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WiresharkApplication

CVE-2016-4418

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-05-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
epan/dissectors/packet-ber.c in the ASN.1 BER dissector in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.10 and 2.x before 2.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (buffer over-read and application crash) via a crafted packet that triggers an empty set.

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 ASN.1 BER dissector (packet-ber.c) in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.10 and 2.x before 2.0.2 contains a buffer over-read vulnerability triggered by specially crafted packets containing an empty set, leading to denial of service via application crash.

MitigationUpdate Wireshark to version 1.12.10 or later (1.12.x branch) or version 2.0.2 or later (2.x branch) to obtain the patched 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
WiresharkApplication
Affected:= 1.12.0= 1.12.1= 1.12.2= 1.12.3= 1.12.4= 1.12.5= 1.12.6= 1.12.7= 1.12.8= 1.12.9= 2.0.0= 2.0.1

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
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 installed Wireshark version
    Run 'wireshark --version' or 'tshark --version' from command line to see the exact version number
    Affected if Version is 1.12.0 through 1.12.9, or 2.0.0 or 2.0.1
  2. Confirm BER dissector is present
    Look for packet-ber.c or the BER dissector module in the Wireshark installation directory (usually in plugins or epan directories)
    Affected if The BER dissector module exists in the installation
  3. Verify if packet capture analysis is performed
    Check if Wireshark or tshark is used to analyze ASN.1/BER encoded network traffic
    Affected if You use Wireshark to analyze packets that may contain ASN.1 BER encoded data

You are affected if you run Wireshark version 1.12.0-1.12.9 or 2.0.0-2.0.1 and use the BER dissector to analyze network traffic.

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 1.12.10 or later (1.12.x branch) or version 2.0.2 or later (2.x branch) to obtain the patched dissector.

Fix this in Wireshark Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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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-2016-4418 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