Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-5656 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Wireshark Wireshark. Its CVSS base score is 7.0 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); 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-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2026-5656 is a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) affecting the profile import functionality in Wireshark versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14. Published on 2026-05-01, it enables denial of service and potential code execution. The issue has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.0 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
An attacker with local access can exploit this vulnerability, though it requires high attack complexity and user interaction, such as convincing a user to import a malicious profile. No privileges are needed (PR:N). Successful exploitation leads to high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, manifesting as denial of service or possible arbitrary code execution.
Mitigation details are available in the Wireshark security advisory WNPA-SEC-2026-21 at https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2026-21.html and the related GitLab issue at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/issues/21115.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-26463
Vulnerability Data
Profile import path traversal in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.14 allows denial of service and possible code execution
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
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.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
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.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.