Researchers have found a major flaw on wireless connections around the world, and it puts corporate and domestic wireless-enabled devices at risk from hacks.
The flaw, dubbed as Krack (key reinstallation attacks), was discovered by a research team from Belgian university KU Leuven.
Led by Mathy Vanhoef, the team wrote on its paper that the issue concerns a common protocol used to supposedly secure wireless connections, but instead allows attackers to hijack connections and spy on a network's traffic.
The paper added that Krack was "exceptionally devastating" for Android 6.0 and above. While security researcher Kevin Beaumont said in a blog post that Windows and the latest versions of Apple's iOS are immune from this flaw.
Prof. Alan Woodward, a computer security expert from the University of Surrey, explained to BBC that, "The risk will depend on a number of factors including the time it takes to launch an attack and whether you need to be connected to the network to launch one."
He added that an attack would be relatively easy to launch, leaving majority of Wi-Fi connections at risk until router vendors could issue patches.
This flaw has already raised a red flag on the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), pushing the organization to issue a warning.
"US-Cert has become aware of several key management vulnerabilities in the four-way handshake of Wi-Fi protected access II (WPA2) security protocol," said its official announcement.
Non-profit organization Wi-Fi alliance, however, allays public fear by saying that there has been no evidence that this flaw has been exploited, adding that it could be easily resolved through software updates.
"The wi-fi industry, including major platform providers, has already started deploying patches to wi-fi users," the group said.
This includes tech giant Microsoft, which confirmed it has already issued a security update and online platform Google, which promised to patch any affected device in the following weeks.
