You’re going to want to update your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers today

If you haven’t updated your wireless connectivity drivers in a while, now would be a good time to do so. Intel has published a long list of vulnerabilities in its Wireless Wi-Fi, Wireless Bluetooth, and Killer network adapters, and while they’re likely nothing to panic about, they absolutely should be patched with the latest drivers as soon as possible.

When it comes to Wi-Fi vulnerabilities, Intel has published 23 CVE IDs across two advisories, Intel-SA-00539 and Intel-SA-00582. These affect heaps of Intel Wireless, AMT Wireless, and Killer Wi-Fi products. That includes popular Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6 adapters found inside many gaming PCs, as the latest Z690 motherboards (and older motherboards back to Comet Lake) will include these parts alongside integrated Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 6 capabilities embedded in the chipset. 

So if you see Intel Wi-Fi AX210, AX201, AX200; or Killer AX1675 and AX1650, in your device manager, you should update your drivers.

That’s also true for some AMD CPU owners, as some AMD motherboards use Intel Killer Wi-Fi network adapters, such as the MSI MEG X570 Godlike.

The most severe vulnerabilities of the lot are rated at 7.1 CVSS, and there are three of that severity disclosed. All three relate to improper input validation either in the OS or software for various Wi-Fi cards, and may allow an unauthenticated user to enable either denial of service, information disclosure, or escalation of privileges “via adjacent access.” 

That last bit is key, as it means an attacker needs to be on the same local network; share a Bluetooth connection; or share some other more localised network, such as a shared VPN, to carry out their nefarious plan. That likely means these vulnerabilities are most dangerous if you’re taking your laptop down the local café with free, unprotected Wi-Fi.

(Image credit: Asus)

The worst case scenario is when an attacker can exploit a vulnerability from over a network remotely, but thankfully that’s not the case here. These vulnerabilities alone are still severe enough to warrant updating your drivers, however—the 20 medium severity vulnerabilities make that doubly true.

On to Bluetooth, and there are fewer certified bad things going on. In fact, there’s only one vulnerability, and it’s rated to a much less threatening 4.3 on the oh-no scale. This vulnerability may still allow an attacker to enabled DoS via adjacent access, though, so best be on the safe side and update.

Intel has also outlined loads more vulnerabilities, which you can read up on here, though these largely impact its server products, such as IPUs. 

These disclosures only come a couple of days after Intel’s 2021 Product Security Report, which outlines the total vulnerabilities it found during the year, and which products were affected most. That’s GPUs, by the way, though some of those bugs are down to AMD software and the rival companies’ collaboration on Intel’s Kaby Lake G chips.

How do I update my Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers?

For users with Intel Wireless Adapters, such as the AX lineup (AX211/AX210/AX200, etc.), you’ll want to hop to updating with the latest Intel Windows 10 and Windows 11 Wi-Fi drivers, which can be found here. You’ll want version 22.110.1 (Latest), though any version past 22.80 is sufficient top cover off both advisories. 

For gamers with Killer network adapters, you’ll want to update the Intel Killer Performance Suite to version 3.1122.183 found here. Again, you could upgrade to just 3.1021.733.0 for sufficient cover, but why not get the latest version while you’re there.

The latest Bluetooth drivers can be found here. Version 22.110.2 is the latest, so I recommend picking that up, but you could settle for anything above 22.80 to be in the clear.