Packet-analysis hang via overflowing handle-list lengths
Published Jul 8, 2026 · Updated Jul 8, 2026
Denial of service in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.16 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.6 allows attackers to hang packet analysis. The dissect_handleList function reads numHandles and each handle length from FMP/NOTIFY traffic into signed integers without bounds or overflow checks, allowing listLength to wrap or stop advancing. Triggering requires a malformed packet on a captured network or in a packet trace; Wireshark and TShark then loop indefinitely and consume a CPU core.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.16 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.6 allows attackers to hang packet analysis. The dissect_handleList function reads numHandles and each handle length from FMP/NOTIFY traffic into signed integers without bounds or overflow checks, allowing listLength to wrap or stop advancing. Triggering requires a malformed packet on a captured network or in a packet trace; Wireshark and TShark then loop indefinitely and consume a CPU core.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-15172
- Published
- Jul 8, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 8, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-606, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- 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.
- Affected versionversion=4.4.0 <4.4.17
- Affected versionversion=4.6.0 <4.6.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- FMP/NOTIFY infinite-loop packet tracesproof of concept · demonstrated
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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