CVE-2006-1938 in Ethereal
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in Ethereal 0.8.x up to 0.10.14 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash from null dereference) via the (1) Sniffer capture or (2) SMB PIPE dissector.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/17/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-1938 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting Ethereal network protocol analyzer versions 0.8.x through 0.10.14. This vulnerability stems from unspecified flaws within the software's packet analysis capabilities, specifically impacting two distinct dissectors that process network traffic. The affected components include the Sniffer capture functionality and the SMB PIPE dissector, both of which are essential for analyzing specific network protocols and capturing network data for forensic analysis. These dissectors are responsible for parsing and interpreting network packets to provide meaningful protocol information to network analysts and security professionals.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability manifests as a null dereference condition that occurs when the software attempts to access memory locations that have not been properly initialized or allocated. When remote attackers craft malicious network packets designed to trigger these specific dissectors, the Ethereal application encounters a null pointer reference that causes an immediate crash and subsequent termination of the application process. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of software defects that can be exploited through malformed input data without requiring authentication or elevated privileges. The null dereference mechanism represents a fundamental memory management error where the program attempts to execute operations on a pointer that contains a null value, leading to system instability and service disruption.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple application crashes, as it can be leveraged by remote attackers to perform denial of service attacks against systems running vulnerable versions of Ethereal. Network administrators and security analysts who rely on Ethereal for network monitoring, intrusion detection, or forensic analysis may find their monitoring capabilities compromised when attackers exploit this vulnerability through crafted network traffic. The attack vector requires only the ability to send network packets to the targeted system, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network traffic analysis tools are actively monitoring network communications. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability of network monitoring services and can potentially disrupt security operations that depend on continuous network traffic analysis.
Organizations using vulnerable versions of Ethereal should immediately implement mitigation strategies to protect their network monitoring infrastructure. The most effective immediate solution involves upgrading to a patched version of Ethereal that addresses these null dereference conditions in the affected dissectors. System administrators should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of network monitoring systems to untrusted network traffic. Additional defensive measures include deploying network intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malicious packet patterns, implementing redundant monitoring solutions to maintain visibility during potential attacks, and establishing incident response procedures for handling denial of service events. This vulnerability aligns with attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the service disruption category, specifically targeting availability through application-level denial of service attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management in network security tools, as outlined in CWE-476 which addresses null pointer dereference conditions that can lead to system instability and service disruption.