CVE-2019-9496 [High] | Authentication Bypass in Hostapd

An invalid authentication sequence could result in the hostapd process terminating due to missing state validation steps when processing the SAE confirm message when in hostapd/AP mode. All version of hostapd with SAE support are vulnerable. An attacker may force the hostapd process to terminate, performing a denial of service attack. Both hostapd with SAE support and wpa_supplicant with SAE support prior to and including version 2.7 are affected.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-05-26	5.16%	4.87%	-0.29%
2	2026-05-22	2.36%	5.16%	+2.80%
3	2026-02-18	—	2.36%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-05-26

5.16%

4.87%

-0.29%

2026-05-22

2.36%

5.16%

+2.80%

2026-02-18

—

2.36%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.5	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
5.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	10.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.5

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

5.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

10.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-9496

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	high	CVE-2019-9496: 2 source package rows (hostapd, wpa_supplicant); 35 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 25.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-9496
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2019-9496 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (wpa), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-9496
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-9496
`suse`	medium	CVE-2019-9496 severity moderate: SUSE including 5 source package names (hostapd-2.9-6.2, hostapd-2.9-bp150.15.1, hostapd-2.9-bp151.5.3.1, hostapd-2.9-lp151.4.3.1, wpa_supplicant), 22 product×package rows across 22 product lines (SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3, … (22 product lines)): Known Not Affected 18, Fixed 4.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-9496/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2019-9496 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (wpa, wpasupplicant), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, cosmic, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 4, not-affected 4, needs-triage 1, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-9496

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-9496

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
w1.fi	hostapd	<= 2.7	cpe:2.3:a:w1.fi:hostapd::::::::
w1.fi	wpa_supplicant	<= 2.7	cpe:2.3:a:w1.fi:wpa_supplicant::::::::
fedoraproject	fedora	28	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:28:::::::*
fedoraproject	fedora	29	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:29:::::::*
fedoraproject	fedora	30	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:::::::*

References for CVE-2019-9496

URL	Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00021.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152914/FreeBSD-Security-Advisory-FreeBSD-SA-19-03.wpa.html
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/56OBBOJJSKRTDGEXZOVFSTP4HDSDBLAE/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SVMJOFEYBGXZLFF5IOLW67SSOPKFEJP3/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TDOZGR3T7FVO5JSZWK2QPR7AOFIEJTIZ/
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/May/40
https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-19:03.wpa.asc
https://w1.fi/security/2019-3/	Patch Vendor Advisory
https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_16

URL

CVE-2019-9496 | An invalid authentication sequence could result in the hostapd process terminating due to missing state validation steps

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-9496

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-9496

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-9496

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-9496

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-9496

References for CVE-2019-9496