CVE-2021-0164
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker with local access to a system to potentially escalate privileges through improper access control in Intel PROSet/Wireless Wi-Fi firmware and Killer Wi-Fi drivers. It affects multiple operating systems including Windows 10 and 11. The attacker must have physical or remote local access to exploit this flaw.
💻 Affected Systems
- Intel PROSet/Wireless Wi-Fi
- Killer Wi-Fi
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker gains full SYSTEM/root privileges on the affected machine, enabling complete system compromise, data theft, persistence establishment, and lateral movement capabilities.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation allowing an attacker to execute code with higher privileges than their current user account, potentially bypassing security controls.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and patching, the risk is reduced to minimal as the vulnerability requires local access and specific conditions to exploit.
🎯 Exploit Status
The advisory states 'unauthenticated user' can potentially exploit this via local access, suggesting relatively low complexity for attackers with local access.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check Intel advisory for specific driver/firmware versions
Vendor Advisory: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00539.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Visit Intel Security Advisory SA-00539. 2. Identify your specific Wi-Fi adapter model. 3. Download and install the updated driver/firmware from Intel's website. 4. Restart your system to complete installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable Wi-Fi adapters
windowsTemporarily disable affected Intel Wi-Fi adapters to prevent exploitation
Device Manager > Network adapters > Right-click Intel Wi-Fi adapter > Disable device
Use wired network only
allDisable Wi-Fi functionality and use wired Ethernet connections only
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls to limit local access to vulnerable systems
- Segment vulnerable systems on isolated network segments to limit lateral movement potential
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Device Manager for Intel Wi-Fi adapter model and driver version, then compare with Intel's advisory for affected versionsCheck Version:
Windows: wmic path win32_pnpentity get name,driverVersion | findstr /i "Intel Wi-Fi"Verify Fix Applied:
Verify driver/firmware version has been updated to patched version listed in Intel advisory📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected privilege escalation events
- Suspicious driver/firmware modification attempts
- Unauthorized access to Wi-Fi driver components
Network Indicators:
- Unusual local network traffic from systems with vulnerable Wi-Fi adapters
SIEM Query:
EventID=4688 AND (ProcessName LIKE "%wlan%" OR ProcessName LIKE "%intel%wi-fi%") AND NewProcessName LIKE "%cmd.exe%" OR NewProcessName LIKE "%powershell.exe%")