Abstract
In recent years, malware is increasingly applying means of hidden communication. The emergence of network-capable stegomalware applies such methods to communication networks. In this paper, we introduce and evaluate two covert channels that utilize reconnections to transmit hidden information in WiFi networks. We implement these covert channels in the 802.11 protocol by abusing the authentication mechanism of these networks. Furthermore, we propose detection methods and countermeasures for both covert channels. Our implementation and quick-start guide are available as open source code on GitHub to aid replicability (https://github.com/NIoSaT/WiFi_Reconnection_CovertChannel).
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Notes
- 1.
A common attack on this process is the “deauthentication attack”, a type of denial of service attack. An attacker continuously sends spoofed deauthentication frames which force a client back into state 1. This effectively disables network access for this client as long as the attacker keeps sending these frames.
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The authors like to thank Laura Hartmann for providing her comments on this paper.
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Zillien, S., Wendzel, S. (2021). Reconnection-Based Covert Channels in Wireless Networks. In: Jøsang, A., Futcher, L., Hagen, J. (eds) ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection. SEC 2021. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 625. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78120-0_8
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