CVE-2025-5601
📋 TL;DR
A buffer overflow vulnerability in Wireshark's column handling allows attackers to cause denial of service via packet injection or specially crafted capture files. This affects Wireshark users analyzing network traffic, particularly security analysts and network administrators using vulnerable versions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Wireshark
📦 What is this software?
Wireshark by Wireshark
Wireshark by Wireshark
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete Wireshark crash leading to loss of ongoing packet analysis, potential data loss of unsaved capture sessions, and disruption of network monitoring operations.
Likely Case
Application crash when processing malicious packets or capture files, requiring restart of Wireshark and potential loss of analysis context.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper network segmentation and updated software, limited to isolated analysis environments.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires either packet injection on monitored networks or user opening malicious capture files.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Wireshark 4.4.7 and 4.2.13
Vendor Advisory: https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2025-02.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download latest version from wireshark.org 2. Uninstall current version 3. Install patched version 4. Restart system
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict capture file sources
allOnly open capture files from trusted sources and avoid analyzing untrusted network traffic
Network segmentation
allIsolate Wireshark systems from untrusted networks to prevent packet injection
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict Wireshark usage to trusted, isolated networks only
- Implement strict controls on capture file sources and validation
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Wireshark version via Help → About Wireshark or 'wireshark -v' commandCheck Version:
wireshark -vVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 4.4.7 or higher, or 4.2.13 or higher📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Wireshark crash logs
- Application error events mentioning column handling
Network Indicators:
- Unusual packet patterns targeting monitored interfaces
- Malformed capture files
SIEM Query:
EventID: 1000 OR Application: Wireshark AND (Error OR Crash)