Found WiFi error in Linux

An error was found in the WiFi Linux controller, which could allow an attacker to gain control of the laptop even when it is no longer connected to a WiFi network.

There are not many Linux WiFi device drivers that have this error and seem to only be able to remotely execute this WiFi error. It affected the network using drivers that received MadWiFi Linux for Atheros WiFi platform chips, according to researcher Laurent Butti from France Telecom Orange, who was also the one who found the flaw and put information in the association. Black Hat conference last month in Amsterdam.

" You may be attacked if you do not have a temporary patch in your MadWiFi driver ," Butti warned. Before announcing the flaw, Butti released the flaw for the MadWiFi development team and will release a patch. However, not all Linux distributions can build their own internal patch, says Butti.

The stack stack overflow could allow an attacker to run malicious code and use the computer even when it no longer works in a WiFi network, Butti warned. Butti used "fuzzing" testing techniques to detect vulnerabilities. This technique was performed by David Maynor and "Johnny Cache" Jon Ellch at the Black Hat USA conference last year and was previously successful in Windows and Macintosh systems.

With some Linux laptops on WiFi networks, security experts - and possibly hackers - have tested all Linux drivers. The result of remote data control in the kernel level can cause problems in this open source operating system as easily as any system.

Butti has previously developed a series of RAW as a demonstration for hacker tools. He found a Windows WiFi flaw using fuzzing technology during the January Bug Month last year.

Fuzzing is perfect, Butti says, because it's a low-cost method that helps security professionals discover vulnerabilities that are not visible but exploited by hackers. In the future, he hopes fuzzing will discover vulnerabilities in wireless networking technologies such as WiMax and wireless USB. There will be more holes discovered during WiFi expansion.