Application crash via stale X11 keysym width
Published Sep 29, 2026 · Updated Sep 29, 2026
Out-of-bounds read in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.18 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.8 allows attackers to crash analysis of crafted X11 traffic. In the X11 dissector, keycode2keysymString() indexes a cached keysym array using a stale global width rather than that array's allocated length. The dissector is enabled by default; the trigger requires analysis of injected traffic or a crafted capture file, and the upstream report also demonstrates disclosure of an adjacent heap word in decoded output.
Summary
What happened
Out-of-bounds read in Wireshark 4.4.0 through 4.4.18 and 4.6.0 through 4.6.8 allows attackers to crash analysis of crafted X11 traffic. In the X11 dissector, keycode2keysymString() indexes a cached keysym array using a stale global width rather than that array's allocated length. The dissector is enabled by default; the trigger requires analysis of injected traffic or a crafted capture file, and the upstream report also demonstrates disclosure of an adjacent heap word in decoded output.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-96423
- Published
- Sep 29, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 29, 2026
- Vendor
- Wireshark Foundation
- Product
- Wireshark
- Classifications
- CWE-122, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 29, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 29, 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 <4.4.19
- Affected versionversion=4.6.0 <4.6.9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Crafted X11 capture demonstrating the keysym-width over-readproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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