CVE-2021-0173 Denial of service in Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Wi-Fi in multiple operating systems and some Killer(TM) Wi-Fi in Windows 10 and 11

Medium 6.5 Published 9 Feb 2022 Updated 5 May 2025

Unauthenticated adjacent attackers can cause denial of service in Intel and Killer Wi-Fi firmware due to improper input validation.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2021-0173?

CVE-2021-0173 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Wi-Fi in multiple operating systems and some Killer(TM) Wi-Fi in Windows 10 and 11, published on 9 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Improper Validation of Consistency within input in firmware for some Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Wi-Fi in multiple operating systems and some Killer(TM) Wi-Fi in Windows 10 and 11 may allow a unauthenticated user to potentially enable denial of service via adjacent access.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-0173?

It affects 22 products.

Products include Intel Amt Ac 8260 Firmware, Intel Amt Ac 8265 Firmware, Intel Amt Ac 9260 Firmware, Intel Amt Ac 9560 Firmware, Intel Amt Wi-Fi 6 Ax200 Firmware, Intel Amt Wi-Fi 6 Ax201 Firmware and 16 more.

How do I fix CVE-2021-0173?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2021-0173 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0173 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-xr6r-96rx-v9v2, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-0173.