CVE-2014-6421 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in the SDP dissector in Wireshark 1.10.x before 1.10.10 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted packet that leverages split memory ownership between the SDP and RTP dissectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/21/2022
The CVE-2014-6421 vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free condition within Wireshark's Session Description Protocol dissector, specifically affecting versions 1.10.x prior to 1.10.10. This flaw demonstrates a fundamental memory management issue that arises from improper handling of memory ownership between different protocol dissectors within the network analysis tool. The vulnerability stems from the way Wireshark processes Session Description Protocol packets, which are commonly used in multimedia communication sessions, particularly those involving Real-time Transport Protocol streams. When processing malformed SDP packets, the dissector fails to properly manage memory references, creating a scenario where freed memory locations are accessed after being deallocated, leading to unpredictable behavior and system instability.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through carefully crafted SDP packets that trigger a specific memory management sequence between the SDP and RTP dissectors. This split memory ownership problem creates a race condition where the SDP dissector allocates memory for certain packet structures, but the RTP dissector subsequently attempts to access or modify the same memory locations after they have been freed by the SDP processing. This memory management conflict results in undefined behavior that manifests as application crashes, effectively enabling remote attackers to perform denial of service attacks against systems running vulnerable versions of Wireshark. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the protocol parsing layer, meaning that any network traffic containing malicious SDP data could trigger the exploit without requiring user interaction or specific privileges.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to network security operations and forensic analysis capabilities. Organizations relying on Wireshark for network monitoring, incident response, and security analysis face potential service disruption when attackers exploit this flaw through crafted network packets. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can target systems from anywhere on the network without requiring physical access or authentication credentials. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability of network analysis tools that security teams depend upon for monitoring network traffic, identifying security incidents, and conducting forensic investigations. The impact extends beyond simple application crashes, as the instability can potentially lead to data loss, corrupted capture files, and complete system unavailability during critical security operations.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2014-6421 focuses primarily on immediate version upgrades to Wireshark 1.10.10 or later, which contain the necessary memory management fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all instances of Wireshark are updated across their network infrastructure. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unusual network traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, though the vulnerability itself does not enable arbitrary code execution or data theft. Security teams should verify that their network analysis tools are properly configured to handle malformed packets and implement network segmentation where possible to limit the impact of potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-416, which addresses use-after-free conditions in memory management, and represents a clear example of how protocol parsing flaws can lead to denial of service conditions in network security tools. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to the T1499.004 technique related to network denial of service, and demonstrates how weaknesses in network protocol analysis tools can be leveraged for operational disruption rather than direct system compromise.