CVE-2015-3811 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
epan/dissectors/packet-wcp.c in the WCP dissector in Wireshark 1.10.x before 1.10.14 and 1.12.x before 1.12.5 improperly refers to previously processed bytes, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted packet, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-2188.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/17/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-3811 represents a critical memory corruption issue within the Wireshark network protocol analyzer software. This flaw exists in the WCP dissector component that processes WCP protocol packets, specifically affecting versions 1.10.x prior to 1.10.14 and 1.12.x prior to 1.12.5. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of packet data during the dissection process where the dissector attempts to reference bytes that have already been processed or are no longer valid in memory. This memory access pattern creates a scenario where the application encounters invalid data pointers or corrupted memory regions, leading to unpredictable behavior.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the WCP dissector's failure to properly manage memory references when processing protocol fields. When Wireshark encounters a crafted WCP packet, the dissector attempts to access previously processed byte sequences that may have been overwritten or deallocated during the parsing process. This type of memory access violation directly correlates to CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions where applications access memory locations outside the intended buffer boundaries. The improper memory reference pattern can cause the application to dereference invalid pointers or access deallocated memory, resulting in segmentation faults or access violations that terminate the application process.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant denial of service risk for network monitoring and security analysis environments that rely on Wireshark for packet inspection. Remote attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting specially formatted WCP protocol packets that trigger the memory corruption when processed by the dissector. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as this vulnerability could potentially be leveraged in more sophisticated attacks where an attacker might attempt to cause repeated crashes to maintain persistent denial of service conditions. The vulnerability's similarity to CVE-2015-2188 indicates a pattern of memory handling issues within Wireshark's protocol dissectors, highlighting the broader security concerns in the application's packet processing architecture.
The remediation approach for CVE-2015-3811 involves updating to the patched versions of Wireshark where the WCP dissector has been corrected to properly manage memory references and avoid accessing previously processed bytes. Network security professionals should prioritize this update across all systems where Wireshark is deployed for network monitoring, traffic analysis, or security auditing purposes. The fix typically involves implementing proper bounds checking and ensuring that dissector functions maintain appropriate state management when processing protocol fields. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure to potentially malicious packet traffic while awaiting patch deployment. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper memory management in network analysis tools and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks targeting network infrastructure components.