepting unverified or rogue certificates during PEAP Phase 1 authentication.
Monitor and audit Wi-Fi client configurations across the organization to identify and remediate devices with disabled TLS verification.
Apply updates or patches to wpa_supplicant as they become available from maintainers to address the underlying eap_peap_decrypt vulnerability.
Implement network access controls and segmentation to limit the impact of unauthorized Wi-Fi connections.
Deploy wireless intrusion detection/prevention systems (WIDS/WIPS) to detect rogue access points and anomalous authentication attempts.
Educate users and administrators about the risks of disabling TLS verification and the importance of secure Wi-Fi authentication settings.
Consider alternative EAP methods with stronger security guarantees if feasible.
Regularly review and update Wi-Fi security policies to incorporate lessons from this vulnerability.

Description

The implementation of PEAP in wpa_supplicant through 2.10 allows authentication bypass. For a successful attack, wpa_supplicant must be configured to not verify the network's TLS certificate during Phase 1 authentication, and an eap_peap_decrypt vulnerability can then be abused to skip Phase 2 authentication. The attack vector is sending an EAP-TLV Success packet instead of starting Phase 2. This allows an adversary to impersonate Enterprise Wi-Fi networks.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk to the confidentiality of enterprise Wi-Fi networks, particularly those relying on PEAP authentication with wpa_supplicant clients that do not enforce TLS certificate validation. Attackers could impersonate legitimate Wi-Fi networks, leading to unauthorized access to internal resources, interception of sensitive data, and potential lateral movement within corporate networks. Sectors with high reliance on secure Wi-Fi connectivity, such as finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, could face increased risk. The vulnerability could undermine trust in enterprise wireless security, potentially leading to data breaches or espionage. Although exploitation requires specific client misconfiguration, the widespread use of wpa_supplicant in Linux-based devices and embedded systems in Europe increases the attack surface. The lack of known exploits suggests limited current threat activity, but the ease of exploitation and potential impact warrant proactive mitigation.

CWE-287Improper Authentication (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use an authentication framework or library such as the OWASP ESAPI Authentication feature.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Fake the Source of Data (opens in a new tab)
Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive Data (opens in a new tab)
Session Hijacking (opens in a new tab)
Token Impersonation (opens in a new tab)
Upload a Web Shell to a Web Server (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 19:26 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-287

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats