Wireshark Kismet Protocol Dissector Denial-of-Service Vulnerability

A denial-of-service vulnerability has been identified in the Kismet protocol dissector of Wireshark. This issue is present in Wireshark versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14. The vulnerability arises from a heap-buffer-overflow when the dissector processes a crafted packet on TCP port 2501. This out-of-bounds read can lead to a crash of the Wireshark application.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability causes Wireshark to crash.

Reproduction

The vulnerability can be reproduced by using Wireshark versions 4.6.0 to 4.6.4 or 4.4.0 to 4.4.14. After opening a packet capture file that contains a malformed Kismet packet on TCP port 2501, Wireshark will crash. This can be done by injecting such a packet onto the network or by convincing someone to open a packet capture file that contains the malformed packet.

Remediation

Users are advised to upgrade to Wireshark versions 4.6.5, 4.4.15 or later.