The implementations of SAE in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side-channel attacks
Published Apr 17, 2019
5.9
MEDIUMCVSS 3.1
EPSS 3.88%
Description
The implementations of SAE in hostapd and wpa_supplicant are vulnerable to side channel attacks as a result of observable timing differences and cache access patterns. An attacker may be able to gain leaked information from a side channel attack that can be used for full password recovery. Both hostapd with SAE support and wpa_supplicant with SAE support prior to and including version 2.7 are affected.
Affected products
-
- Version 2.7StatusaffectedConstraints<=2.7
- Version
-
- Version 2.7StatusaffectedConstraints<=2.7
- Version
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi Alliance | hostapd with SAE support | n/a |
| ||||||
| Wi-Fi Alliance | wpa supplicant with SAE support | n/a |
|
Configuration 1
- ≤ 2.7
- ≤ 2.7
Configuration 2
- 28
- 29
- 30
Configuration 3
- 15.0
- 15.0
- 15.1
Configuration 4
- 3.0
- < 1.2.3-8087
Configuration 5
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 11.2
- 12.0
- 12.0
- 12.0
- 12.0
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
wpa_supplicant
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
wpa_supplicant
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
wpa_supplicant
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
wpa_supplicant
Not affected
Red Hat Virtualization 4
redhat-virtualization-host
Not affected
Red Hat Virtualization 4
rhvm-appliance
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | wpa_supplicant | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | wpa_supplicant | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | wpa_supplicant | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | wpa_supplicant | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Virtualization 4 | redhat-virtualization-host | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Virtualization 4 | rhvm-appliance | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
This issue did not affect the versions of wpa_supplicant as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 as they did not include support for SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals). This issue did not affect the versions of wpa_supplicant as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as they are not compiled with SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals) enabled. In particular, the CONFIG_SAE=y option is not set at compile time. An attacker must be able to run unprivileged code on the victim's machine to be able to exploit it, lowering the severity of this flaw to Moderate.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (17 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 3.88% (0.03878) | 89.89th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 3.74% (0.03739) | 88.40th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 30, 2025 | 1.47% (0.01473) | 79.16th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 29, 2025 | 4.10% (0.04099) | 80.66th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Jul 20, 2024 | 1.00% (0.01003) | 83.82th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Apr 10, 2024 | 1.00% (0.01003) | 83.39th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Nov 8, 2023 | 0.82% (0.00820) | 79.85th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| May 27, 2023 | 0.88% (0.00875) | 80.14th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.76% (0.00760) | 78.29th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.54% (0.01537) | 74.52th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 23, 2023 | 1.54% (0.01537) | 74.48th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.54% (0.01537) | 72.41th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 17.17% (0.17166) | 93.10th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 8.66% (0.08659) | 85.81th | v1 |
| Jan 6, 2022 | 8.66% (0.08659) | 85.64th | v1 |
| Sep 1, 2021 | 2.07% (0.02069) | 77.27th | v1 |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 2.07% (0.02069) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (15)
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00021.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEMailing ListThird Party Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152914/FreeBSD-Security-Advisory-FreeBSD-SA-19-03.wpa.html x_refsource_MISCThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-9494 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1699141 Issue Tracking
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/56OBBOJJSKRTDGEXZOVFSTP4HDSDBLAE/ vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORA
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SVMJOFEYBGXZLFF5IOLW67SSOPKFEJP3/ vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORA
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TDOZGR3T7FVO5JSZWK2QPR7AOFIEJTIZ/ vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORA
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-9494
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/May/40 mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQMailing ListThird Party Advisory
- https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-19:03.wpa.asc vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSDThird Party Advisory
- https://w1.fi/security/2019-1/ x_refsource_CONFIRMPatchVendor Advisory
- https://w1.fi/security/2019-1/sae-side-channel-attacks.txt
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-9494
- https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/871675/
- https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_16 x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.