Weakness in 802.11w and an improved mechanism on protection of management frame

Abstract

IEEE 802.11w, an amending standard for 802.11i, provides protection for management frames in WLAN. However, the frames are vulnerable to be eavesdropped, forged and distorted before the Four-Way Handshake complete. An improved mechanism named Temporary Safe Tunnel (TST) is proposed to solve the problem above. Since TST has been meticulously designed, it is low cost and improves the security of WLAN.