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WiresharkApplication

CVE-2007-6438

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-12-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Unspecified vulnerability in the SMB dissector in Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) 0.99.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via unknown vectors. NOTE: this identifier originally included MP3 and NCP, but those issues are already covered by CVE-2007-6111.

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 · moderate confidence

Wireshark 0.99.6 contains an unspecified vulnerability in its SMB (Server Message Block) protocol dissector that allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service. The attack vector is unknown but involves malformed SMB traffic being processed by the dissector.

MitigationUpgrade Wireshark to a version higher than 0.99.6 (e.g., 1.0.0 or later) which contains patched SMB dissector code, or disable the SMB dissector if upgrading is not feasible.

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
WiresharkApplication
Affected:= 0.99.6

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
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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. Identify installed Wireshark version
    Run 'wireshark -v' or 'tshark -v' from command line to obtain the exact version number
    Affected if Version is exactly 0.99.6
  2. Confirm Wireshark installation
    Check for wireshark executable: 'which wireshark' on Linux or locate wireshark.exe on Windows
    Affected if Wireshark is installed on the system
  3. Check if SMB dissector module exists
    Look for 'smb' or 'smb2' dissector files in the Wireshark plugins directory (e.g., plugins/ or plugins/epan/ folder)
    Affected if SMB dissector module is present in the installation
  4. Review crash or diagnostic logs
    Search Wireshark debug logs, crash dumps, or system event logs for SMB dissector-related crashes around the time of processing capture files
    Affected if Recent crashes are logged referencing the SMB dissector processing SMB traffic

You are affected if Wireshark version 0.99.6 is installed and the SMB dissector is enabled, especially if you analyze SMB traffic from untrusted sources.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Wireshark to a version higher than 0.99.6 (e.g., 1.0.0 or later) which contains patched SMB dissector code, or disable the SMB dissector if upgrading is not feasible.

Fix this in Wireshark Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2007-6438 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