WiresharkApplication
CVE-2008-3140
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 · uneditedThe syslog dissector in Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) 1.0.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via unknown vectors, possibly related to an "incomplete SS7 MSU syslog encapsulated packet."
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 confidenceWireshark 1.0.0 contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in its syslog dissector. The vulnerability can be triggered by specially crafted (possibly malformed) SS7 MSU syslog encapsulated packets, causing the application to crash. This is a vulnerability in packet parsing logic that fails to handle incomplete or malformed input gracefully.
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
= 1.0.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Wireshark versionRun 'wireshark -v' or 'tshark -v' from command line, or check Help > About in GUIAffected if Version reported is exactly 1.0.0
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Verify syslog dissector is availableCheck if packet-syslog.c or packet-syslog.h exists in the Wireshark installation directory, or look for 'Syslog' in Analyze > Enabled ProtocolsAffected if Syslog protocol/dissector is present and enabled in the protocol list
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Confirm syslog dissector is enabledIn Wireshark GUI, go to Analyze > Enabled Protocols and verify 'SYSLOG' or 'Syslog' is checked, or use 'tshark -G protocols' output to search for syslogAffected if Syslog protocol is enabled for dissection
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Check for recent syslog-based capture activityReview any recent packet capture files (.pcap) that contain syslog traffic, or check if Wireshark is actively capturing on interfaces that receive syslog trafficAffected if Wireshark has parsed or is expected to parse syslog traffic from network sources
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Identify SS7 MSU syslog encapsulation exposureCheck if the environment contains or monitors SS7-based telecom signaling traffic that may be encapsulated in syslog format, or review any pcap files for syslog packets containing SS7 dataAffected if Environment processes or may process SS7 MSU traffic carried over syslog
User is affected if Wireshark version is exactly 1.0.0 and the syslog dissector is enabled to parse incoming syslog traffic that could contain malicious SS7 MSU payloads.
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 dataUpdate Wireshark to a version newer than 1.0.0 that contains the fix for this vulnerability. If updates are not possible, consider restricting access to packet capture sources or implementing network filtering to block suspicious syslog traffic before it reaches Wireshark.
Fix this in Wireshark
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-3140 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-3140 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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- 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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