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Wireshark CVE-2026-96415

| EUVDEUVD-2026-88716 MEDIUM
Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121)
2026-09-29 GitLab GHSA-4j63-4v66-f2cj
Buffer Overflow Denial Of Service Stack Overflow Red Hat Wireshark Suse Wireshark Foundation
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: GitLab
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Craft malformed DCT2000 capture file
  2. Delivery
    Deliver to analyst for review
  3. Exploit
    Analyst opens file in Wireshark
  4. Execution
    DCT2000 dissector stack overflow
  5. Impact
    Application crashes (denial of service)

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
CWE-121
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Stack buffer bounds checking
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

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Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires the victim to open a specially crafted capture file in the Catapult DCT2000 format (or one that routes packets through the DCT2000 dissector) using an affected Wireshark version (4.6.0-4.6.8 or 4.4.0-4.4.18). It is local and client-side (AV:L) and requires user interaction (UI:R) - the analyst must actively load the malicious file; there is no unauthenticated remote or network-triggered path. Impact is limited to a crash of the Wireshark process (availability only); no code execution, data disclosure, or integrity impact is indicated by the vector.
Impact

This is a genuine but low-priority issue. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) describes a local, availability-only impact requiring user interaction - the analyst must open a maliciously crafted Catapult DCT2000 capture file in a vulnerable Wireshark build. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact (C:N/I:N), and the outcome is a recoverable application crash, not code execution, despite the CWE-121 'stack-based buffer overflow' classification and the 'Buffer Overflow'/'Stack Overflow' tags. No EPSS score, KEV listing, or public exploit was provided, so this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' The 5.5 base score is well-calibrated and NOT an inflated high-CVSS-but-low-risk case; conversely the score is honest about the limited local DoS impact. Note the CWE-121 stack overflow label could in principle suggest exploitability beyond DoS, but the vendor vector explicitly scopes impact to availability only (A:H, C:N, I:N) - treat this as a crash/DoS, not RCE.
Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker crafts a malformed Catapult DCT2000-format capture file and delivers it to an analyst (e.g., as a 'please analyze this traffic' sample). When the analyst opens it in Wireshark 4.6.0-4.6.8 or 4.4.0-4.4.18, the DCT2000 dissector triggers a stack-based buffer overflow and crashes the application. No public exploit code was identified in the provided intelligence; exploitation requires local file handling and user interaction.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 29, 2026

Opening a crafted Catapult DCT2000 capture file in Wireshark 4.6.0 through 4.6.8 or 4.4.0 through 4.4.18 triggers a stack-based buffer overflow in the DCT2000 protocol dissector, terminating the application. The issue is local and client-side (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, base 5.5): the analyst must actively load the malicious file or a capture whose packets are routed through the DCT2000 dissector, and no authentication is required per the vector, but user interaction is. Impact is limited to an availability loss - a crash of the Wireshark process - with no code execution, data disclosure, or integrity impact indicated. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, and the flaw is not confirmed actively exploited (not in CISA KEV); the vendor has published advisory wnpa-sec-2026-110 and an associated GitLab work item.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to a Wireshark release newer than the affected ranges - that is, a build above 4.6.8 on the 4.6 branch or above 4.4.18 on the 4.4 branch - as instructed by vendor advisory wnpa-sec-2026-110 (https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2026-110.html); patch availability is confirmed per that advisory, and the exact fixed version numbers should be verified against it rather than assumed from the range boundary. Where immediate upgrading is not possible, the most effective compensating control is to disable the Catapult DCT2000 dissector (Analyze > Enabled Protocols, clear the catapult_dct2000 entry, or start with the equivalent tshark/TShark option), with the trade-off that DCT2000 captures can no longer be inspected in that profile; alternatively, isolate dissection to a non-production host or sandboxed container, or pre-filter untrusted captures with capinfos before opening them in the GUI. Restricting analysts to opening captures only from trusted sources reduces exposure but does not eliminate it, since the trigger is a single malformed field. Note that the attack requires local user interaction and only causes a process crash, so no network-level filtering rule applies and privileged execution of Wireshark does not increase impact.

Affected VersionsENISA

Wireshark 4.6.0 <4.6.9
Wireshark 4.4.0 <4.4.19

Affected Packages

euvd wireshark fix: 4.4.19, 4.6.9

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

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Technical ContextAI · show details

Wireshark's dissection engine (epan) decodes hundreds of protocols through pluggable dissectors, and the Catapult DCT2000 dissector handles the text-oriented log/capture format produced by Tektronix/Catapult DCT2000 test equipment. The root cause is CWE-121, a stack-based buffer overflow: the dissector copies attacker-influenced content parsed from the capture into a fixed-size buffer allocated on the stack without adequate length validation, so an oversized field overwrites adjacent stack memory and causes an abnormal termination (in this build the corruption manifests as a crash rather than controlled memory corruption). Because parsing happens inside the Wireshark process during file dissection, the failure is contained to that process and does not by itself grant code execution, which is consistent with the assessed vector showing only an Availability (A:H) impact. The provided CPE string cpe:2.3:a:wireshark_foundation:wireshark:* is version-agnostic and matches the Wireshark Foundation's Wireshark product family broadly, so version scoping must come from the advisory and the stated ranges (4.6.0-4.6.8 and 4.4.0-4.4.18) rather than from the CPE alone. This is the same class of dissector memory-safety bug that Wireshark has repeatedly addressed through its wnpa-sec advisory series.

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Severity by source

Vendor (GitLab) PRIMARY 5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI 5.5 MEDIUM

Local file must be opened by the user (AV:L/UI:R), no privileges needed to craft the file (PR:N), and the DCT2000 dissector crash causes availability loss only (A:H, C:N/I:N).

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE MEDIUM
Red Hat 5.5 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (GitLab).

CVSS VectorVendor: GitLab

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Sep 29, 2026 - 11:01 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 29, 2026 - 09:30 cve.org
MEDIUM 5.5

DescriptionCVE.org

Catapult DCT2000 protocol dissector crash in 4.6.0 to 4.6.8 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.18 allows denial of service

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.1%
Top 97% exploitable
Prevalence
High
Wireshark is the de facto standard network analyzer among security/network professionals
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD 🇯🇵JVN NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.1%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Buffer Overflow HIGH

A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.

Stack-based Buffer Overflow HIGH

A stack-based buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the stack than it was allocated to hold.

Denial of Service MEDIUM

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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Same weakness CWE-121 – Stack-based Buffer Overflow

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Same technique Buffer Overflow

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CVE-2009-0927 HIGH POC
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CVE-2012-1889 HIGH POC
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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
openSUSE Tumbleweed Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP7 Affected

References

Advisories & patches
ADVISORY https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96415 ADVISORY https://vuldb.com/vuln/411265 REF https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/work_items/21589 REF https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2026-110.html

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