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WiresharkApplication

CVE-2013-2476

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-03-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The dissect_hartip function in epan/dissectors/packet-hartip.c in the HART/IP dissector in Wireshark 1.8.x before 1.8.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a packet with a header that is too short.

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

The HART/IP dissector in Wireshark 1.8.x before 1.8.6 contains an infinite loop vulnerability in the dissect_hartip function. When processing a packet with a header that is too short, the dissector fails to properly validate the header length before entering its parsing loop, causing the loop to continue indefinitely and consume CPU resources.

MitigationUpdate Wireshark to version 1.8.6 or later to obtain the patch. Until then, avoid opening or analyzing untrusted HART/IP capture files with vulnerable Wireshark versions.

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:= 1.8.0= 1.8.1= 1.8.2= 1.8.3= 1.8.4= 1.8.5
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.4= 12.1= 12.2= 12.3

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
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 checks

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

  1. Determine Wireshark version
    Run 'wireshark --version' or go to Help > About Wireshark in the GUI to view the installed version number
    Affected if Version is 1.8.0, 1.8.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.3, 1.8.4, or 1.8.5
  2. Check if HART/IP dissector is available
    In Wireshark GUI, go to Analyze > Enabled Protocols and search for 'hartip' or 'HART/IP', or inspect the file epan/dissectors/packet-hartip.c in the Wireshark source if available
    Affected if The HART/IP protocol dissector is present in the installation
  3. Verify HART/IP dissector is enabled for capture analysis
    In Wireshark GUI, go to Analyze > Enabled Protocols and confirm 'HART/IP' is checked/enabled, or check if a capture file containing HART/IP traffic would trigger automatic dissection
    Affected if HART/IP dissector is enabled and would be invoked when processing network captures
  4. On OpenSUSE systems, check installed package version
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep wireshark' or 'zypper info wireshark' to view the installed Wireshark package version
    Affected if Package version corresponds to Wireshark 1.8.0-1.8.5 as shipped in OpenSUSE 11.4, 12.1, 12.2, or 12.3

You are affected if Wireshark version 1.8.0 through 1.8.5 is installed AND the HART/IP dissector is enabled, because the infinite loop triggers when parsing packets with insufficient header length in the dissect_hartip function.

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

Update Wireshark to version 1.8.6 or later to obtain the patch. Until then, avoid opening or analyzing untrusted HART/IP capture files with vulnerable Wireshark versions.

Fix this in Wireshark Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2013-2476 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