12th Mar 2003 [SBWID-6053]
COMMAND
802.11b Denial of Service
SYSTEMS AFFECTED
All 802.11b networks
PROBLEM
Mark Osborne found following on how to scramble a 802.11b network
without high performance device.
While working to develop code for WIDZ that is equivalent to a standard
Intrusion Detection system’s RESET or SHUN functionality, an effective
802.11b disruption of service attack has been discovered. I haven’t
spotted any other postings so here we go….
FATA-jack - a modified version of the Wlan-jack, Fata-jack sends an
Authentication-Failed packets (with a reason code of previous
authentication failed) to a Wireless client PC. The source and
destination macs have been spoofed so as to appear to come from the
Access- point. The original Wlan-jack code rate of transmission has
been significantly reduced to a meagre rate of 1 every 2.5 seconds, so
as to avoid any flood effect.
In limited tests on multiple operating systems including Windows98,
Windows ME and Linux, FATA-jack effectively tears down any active
session and in many cases causing the client driver or client software
to fail requiring a reboot.
Apart from being an extremely lethal DoS attack, FATA-jack is
significant for a number of reasons:
-As the transmission rate is very low, it is easy to see how a low-spec
PC and a standard 802.11 card could disable a large wireless network.
-As the malevolent packet are sent directly to the client these will
not picked-up by logging functionality on the AP (if you have any) –
this highlights the need for Wireless IDS.
-As the malevolent packets are spoofed AND sent directly to client MAC
protection or WEP protection will not prevent it.
-Some workmates have suggested that it could be used to cause IVs/WEP
keys to be cycled. This would significantly reduce the time for a WEP
cracking exercise. This is yet to be verified.
SOLUTION
Help people coding wireless IDS, and after, use it.