TcpdumpApplication

CVE-2018-10105

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.9.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
tcpdump before 4.9.3 mishandles the printing of SMB data (issue 2 of 2).

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

tcpdump versions before 4.9.3 contain a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing and printing SMB (Server Message Block) protocol data. The improper handling of SMB packet data during the printing/display process can be exploited by attackers sending specially crafted SMB packets to the network segment being monitored, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the tcpdump process.

MitigationUpgrade tcpdump to version 4.9.3 or later. As a critical-severity vulnerability with network-exploitable characteristics, prioritize patching systems where tcpdump is used for packet analysis on production or exposed networks.

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
TcpdumpApplication
Affected:< 4.9.3

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify tcpdump installation
    Run 'tcpdump --version' or check package manager (dpkg -l tcpdump, rpm -q tcpdump)
    Affected if tcpdump is installed and version is below 4.9.3
  2. Verify SMB parsing is active
    Review tcpdump command-line arguments or capture configuration for 'smb' or port 445 filters
    Affected if tcpdump is actively parsing or displaying SMB/SMB2 traffic (port 445) or using the 'smb' print option
  3. Check capture interface exposure
    Confirm tcpdump is bound to a network interface receiving live traffic (not just reading pcap files)
    Affected if tcpdump is sniffing on a live interface and processing SMB packets from the network

You are affected if tcpdump version is below 4.9.3 AND the tool is actively parsing SMB protocol data from live network traffic or capture files.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.9.3 or later
Fixed in 4.9.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade tcpdump to version 4.9.3 or later. As a critical-severity vulnerability with network-exploitable characteristics, prioritize patching systems where tcpdump is used for packet analysis on production or exposed networks.

Recommended fix High confidence

tcpdump 4.9.3

  1. 1. Check the current installed version of tcpdump using: tcpdump --version or rpm -q tcpdump / dpkg -l tcpdump
  2. 2. Upgrade tcpdump to version 4.9.3 or later using your package manager (e.g., yum update tcpdump, apt-get install tcpdump, or zypper update tcpdump)
  3. 3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version again
  4. 4. Test that tcpdump functions normally with the new version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Tcpdump Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10105 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10105 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