CVE-2012-1594 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
epan/dissectors/packet-ieee80211.c in the IEEE 802.11 dissector in Wireshark 1.6.x before 1.6.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a crafted packet.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/22/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-1594 represents a critical denial of service flaw within Wireshark's IEEE 802.11 protocol dissector. This issue affects Wireshark versions 1.6.x prior to 1.6.6, specifically targeting the packet-ieee80211.c file that handles the analysis of wireless network traffic. The flaw manifests when the dissector encounters a specially crafted IEEE 802.11 packet that triggers an infinite loop in the parsing logic, causing the application to become unresponsive and consume excessive system resources. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-835 category of infinite loop or iteration without termination, which is a well-documented weakness in software security that can lead to system instability and resource exhaustion.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the way Wireshark processes IEEE 802.11 frames during network traffic analysis. When a malformed packet is encountered, the dissector's parsing algorithm enters a state where it continuously iterates through a processing loop without proper termination conditions. This occurs because the dissector fails to validate certain packet header fields or frame structures that would normally cause early termination of the parsing process. The infinite loop consumes CPU cycles indefinitely until the system resources are exhausted or the application is manually terminated, effectively rendering the network analysis tool unusable for its intended purpose.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to network security analysts and administrators who rely on Wireshark for traffic monitoring and forensic analysis. An attacker could remotely exploit this flaw by transmitting a specially crafted IEEE 802.11 packet to a system running vulnerable Wireshark software, causing the application to hang and potentially crash the entire system. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where Wireshark is used for continuous network monitoring or in security operations centers where system availability is paramount. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the infinite loop could potentially affect other applications running on the same system due to resource exhaustion.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2012-1594 involves immediate patching of affected Wireshark installations to version 1.6.6 or later, which contains the necessary fixes to prevent the infinite loop condition. Network administrators should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure to potentially malicious traffic, while monitoring for unusual network behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malformed IEEE 802.11 frames before they reach vulnerable systems. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.001 which covers network denial of service attacks, and represents a classic example of how protocol parsing vulnerabilities can be exploited to achieve system-level disruption. Organizations should also conduct regular security assessments to identify and remediate similar parsing vulnerabilities in other network analysis tools and protocol dissectors to prevent similar incidents in the future.