WiresharkApplication
CVE-2007-6439
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 · uneditedWireshark (formerly Ethereal) 0.99.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite or large loop) via the (1) IPv6 or (2) USB dissector, which can trigger resource consumption or a crash. NOTE: this identifier originally included Firebird/Interbase, but it is already covered by CVE-2007-6116. The DCP ETSI issue is already covered by CVE-2007-6119.
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 confidenceWireshark 0.99.6 contains an infinite or large loop vulnerability in the IPv6 and USB dissectors that can be triggered during packet analysis, leading to excessive resource consumption or a crash. The vulnerability is caused by improper handling of certain packet data within these protocol dissectors, resulting in uncontrolled iteration.
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
= 0.99.6CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Wireshark versionRun 'wireshark --version' or check your package manager for the installed wireshark package versionAffected if The installed version is exactly 0.99.6
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Verify the specific Wireshark executable versionRun 'wireshark -v' to confirm the exact version number reported by the binary itselfAffected if The binary reports version 0.99.6
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Confirm IPv6 dissector is enabledOpen Wireshark, go to Analyze > Enabled Protocols, and verify if 'IPv6' protocol is enabled (checked)Affected if IPv6 protocol dissector is enabled and you analyze packet capture files
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Confirm USB dissector is enabledOpen Wireshark, go to Analyze > Enabled Protocols, and verify if 'USB' or 'USB-OTG' protocol is enabled (checked)Affected if USB protocol dissector is enabled and you analyze packet capture files
You are affected if Wireshark version 0.99.6 is installed AND either the IPv6 or USB dissector is enabled while analyzing packet captures.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Wireshark to a version beyond 0.99.6 that contains the fix for this vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider disabling or limiting the IPv6 and USB dissectors for untrusted capture files.
Fix this in Wireshark
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-6439 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sources- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- bugs.gentoo.org
- lists.opensuse.org
- security.gentoo.org
- wiki.rpath.com
- www.mandriva.com
- www.mandriva.com
- www.redhat.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.wireshark.org
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com
- issues.rpath.com
- oval.cisecurity.org
- oval.cisecurity.org
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-6439 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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
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