VAIO News - Sony VAIO Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) WPA2 Vulnerability

February 8, 2018
Sony Corporation

Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (CERT: Vulnerability Note). WPA 2  is a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) communication standard. Among other effects, these vulnerabilities may allow attackers to target encrypted information transmitted across Wi-Fi networks.

We urge customers to take the following countermeasures to avoid the effect of this vulnerability on their Sony VAIO computers.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused and thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation.

Affected Models

All models of Sony VAIO equipped with wireless LAN, compatible with the WPA 2 communication standard.

Workaround

By updating the Windows Operating System (*) using Windows Update, you can avoid the effect of this vulnerability while the OS is running.

Please implement one of the following workarounds for when the OS is not running.

1. Disable the Wake-on-Wi-Fi function.
2. Disable sleep mode.
3. Do not use wireless LAN (Wi-Fi). Instead, use a wired LAN connection.

Windows Update (*): Not supported for Windows Vista and earlier versions. For details, please refer to the announcement concerning the discontinuation of Windows Vista support.

How to disable the Wake-on-Wi-fi

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Select Network and Internet
3. Go to Network and Sharing Center
4. Select Change adapter settings (left column)
5. Richt-click Wireless network connection and select Properties
6. Select Configuration (button)
7. Go to the Power supply management tab 

8. When the option [Allow this device to wake the computer] is grayed out, the Wake-on-Wi-Fi function is disabled, and the workaround is in place.

9. If this option is checked, then disable the Wake-on-Wi-Fi function by unchecking it.