CVE-2022-4344Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Analysis interruption via nonadvancing Kafka tagged-field loop

Published Jan 11, 2023 · Updated Nov 3, 2025

Memory exhaustion in Wireshark 3.6.0 through 3.6.9 and 4.0.0 through 4.0.1 allows attackers to interrupt analysis via Kafka packets. The dissect_kafka_array_elements loop trusts a huge varint count while failed field decodes consume zero bytes, so the read offset never advances. A malformed packet must be injected into captured traffic or opened as a capture file, causing sustained CPU and memory consumption that denies packet analysis.

CVSS severity6.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.57%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory exhaustion in Wireshark 3.6.0 through 3.6.9 and 4.0.0 through 4.0.1 allows attackers to interrupt analysis via Kafka packets. The dissect_kafka_array_elements loop trusts a huge varint count while failed field decodes consume zero bytes, so the read offset never advances. A malformed packet must be injected into captured traffic or opened as a capture file, causing sustained CPU and memory consumption that denies packet analysis.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-4344
Published
Jan 11, 2023
Updated
Nov 3, 2025
Vendor
Wireshark Foundation
Product
Wireshark
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 11, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Nov 3, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>=3.6.0, <3.6.10
  2. Affected versionversion=>=4.0.0, <4.0.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Wireshark Foundation · Wiresharkversion=>=3.6.0, <3.6.10; version=>=4.0.0, <4.0.2

Published CVSS scores

4.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
6.3GitLab Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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