Analyzer crash via chained decompression bomb
Published Apr 30, 2026 · Updated Apr 30, 2026
Resource exhaustion in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.14 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 allows attackers to crash the analyzer. In packet-smb2.c, the chained-compression loop enforces a 16 MB limit per PATTERN_V1 segment but does not cap their cumulative expansion, causing repeated wmem_array_append allocations. Triggering requires Wireshark or TShark to dissect a crafted SMB2 packet captured from the wire or loaded from a trace file, resulting in memory exhaustion and process termination.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.14 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 allows attackers to crash the analyzer. In packet-smb2.c, the chained-compression loop enforces a 16 MB limit per PATTERN_V1 segment but does not cap their cumulative expansion, causing repeated wmem_array_append allocations. Triggering requires Wireshark or TShark to dissect a crafted SMB2 packet captured from the wire or loaded from a trace file, resulting in memory exhaustion and process termination.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-6867
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 30, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-1325, 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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- SMB2 PATTERN_V1 decompression-bomb captureproof 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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