CVE-2024-11596 Overview
CVE-2024-11596 is a denial of service vulnerability affecting Wireshark's ECMP (Equal-Cost Multi-Path) protocol dissector. The vulnerability allows attackers to crash Wireshark through packet injection or by enticing a user to open a specially crafted capture file. This issue affects Wireshark versions 4.4.0 to 4.4.1 and 4.2.0 to 4.2.8, making it a significant concern for network administrators and security professionals who rely on Wireshark for network traffic analysis.
Critical Impact
Successful exploitation causes Wireshark to crash, disrupting network analysis operations and potentially masking malicious network activity during the denial of service window.
Affected Products
- Wireshark versions 4.4.0 to 4.4.1
- Wireshark versions 4.2.0 to 4.2.8
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-11-21 - CVE-2024-11596 published to NVD
- 2025-05-07 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-11596
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-126 (Buffer Over-read) and CWE-125 (Out-of-Bounds Read), indicating that the ECMP dissector fails to properly validate buffer boundaries when processing protocol data. The flaw resides in how Wireshark's ECMP dissector handles malformed or crafted network packets, leading to memory access violations that trigger application crashes.
The vulnerability requires local access and user interaction to exploit. An attacker must either inject malicious packets into a network segment being captured by the victim or convince a user to open a malicious capture file (pcap/pcapng). While this limits the attack surface compared to remotely exploitable vulnerabilities, it remains a significant concern in environments where Wireshark is used to analyze untrusted network traffic or capture files from external sources.
Root Cause
The root cause stems from improper bounds checking in the ECMP protocol dissector code. When the dissector processes specially crafted ECMP protocol data, it attempts to read beyond the allocated buffer boundaries. This out-of-bounds read operation causes the application to crash, resulting in a denial of service condition. The vulnerability specifically affects the memory read operations within the dissector's parsing logic.
Attack Vector
The attack can be executed through two primary vectors:
Packet Injection: An attacker on the same network segment can inject malformed ECMP packets that, when captured and processed by Wireshark, trigger the crash condition.
Malicious Capture File: An attacker can craft a capture file containing the malicious ECMP protocol data and distribute it to victims through email, file sharing, or other means. When the victim opens the file in Wireshark, the application crashes.
The vulnerability mechanism involves crafting ECMP protocol data that causes the dissector to perform out-of-bounds memory reads. When Wireshark's ECMP dissector encounters this malformed data, it fails to properly validate the data length before attempting to read memory, resulting in an application crash. For detailed technical information, see the Wireshark Security Advisory WNPA-SEC-2024-15 and the GitLab Wireshark Issue 20214.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-11596
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected Wireshark crashes during capture or when opening capture files
- Wireshark crash logs indicating segmentation faults or access violations in ECMP dissector components
- Capture files containing unusually structured ECMP protocol data
Detection Strategies
- Monitor for repeated Wireshark process terminations that may indicate exploitation attempts
- Implement file integrity monitoring on capture files before analysis in Wireshark
- Review system logs for Wireshark crash events correlated with specific capture file access
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable crash reporting in Wireshark to capture details of unexpected terminations
- Implement network traffic analysis to detect potentially malicious ECMP packets before capture
- Establish baseline Wireshark stability metrics to identify anomalous crash patterns
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-11596
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade Wireshark to version 4.4.2 or later for the 4.4.x branch
- Upgrade Wireshark to version 4.2.9 or later for the 4.2.x branch
- Avoid opening capture files from untrusted sources until patched
- Consider using capture-only tools like dumpcap or tcpdump for untrusted network segments, then analyze with an updated Wireshark instance
Patch Information
Wireshark has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Users should upgrade to Wireshark 4.4.2 or 4.2.9 or later versions, which contain the fix for the ECMP dissector crash. Detailed patch information is available in the Wireshark Security Advisory WNPA-SEC-2024-15.
Workarounds
- Disable the ECMP protocol dissector if ECMP analysis is not required
- Use capture filters to exclude ECMP traffic when possible
- Analyze potentially malicious captures in an isolated environment
# Disable ECMP dissector via Wireshark preferences
# Navigate to: Edit -> Preferences -> Protocols -> ECMP
# Uncheck "Enable ECMP dissector"
# Alternative: Use command line to disable the dissector
wireshark --disable-protocol ecmp -r capture_file.pcapng
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
