In hostapd 2.10 and earlier, the PKEX code remains active even after a successful PKEX association. An attacker that successfully bootstrapped public keys with another entity using PKEX in the past, will be able to subvert a future bootstrapping by passively observing public keys, re-using the encrypting element Qi and subtracting it from the captured message M (X = M - Qi). This will result in the public ephemeral key X; the only element required to subvert the PKEX association.

References

• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-37660
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10207-025-00988-3
• https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/commit/?id=15af83cf1846870873a011ed4d714732f01cd2e4
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/04/msg00019.html