CVE-2026-102163 in Wi-Fi Access Points
Summary
by MITRE • 10/06/2026
On affected Arista access points with Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) active, an unauthenticated attacker within radio frequency (RF) proximity can send a crafted frame to crash the sensor service, disabling WIPS monitoring on the access point, or potentially achieve remote code execution. No wireless association or authentication is required.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/07/2026
The vulnerability described represents a critical security flaw in Arista access points equipped with an active Wireless Intrusion Prevention System, allowing unauthenticated attackers to disrupt network defense mechanisms or gain unauthorized control over the device. This issue stems from improper input validation and handling of crafted wireless frames within the WIPS sensor service. Because the attack does not require any form of wireless association or authentication, it bypasses traditional perimeter defenses that rely on credential verification before granting access to network resources. An attacker positioned within radio frequency proximity can exploit this flaw by transmitting specially constructed management or control frames designed to trigger a buffer overflow or logic error in the processing engine responsible for analyzing traffic patterns and detecting intrusions.
From a technical perspective, the core of the vulnerability lies in how the WIPS module processes incoming wireless packets without sufficient sanitization checks. When a crafted frame is received, the service fails to properly validate the structure, length, or content of specific fields within the packet header or payload. This lack of rigorous validation leads to memory corruption conditions such as heap overflows or stack-based buffer overflows. In many cases involving network daemon services like WIPS sensors, these memory corruption issues can result in a denial of service by causing the sensor process to crash and restart, effectively disabling intrusion detection capabilities for that access point. More severely, if the attacker carefully crafts the payload to overwrite return addresses or function pointers within the vulnerable service's memory space, they may achieve arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the compromised service, which often runs with elevated system rights.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant due to its unauthenticated nature and the critical role WIPS plays in network security. By crashing the sensor service, an attacker can create a blind spot in wireless monitoring, allowing malicious activities such as rogue access point deployment, man-in-the-middle attacks, or data exfiltration to proceed undetected by the organization's intrusion prevention systems. If remote code execution is achieved, the consequences are even more severe, potentially leading to full compromise of the access point and its use as a pivot point for further lateral movement within the internal network. This aligns with CWE-20 Improper Input Validation and CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer, highlighting fundamental failures in secure coding practices regarding boundary checks and data integrity verification.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The primary defense is to apply vendor-provided software updates or patches that address the input validation flaws within the WIPS sensor service. Organizations should prioritize updating affected Arista access points as soon as these fixes are available from the manufacturer. In addition to patching, network segmentation can help limit the blast radius of such an attack by isolating wireless infrastructure management traffic from general user data flows. Implementing strict RF monitoring and anomaly detection on upstream security appliances may also provide early warning indicators for such crafted frame attacks, although this is a compensatory control rather than a fix for the underlying vulnerability. Continuous monitoring for unusual spikes in wireless management traffic or unexpected service restarts can aid in detecting exploitation attempts before significant damage occurs. This scenario underscores the importance of treating all network-facing services as potential attack vectors regardless of authentication requirements and emphasizes the need for rigorous fuzzing and static analysis during software development to prevent similar input validation errors.