Exploits, called KRACK, in Wi-Fi security protocol WPA2 open traffic to eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and malicious injection; US CERT advisory issued
A new vulnerability in the WPA2 protocol … Chris Merriman / Inquirer : KRACK down: Vendors start to patch WPA2 flaw Kevin Beaumont / DoublePulsar : Regarding Krack Attacks—WPA2 flaw Mat Smith / Engadget : The Morning After: Tuesday, October 17th 2017 Mohul Ghosh / Trak.in : Beware! WiFi Security ‘Kracked’ Globally; Every Wifi Router Open To Hacking! Sai Krishna / Fone Arena : Microsoft, Apple confirm to have fixed KRACK WPA2 Protocol vulnerability, Google working on fix Ashlee Clark Thompson / CNET : Google to patch devices vulnerable to KRACK flaw Owen / Charged Tech Podcast : WiFi is broken - here's the companies that have already fixed it Woody / AskWoody : KRACK attack - bad, but the sky isn't falling AJ Dellinger / International Business Times : KRACK: Breaking Point Flaw For The Internet Of Things Gregg Keizer / Computerworld : Microsoft shuts down Krack with sneaky Windows update nvd.nist.gov : CVE-2017-13077 Detail Shawn Knight / TechSpot : Wi-Fi weakness KRACK disclosed, affecting nearly every connected device Evann Gastaldo / Newser : Use WiFi? Security Experts Have Bad News boB Rudis / Rapid7 Blog : The Wi-Fi KRACK Vulnerability: What You Need to Know Brad Chacos / PCWorld : KRACK Wi-Fi attacks shouldn't harm updated Windows PCs Gregg Keizer / TechConnect : Microsoft shuts down Krank with sneaky Windows update YouTube : KRACK Attacks: Bypassing WPA2 against Android and Linux Bill Roberson / Digital Trends : Researcher: Supposedly secure Wi-Fi networks vulnerable to ‘KRACK’ attack Rob Price / Business Insider : There is a ‘devastating’ security flaw in Wi-Fi, and you're likely at risk Rich Woods / Neowin : Microsoft details its fixes for KRACK WPA2 vulnerability Mehedi Hassan / MSPoweruser : Microsoft has already patched the Wi-Fi vulnerability in Windows Swati Khandelwal / The Hacker News : KRACK Demo: Critical Key Reinstallation Attack Against Widely-Used WPA2 Wi-Fi Protocol Caitlin Fairchild / Nextgov : Another day, another massive security flaw discovered. Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security : What You Should Know About the ‘KRACK’ WiFi Security Weakness Selena Larson / CNNMoney : Wi-Fi network flaw could let hackers spy on you Killian Bell / Cult of Mac : There's a serious security flaw in Wi-Fi and we're all at risk Paul Ducklin / Naked Security : Wi-Fi at risk from KRACK attacks - here's what to do Shane Curtis / WeLiveSecurity : WPA2 security issues pose serious Wi-Fi safety questions US-CERT : CERT/CC Reports WPA2 Vulnerabilities Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal : Significant Flaw Discovered in Wi-Fi Security Protocol Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News : WiFi Key Reinstallation Attack breaks WPA2 encryption Ryan Whitwam / ExtremeTech : KRACK Attacks Defeat Wi-Fi Security on Most Devices Sean Michael Kerner / eWeek : Researchers Reveal Critical KRACK Flaws in WPA WiFi Security Russell Brandom / The Verge : The good news and bad news about today's massive Wi-Fi bug CircleID : KRACK Attack Can Affect All Modern WiFi Networks, Researchers Have Disclosed Lily Hay Newman / Wired : KRACK Vulnerability Makes Wi-Fi Hacking Possible, Leaving Millions of Devices Exposed Adam / F-Secure : KrackAttacks: What you need to know — Wi-Fi was not built … Sarah Kuranda / CRN : New KRACK WPA2 Vulnerability Leaves Nearly All Wi-Fi Devices Vulnerable To Attack MacDailyNews : ‘KRACK’ WPA2 security flaw puts nearly every Android device at risk of hijack via Wi-Fi DSLreports : Massive New Flaw Found in WPA2 WiFi Protocol Jane Wakefield / BBC : Wi-fi security flaw ‘puts devices at risk of hacks’ DataBreaches.net : New attack works against all WPA2 WiFi networks: Android & Linux most vulnerable, but iOS and macOS too Mahit Huilgol / Technology Personalized : Vulnerabilities in WPA2 Protocol may Leave your WiFi Traffic Exposed to Hackers Patrick Lucas Austin / Lifehacker : Your Wi-Fi Is Vulnerable to Attack—Update Your Devices to Fix It Dan Pye / iLounge : Report: Vulnerability in WPA2 protocol could affect Apple devices Omar Santos / Cisco Blog : Perspective About the Recent WPA Vulnerabilities (KRACK Attacks) Alex Perekalin / Kaspersky Lab official blog : KRACK: Your Wi-Fi is no longer secure Lucian Constantin / Motherboard : KRACK For Dummies — For years security experts have advised users … Anthony Spadafora / IT ProPortal : Millions of Android phones put at risk by mobile WiFfi security flaw Bryan M. Wolfe / AppAdvice.com : Wi-Fi Krack Attacks Could Put Millions of Internet Users at Risk NBC Bay Area : ‘Krack’ Security Flaw Puts Every Wi-Fi Connection at Risk Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing : KRACK! Wifi's go-to security, WPA2, is fatally flawed, and will probably never be patched in many places Quentyn Kennemer / Phandroid : New WiFi vulnerability can steal information from nearly every WiFi device in existence Ubnt-MikeD / community.ubnt.com : [FIRMWARE] 3.9.3.7537 for UAP/USW has been released Dave Mark / The Loop : Why we can't have nice things: WiFi is now broken Corbin Davenport / Android Police : Major vulnerability discovered in WPA2 Wi-Fi security protocol, affects Android and pretty much everything else Adnan Farooqui / Ubergizmo : Critical Wi-Fi Vulnerability Has Already Been Patched By Microsoft TechCrunch : Here's what you can do to protect yourself from the KRACK WiFi vulnerability WRAL TechWire / WRAL Tech Wire : Every Wi-Fi network vulnerable to new hack, researchers find (+ Video: An attack demo) Mike Wuerthele / AppleInsider : Alleged ‘KRACK Attack’ vulnerability threatens to lay bare Wi-Fi WPA-2 security Tweets: Linux Format / @linuxformat : WPA2 Krack status: Arch, Debian and Ubuntu already patched. Android - hold on to your hats! OpenBSD, back in July! http://char.gd/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The day after the US CERT advisory flagged a severe flaw in WPA2, the picture sharpened from 'protocol broken' to 'patch race underway': Microsoft and Apple confirm fixes are already out, Google is still working on one, and router vendors have begun shipping their own patches. The exposure is broad because the weakness sits in the four-way handshake at the heart of WPA2 itself, not in any single product.
A companion analysis traces how KRACK slipped past review in the first place — IEEE's standards specs are hard to access, and the handshake and encryption layers were vetted separately, so nobody tested them together. That process gap matters more than any one bug: it is the same class of protocol-level failure that later resurfaced in Frag Attacks and the 2023 IEEE 802.11 injection flaw.
First-order effects
- Every device on a WPA2 network is exposed right now to eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and malicious traffic injection until patched — Microsoft and Apple users get fixes immediately, while Android, Linux, and Google's ecosystem wait.
Second-order effects
- Router vendors face an unsynchronized patch burden across millions of consumer devices that rarely receive firmware updates, pushing the practical fix timeline well behind the OS vendors' and leaving mixed-patch networks partially protected.
- Vendors' response speed becomes a competitive signal: Apple and Microsoft can claim same-day remediation while laggards like Google's Android update pipeline absorb reputational cost for slower delivery.
Third-order effects
- KRACK is the first entry in a pattern the corpus keeps confirming — Frag Attacks hit devices spanning 24 years even with WEP/WPA active, and a further IEEE 802.11 flaw surfaced in 2023 — pointing toward structural reform of how Wi-Fi standards are specified, reviewed, and certified rather than another round of per-bug patching.
The trend: Wi-Fi security is shifting from treating each protocol vulnerability as an emergency patch cycle toward questioning the IEEE standardization and review process itself, as KRACK, Frag Attacks, and successive 802.11 flaws keep exposing design-stage blind spots.