CVE-2026-15173
Description
A flaw was found in Wireshark. A remote attacker could exploit a vulnerability in the pcapng file parser, leading to a crash of the application. This denial of service (DoS) could prevent legitimate users from accessing the service, impacting its availability.
Statement
This Moderate impact denial of service flaw in Wireshark's pcapng file parser can be triggered when processing a specially crafted capture file. An attacker could provide a malicious pcapng file, leading to an application crash and preventing legitimate network analysis. Exploitation requires user interaction, as the user must open the malicious file.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, users should avoid opening pcapng files from untrusted or unknown sources. Exercise caution when handling network capture files, especially those received unexpectedly or from external origins.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
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