Application crash via Kismet heap buffer over-read
Published Apr 30, 2026 · Updated Apr 30, 2026
Buffer over-read in Wireshark 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14 allows attackers to crash the application. The Kismet dissector passes a line ending exactly at the TVB buffer boundary to format_text_internal(), which reads one byte past the heap allocation. Triggering requires malformed Kismet traffic on TCP port 2501 or a malformed packet trace file to be opened; the documented consequence is an application crash only.
Summary
What happened
Buffer over-read in Wireshark 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14 allows attackers to crash the application. The Kismet dissector passes a line ending exactly at the TVB buffer boundary to format_text_internal(), which reads one byte past the heap allocation. Triggering requires malformed Kismet traffic on TCP port 2501 or a malformed packet trace file to be opened; the documented consequence is an application crash only.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-6532
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 30, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-126, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 30, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 30, 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 <4.4.15
- Affected versionversion=4.6.0 <4.6.5
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.
Public exploit references
- mega-ultimate-vuln-kismet-heapoverflow.pcapproof 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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