Denial of service via EAX length truncation
Published Aug 19, 2026 · Updated Aug 20, 2026
Heap-based buffer overflow in the C12.22 dissector in Wireshark before 4.4.18 and 4.6.8 allows attackers to crash the process via crafted traffic. The dissector passes packet-derived 32-bit lengths into 16-bit EAX CMAC helpers; in cleartext-authentication mode the truncated sizes wrap, causing an undersized heap allocation followed by oversized memcpy writes in dCMAC(). Reachability requires reassembled C12.22 TCP/1153 traffic, enabled c1222.decrypt, and a matching decryption-table entry; public proof-of-concept material demonstrated a crash, but disclosure or code execution was not demonstrated.
Summary
What happened
Heap-based buffer overflow in the C12.22 dissector in Wireshark before 4.4.18 and 4.6.8 allows attackers to crash the process via crafted traffic. The dissector passes packet-derived 32-bit lengths into 16-bit EAX CMAC helpers; in cleartext-authentication mode the truncated sizes wrap, causing an undersized heap allocation followed by oversized memcpy writes in dCMAC(). Reachability requires reassembled C12.22 TCP/1153 traffic, enabled c1222.decrypt, and a matching decryption-table entry; public proof-of-concept material demonstrated a crash, but disclosure or code execution was not demonstrated.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-76886
- Published
- Aug 19, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 20, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-122, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 20, 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 <4.4.18
- Affected versionversion=4.6.0 <4.6.8
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
- AISLE Security proof of concept for the C12.22 dissector overflowproof of concept · validated
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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