Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-3201 is a medium-severity Improperly Controlled Sequential Memory Allocation (CWE-1325) vulnerability in Wireshark Wireshark. Its CVSS base score is 4.7 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Network Denial of Service (T1498); ranked at the 8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-10 (Concurrent Session Control) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-3201 is a memory exhaustion vulnerability in the USB HID protocol dissector within Wireshark versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.3 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.13. Published on 2026-02-25T15:20:55.617, the issue enables denial of service and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.7 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). It is linked to CWE-1325 (Improperly Controlled Sequential Memory Allocation) and CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling).
The vulnerability can be exploited by an unprivileged local attacker who convinces a user to open a malicious packet capture file in an affected Wireshark instance. Exploitation requires local access vector, high attack complexity, and user interaction, such as loading the crafted file, but no special privileges. Successful exploitation leads to high-impact availability disruption through memory exhaustion, with no confidentiality or integrity effects.
Wireshark advisories provide mitigation guidance, including details in WNPA-SEC-2026-05 at https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2026-05.html and the related GitLab issue at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/issues/20972.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-8660
Vulnerability Data
USB HID protocol dissector memory exhaustion in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.3 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.13 allows denial of service
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V2.4.1V13.1.2V13.2.6V15.4.4
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces a hard limit on concurrent sessions, structurally preventing unbounded resource allocation.
SC-6 directly enforces resource quotas and priority allocations that stop unbounded sequential memory requests from exhausting the system.
Imposes a limit on consecutive invalid attempts, preventing one specific class of unbounded resource consumption.
Reduces impact of resulting DoS events without preventing the underlying lack of allocation limits.
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.
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.
Baseline comparison of CPU, memory and bandwidth usage helps surface uncontrolled resource allocations before they cause service degradation.
Security testing can detect unbounded allocation patterns, but removing the weakness does not fulfill testing obligations.
Capacity projections and elasticity measures ensure that allocation requests are bounded and can be throttled, reducing the window in which an attacker can force unbounded resource reservations.
Defining retention periods and deletion schedules for backup copies prevents indefinite accumulation of data on storage media without corresponding resource-management controls.
Architectural redundancy and automatic failover limit the impact of an attacker who forces excessive allocations, because spare capacity can absorb the load until the primary instance recovers.
Secure development life cycle includes resource-management requirements that can prevent uncontrolled per-object allocations.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
- V-248552 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
- V-248553 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
- V-271710 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
- V-271709 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230244 RHEL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770