CVE-2023-2856Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Application crash via unterminated Length scan

Published May 26, 2023 · Updated Nov 3, 2025

Stack buffer over-read in Wireshark 3.6.0 through 3.6.13 and 4.0.0 through 4.0.5 allows attackers to crash the application. The parse_vms_packet function scans past the end of its line buffer while searching for a digit after a Length marker in malformed VMS TCPIPtrace input. Exploitation requires processing crafted capture data from a file or an injected packet and causes SIGABRT, interrupting analysis.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability1.79%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Stack buffer over-read in Wireshark 3.6.0 through 3.6.13 and 4.0.0 through 4.0.5 allows attackers to crash the application. The parse_vms_packet function scans past the end of its line buffer while searching for a digit after a Length marker in malformed VMS TCPIPtrace input. Exploitation requires processing crafted capture data from a file or an injected packet and causes SIGABRT, interrupting analysis.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-2856
Published
May 26, 2023
Updated
Nov 3, 2025
Vendor
Wireshark Foundation
Product
Wireshark
Classifications
CWE-787
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 26, 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

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=>=3.6.0, <3.6.14
  2. Affected versionversion=>=4.0.0, <4.0.6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Wireshark Foundation · Wiresharkversion=>=3.6.0, <3.6.14; version=>=4.0.0, <4.0.6

Published CVSS scores

5.3GitLab Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
6.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-787Out-of-bounds Write

Public exploit references

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

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

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