Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-15163

DoS in Wireshark 4.4.0 – 4.4.17

DoS
Published
08 July 2026
Modified
09 July 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0018 8th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-15163 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Wireshark Wireshark. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-7 (Boundary Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Multiple protocol dissector infinite loops in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.6 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.16 allow denial of service

CWE(s)
CWE-835

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability enables an adversary to trigger infinite loops in Wireshark protocol dissectors via crafted network traffic, directly causing application-level denial of service (T1499.004).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-6521Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6531Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6528Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6534Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6522Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6536Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-0960Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6523Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6519Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-7375Same product: Wireshark Wireshark

Affected Assets

wireshark
wireshark
4.4.0 — 4.4.17 · 4.6.0 — 4.6.7

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SC-7 Boundary Protection
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-4 System Monitoring
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-7 Boundary Protection good match
prevent

Boundary protection at network ingress/egress can block or rate-limit the malicious traffic that triggers the Wireshark dissector loops before it reaches analyst workstations.

SI-4 System Monitoring good match
detect

System monitoring can detect anomalous network traffic patterns or Wireshark process hangs indicative of the infinite-loop DoS condition.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Flaw remediation ensures timely patching of Wireshark to eliminate the vulnerable protocol dissectors that cause the infinite loops.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (reviews, testing, static analysis) directly prevent introduction of infinite-loop defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Static analysis and vuln scanning during asset assessment can detect unreachable loop exits.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles none match
none

Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.

References