Service crash via dangling tap listeners
Published Aug 19, 2026 · Updated Aug 20, 2026
Denial of service in sharkd in Wireshark before 4.6.8 and 4.4.18 allows attackers to crash the service via crafted packets or capture files. In sharkd_session_process_iograph(), the code registers tap listeners that point to a stack-local graphs array and returns on listener-registration errors without removing earlier listeners, leaving dangling pointers in the global tap queue. A subsequent retap request dereferences the stale listener state and crashes sharkd; exposure requires feeding malformed traffic to sharkd or getting a target to open a malformed capture.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in sharkd in Wireshark before 4.6.8 and 4.4.18 allows attackers to crash the service via crafted packets or capture files. In sharkd_session_process_iograph(), the code registers tap listeners that point to a stack-local graphs array and returns on listener-registration errors without removing earlier listeners, leaving dangling pointers in the global tap queue. A subsequent retap request dereferences the stale listener state and crashes sharkd; exposure requires feeding malformed traffic to sharkd or getting a target to open a malformed capture.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-76890
- Published
- Aug 19, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 20, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-825, 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
- Wireshark issue 21399 proof of conceptproof 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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