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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2025-8301: Realtek RTL8811AU · Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Affects Realtek RTL8811AUSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:16 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 2 Sep 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Realtek RTL8811AUAffected
  • =1030.38.712.2019
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Identify and inventory all devices using the Realtek RTL8811AU driver version 1030.38.712.2019. 2) Monitor vendor communications closely for official patches or driver updates addressing this issue and apply them promptly once available. 3) Until patches are released, restrict local access to sensitive systems by enforcing strong physical security controls and limiting user privileges to the minimum necessary. 4) Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect anomalous behavior indicative of privilege escalation attempts. 5) Implement application whitelisting and restrict execution of unauthorized code to reduce the likelihood of initial low-privileged code execution. 6) Educate users on phishing and social engineering risks to reduce initial compromise vectors. 7) Consider disabling or replacing affected wireless adapters in high-security environments if feasible. 8) Regularly audit and harden system configurations to minimize attack surface and privilege escalation opportunities. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on driver version tracking, proactive monitoring, and layered defense tailored to the local privilege escalation nature of the vulnerability.

Description

Realtek RTL8811AU rtwlanu.sys N6CSet_DOT11_CIPHER_DEFAULT_KEY Heap-based Buffer Overflow Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Realtek RTL8811AU drivers. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the N6CSet_DOT11_CIPHER_DEFAULT_KEY function. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-24786.

References

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