Using the Fluhrer, Mantin, and Shamir Attack to Break WEP

We implemented an attack against WEP, the link-layer security protocol for 802.11 networks. The attack was described in a recent paper by Fluhrer, Mantin, and Shamir. With our implementation, and permission of the network administrator, we were able to recover the 128 bit secret key used in a production network, with a passive attack. The WEP standard uses RC4 IVs improperly, and the attack exploits this design failure. This paper describes the attack, how we implemented it, and some optimizations to make the attack more efficient. We conclude that 802.11 WEP is totally insecure, and we provide some recommendations.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: NDSS
• Authors: Adam Stubblefield, John Ioannidis, Aviel D. Rubin
• Keywords: Bit Secret Key, Computer Networks, Link-layer Security Protocol, NDSS 2002, Passive Attack