CVE-2026-96418
Description
A flaw was found in Wireshark. By convincing a user to open a specially crafted packet capture containing Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) data, an attacker can trigger an infinite loop in the TIFF protocol dissector. This issue causes the application to hang and become unresponsive, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Mitigation
Disable the TIFF protocol dissector in Wireshark or tshark to prevent processing of malformed TIFF packets:
1. In the Wireshark GUI:
Navigate to Analyze -> Enabled Protocols..., search for "TIFF", uncheck the entry, and click OK.
2. When using the command-line utility tshark:
Append the `--disable-protocol tiff` option to the command:
tshark --disable-protocol tiff -r <capture_file>
Caveats:
Disabling this protocol prevents decoding and analyzing TIFF image payloads within packet captures. In addition, avoid opening capture files from untrusted sources, and avoid executing packet analysis utilities under root or privileged accounts. No service restart is required as Wireshark operates as a user-space utility.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.5 | N/A | 5.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Amplification
An infinite loop will cause unexpected consumption of resources, such as CPU cycles or memory. The software's operation may slow down, or cause a long time to respond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
