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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2013-2486

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_diagnosticrequest function in epan/dissectors/packet-reload.c in the REsource LOcation And Discovery (aka RELOAD) dissector in Wireshark 1.8.x before 1.8.6 uses an incorrect integer data type, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via crafted integer values in a 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 confidence

The RELOAD (REsource LOcation And Discovery) dissector in Wireshark 1.8.x before 1.8.6 uses an incorrect integer data type in the dissect_diagnosticrequest function, which causes an infinite loop when processing crafted packets containing specific integer values, leading to denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade Wireshark to version 1.8.6 or later to obtain the corrected dissector. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, avoid opening untrusted or suspect packet capture files using the RELOAD dissector.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
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. Check Wireshark version installed
    Run 'wireshark --version' or 'tshark --version' in terminal
    Affected if Version is 1.8.0, 1.8.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.3, 1.8.4, or 1.8.5 (any version in the 1.8.x line before 1.8.6)
  2. Check installed package version on Debian
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep wireshark' or 'dpkg -l wireshark'
    Affected if Package version shows 1.8.0-1.8.5 range
  3. Check installed package version on OpenSUSE
    Run 'rpm -qi wireshark' and examine the Version field
    Affected if Version shows 1.8.0 through 1.8.5
  4. Verify RELOAD dissector availability
    Launch Wireshark, go to Help > About Wireshark > Plugins or check for 'packet-reload.so' in the plugins directory (typically /usr/lib/wireshark/plugins/)
    Affected if The RELOAD dissector plugin is present and Wireshark version is 1.8.0-1.8.5

You are affected if Wireshark version 1.8.0 through 1.8.5 is installed and the RELOAD dissector is available in your environment.

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 version 1.8.6 or later to obtain the corrected dissector. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, avoid opening untrusted or suspect packet capture files using the RELOAD dissector.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2013-2486 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
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