Mathy Vanhoef

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Hacker at heart | Discovered KRACK and FragAttacks | Prof. Computer Science at @KU_Leuven (Belgium) | Did Postdoc at NYUAD | Network Security & Applied Crypto | Open to consultancy
Websitehttps://www.mathyvanhoef.com
GitHubhttps://github.com/vanhoefm
Twitterhttps://twitter.com/vanhoefm
YouTubehttps://youtube.com/@vanhoefm

We found that Wi-Fi client isolation can often be bypassed. This allows an attacker who can connect to a network, either as a malicious insider or by connecting to a co-located open network, to attack others.

NDSS'26 paper: https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-f1282-paper.pdf
GitHub: https://github.com/vanhoefm/airsnitch

High-level article on the work by Dan Goodin: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/02/new-airsnitch-attack-breaks-wi-fi-encryption-in-homes-offices-and-enterprises/ I'd say we bypass Wi-Fi encryption though, in the sense that we can bypass client isolation. We don't break Wi-Fi authentication or encryption. Crypto is often bypassed instead of broken. And we bypass it ;) If you don't rely on client/network isolation, you are safe: we can't just break any Wi-Fi network.

@stsp @nlnet Perfect timing :)
@stsp @nlnet Yes they’re part of the new IEEE 802.11 release & Wi-Fi alliance has guidelines as well. Not sure if you can already access latest 802.11 for free
@stsp @nlnet Good to see it also getting WPA3 support!
@stsp @nlnet Microsoft had good crypto code to securely implement the first release of WPA3 (which otherwise is affected by timing attacks).

Been working on some interesting mobile security research lately? πŸ“±πŸ”¬ Submit it to Black Hat Europe, the CFP deadline is August 11. Speaker honorarium + travel to London πŸŽ‘πŸ’‚πŸΌβ€β™€οΈπŸ™οΈ are covered!

I'm the Mobile track lead this year and happy to chat if you've got questions about what we're looking for in submissions.

https://europe-briefings-cfp.blackhat.com

Black Hat Europe 2025 Briefings

At USENIX Security? Then check out:

Studying the Use of CVEs in Academia, won distinguished paper award https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity25/presentation/schloegel

Discovering and Exploiting Vulnerable Tunnelling Hosts, won most innovative research Pwnie @ DEFCON https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity25/presentation/beitis

Big thanks to all co-authors!! #usenixsecurity

@jnkrtech Thank you!

Our research on open tunneling servers got nominated for the Most Innovative Research award :)

The work will be presented by Angelos Beitis at Black Hat and also at USENIX Security

Brief summary and code: https://github.com/vanhoefm/tunneltester
Paper: https://papers.mathyvanhoef.com/usenix2025-tunnels.pdf

Disclosure timeline is on X/twitter: reported in 2012, but no real response because it was considered theoretical. They weren't given access to a train's test track facility, so impossible to confirm ethically in practice. Devices now considered end of life. Replacement is maybe here in 2027..