CVE-2026-15163

Analysis hang via non-advancing dissector loops

Published Jul 8, 2026 · Updated Jul 8, 2026

Infinite loops in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.16 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.6 allow attackers to interrupt analysis with malformed packets. The MIH, MPEG DSM-CC, eDonkey, and MEGACO dissectors can repeatedly process malformed structures without advancing their dissection offsets. The input must arrive as injected traffic or a packet trace opened by a user, and successful exploitation consumes excessive CPU until processing is stopped.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Infinite loops in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.16 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.6 allow attackers to interrupt analysis with malformed packets. The MIH, MPEG DSM-CC, eDonkey, and MEGACO dissectors can repeatedly process malformed structures without advancing their dissection offsets. The input must arrive as injected traffic or a packet trace opened by a user, and successful exploitation consumes excessive CPU until processing is stopped.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-15163
Published
Jul 8, 2026
Updated
Jul 8, 2026
Vendor
Wireshark Foundation
Product
Wireshark
Classifications
CWE-835, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jul 8, 2026Record 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=4.4.0 <4.4.17
  2. Affected versionversion=4.6.0 <4.6.7

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Wireshark Foundation · Wiresharkversion=4.4.0 <4.4.17; version=4.6.0 <4.6.7

Published CVSS scores

7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5GitLab Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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.

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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)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-835Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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