VulnerabilityPublished 8 Jun 2025

CVE-2025-3461: ON Semiconductor Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset · Missing Authentication

Affects ON Semiconductor Quantenna Wi-Fi chipsetSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.1 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.1Critical

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 45% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
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: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 8 Jun 2025
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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
ON Semiconductor Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-3461 effectively, European organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Identify all devices using the Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset, including embedded devices and OEM products, through asset inventory and network scanning. 2) Immediately disable the telnet interface on all affected devices if possible, or restrict access to it via network segmentation and firewall rules limiting connections to trusted management networks only. 3) Apply any vendor-provided best practices and configuration guides to harden the chipset, including disabling default credentials and enabling secure management protocols such as SSH where supported. 4) Monitor network traffic for unusual telnet connection attempts or unauthorized access patterns, leveraging intrusion detection/prevention systems tuned for telnet anomalies. 5) Engage with device vendors and ON Semiconductor for updates on patches or firmware upgrades addressing this vulnerability and plan for timely deployment once available. 6) Implement strict network access controls and multi-factor authentication on management interfaces beyond the chipset level to reduce risk of lateral movement. 7) Conduct penetration testing and vulnerability assessments focusing on Wi-Fi infrastructure to validate that no unauthorized access is possible. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on immediate configuration changes, network-level controls, and proactive detection tailored to the specific vulnerability characteristics.

Description

The Quantenna Wi-Fi chips ship with an unauthenticated telnet interface by default. This is an instance of CWE-306, "Missing Authentication for Critical Function," and is estimated as a CVSS 9.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N). This issue affects Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset through version 8.0.0.28 of the latest SDK, and appears to be unpatched at the time of this CVE record's first publishing, though the vendor has released a best practices guide for implementors of this chipset.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-3461 can be substantial. Many enterprises, ISPs, and infrastructure providers rely on networking equipment incorporating the Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset for wireless connectivity. Exploitation of this vulnerability could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to network devices, bypassing authentication controls entirely. This can lead to interception of sensitive communications, injection of malicious traffic, disruption of network services, and potential pivoting to other internal systems. Confidentiality and integrity of data transmitted over affected Wi-Fi networks are at high risk. Critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and telecommunications could face severe consequences including data breaches, espionage, and operational disruptions. Moreover, the vulnerability could be leveraged to create persistent footholds within networks or to launch further attacks such as man-in-the-middle or ransomware campaigns. The lack of a patch increases exposure time, and the default enabled unauthenticated telnet interface means that many devices may be vulnerable out-of-the-box or after firmware upgrades without additional configuration. This elevates the risk for organizations that do not have robust network segmentation or monitoring controls in place.

CWE-306Missing Authentication for Critical Function (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #21OWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
Architecture and Design
Divide the software into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Identify which of these areas require a proven user identity, and use a centralized authentication capability.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Architecture and Design
Where possible, avoid implementing custom, "grow-your-own" authentication routines and consider using authentication capabilities as provided by the surrounding framework, operating system, or environment.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Choosing Message Identifier (opens in a new tab)
Force the System to Reset Values (opens in a new tab)
Using Unpublished Interfaces or Functionality (opens in a new tab)
Cross Site Request Forgery (opens in a new tab)
Communication Channel Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 9 Jul 2025, 01:26 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-306

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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