Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-6523

DoS in Wireshark 4.4.0 – 4.4.14

Public PoCDoS
Published
30 April 2026
Modified
01 May 2026
Patch / 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 0.0012 3th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-6523 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 3th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

GNW protocol dissector infinite loop in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.14 allows denial of service

CWE(s)

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.
Why these techniques?

Infinite loop in Wireshark dissector enables crafted-packet DoS via application exploitation.

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

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impactconfidence: HIGH
Infinite loop in protocol dissector allows crafted network traffic to crash or hang Wireshark, enabling application DoS via exploitation.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-6521Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-6531Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-15163Same 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-2026-6519Same product: Wireshark Wireshark
CVE-2026-7375Same product: Wireshark Wireshark

Affected Assets

wireshark
wireshark
4.4.0 — 4.4.14 · 4.6.0 — 4.6.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires timely patching of Wireshark to remediate the GNW dissector infinite-loop flaw (CWE-835).

prevent

Requires validation of network capture input before processing, which can block malformed GNW packets that trigger the loop.

prevent

Provides denial-of-service protection mechanisms that limit the impact of an infinite loop in a protocol dissector.

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.

detects

Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.

prevents

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

prevents

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

prevents

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

none

Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.

none

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

References