WiresharkApplication
CVE-2015-3810
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 · uneditedepan/dissectors/packet-websocket.c in the WebSocket dissector in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.5 uses a recursive algorithm, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted 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 confidenceThe WebSocket dissector in Wireshark versions 1.12.x before 1.12.5 contains a vulnerability where a recursive algorithm in packet-websocket.c can be triggered by a specially crafted packet, causing excessive CPU consumption and leading to a denial of service condition.
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
= 1.12.0= 1.12.1= 1.12.2= 1.12.3= 1.12.4CVSS 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
- Complete
AV:N/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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Determine installed Wireshark versionRun 'wireshark --version' or 'tshark --version' to obtain the exact version number of your Wireshark installation.Affected if The version is 1.12.0, 1.12.1, 1.12.2, 1.12.3, or 1.12.4 (any 1.12.x before 1.12.5).
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Verify WebSocket protocol support is presentCheck if the WebSocket dissector is available by examining Wireshark's enabled protocols or looking for 'websocket' in the dissector list (Analyze > Enabled Protocols).Affected if WebSocket protocol dissector is enabled and listed as available in your installation.
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Locate the packet-websocket.c source fileIf Wireshark was built from source, locate packet-websocket.c in the epan/dissectors directory and check its file date or look for the recursive function implementation.Affected if The file exists and contains the recursive algorithm pattern that can be triggered by malformed packets.
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Confirm packet capture functionality is in useVerify that Wireshark or TShark is actively used to dissect pcap or pcapng files that may contain WebSocket traffic.Affected if You routinely open or process capture files containing WebSocket traffic (port 80/443 with WebSocket upgrade headers, or ws:// traffic).
You are affected if you run Wireshark version 1.12.0 through 1.12.4 and use the WebSocket dissector to analyze capture files that could contain maliciously crafted WebSocket packets.
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 version 1.12.5 or later to patch the recursive algorithm vulnerability in the WebSocket dissector. Consider disabling the WebSocket dissector as a temporary workaround if immediate patching 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
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-3810 — 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-2015-3810 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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