Researchers discover massive Wi-Fi vulnerability affecting multiple access points — AirSnitch lets attackers on the same network intercept data and launch machine-in-the-middle attacks

TP-Link Archer BE400 Wi-Fi 7.

A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside revealed a series of weaknesses in existing Wi-Fi security, allowing them to intercept data on a network infrastructure that they’ve already connected to, even with client isolation in place.

The group called this vulnerability, AirSnitch, and, according to their paper [PDF], it exploits inherent weaknesses in the networking stack. Since Wi-Fi does not cryptographically link client MAC addresses, Wi-Fi encryption keys, and IP addresses through Layers 1, 2, and 3 of the network stack, an attacker can use this to assume the identity of another device and confuse the network into diverting downlink and uplink traffic through it.

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