CVE-2007-6120 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
The Bluetooth SDP dissector Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) 0.99.2 to 0.99.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-6120 affects Wireshark versions 0.99.2 through 0.99.6, specifically within the Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) dissector component. This flaw represents a critical denial of service condition that can be exploited remotely, potentially disrupting network analysis operations and compromising the availability of security tools used by network administrators and security professionals. The issue manifests as an infinite loop within the dissector logic when processing specially crafted Bluetooth SDP packets, effectively causing the application to consume excessive CPU resources and become unresponsive.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in inadequate input validation and error handling within the Bluetooth SDP dissector module of Wireshark. When the dissector encounters malformed or unexpected SDP packet structures during network traffic analysis, it fails to properly terminate its processing loop, resulting in continuous execution that can only be stopped by manually terminating the Wireshark process. This behavior aligns with CWE-835, which describes the weakness of infinite loops or infinite recursion in software implementations. The vulnerability demonstrates how protocol parsing errors can be exploited to create denial of service conditions, particularly in network analysis tools that must process diverse and potentially malicious traffic patterns.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to network security operations and incident response activities. Security professionals who rely on Wireshark for network traffic analysis and forensic investigations could find their analysis tools rendered unusable by a single malicious Bluetooth packet. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can potentially disrupt network monitoring systems without requiring physical access or local privileges. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where continuous network monitoring is critical, such as enterprise security operations centers, network defense systems, and forensic analysis workstations. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromising the integrity of ongoing security investigations and network assessments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2007-6120 should prioritize immediate software updates to Wireshark versions that contain patches addressing the SDP dissector infinite loop issue. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure to potentially malicious Bluetooth traffic. Network administrators should consider deploying intrusion detection systems that can identify and block suspicious Bluetooth traffic patterns. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date network security tools and demonstrates how seemingly minor protocol parsing issues can have significant operational impacts. Security teams should also consider implementing automated monitoring for unusual CPU consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to the T1499.004 technique related to network disruption and the T1566.002 technique involving wireless network attacks. Organizations should also review their network monitoring practices to ensure that such denial of service conditions are detected and responded to promptly. The incident underscores the necessity of robust input validation and proper error handling in network protocol analysis tools, particularly those handling diverse traffic types from potentially untrusted sources.