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TcpdumpApplication

CVE-2007-1218

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-03-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.9.5 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Off-by-one buffer overflow in the parse_elements function in the 802.11 printer code (print-802_11.c) for tcpdump 3.9.5 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted 802.11 frame. NOTE: this was originally referred to as heap-based, but it might be stack-based.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Off-by-one buffer overflow in tcpdump's 802.11 frame parser (parse_elements function in print-802_11.c). The vulnerability occurs when parsing crafted 802.11 frames with malformed information elements, causing the parser to write one byte beyond a buffer boundary. This can trigger a denial of service via crash.

MitigationUpgrade to tcpdump version 4.0 or later which contains the patched parse_elements function, or apply the vendor patch if available. If 802.11 capture is not required, consider disabling 802.11 packet decoding.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
TcpdumpApplication
Affected:<= 3.9.5

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify tcpdump is installed
    Run 'tcpdump --version' or check your package manager for tcpdump
    Affected if tcpdump is present on the system
  2. Determine installed tcpdump version
    Execute 'tcpdump --version' and note the version number displayed
    Affected if version is 3.9.5 or lower
  3. Check if 802.11 wireless capture is being performed
    Review any tcpdump capture scripts or commands for use of '-i' with wireless interfaces or 'wlan' prefixes, or examine saved pcap files for 802.11 frames
    Affected if tcpdump is capturing or decoding 802.11 wireless frames from live interfaces or pcap files
  4. Identify the parse_elements function usage
    Inspect tcpdump logs or stderr output when parsing pcap files containing 802.11 management or data frames
    Affected if tcpdump actively parses 802.11 information elements from captured traffic

You are affected if tcpdump version 3.9.5 or lower is installed AND the tool is actively parsing 802.11 wireless frames from live captures or pcap files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.9.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to tcpdump version 4.0 or later which contains the patched parse_elements function, or apply the vendor patch if available. If 802.11 capture is not required, consider disabling 802.11 packet decoding.

Fix this in Tcpdump Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,770
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-1218 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data