CVE-2017-9353 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
In Wireshark 2.2.0 to 2.2.6, the IPv6 dissector could crash. This was addressed in epan/dissectors/packet-ipv6.c by validating an IPv6 address.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-9353 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting Wireshark versions 2.2.0 through 2.2.6. This issue resides within the IPv6 dissector component of the network protocol analysis tool, which is responsible for parsing and interpreting IPv6 packet structures during network traffic analysis. The flaw manifests as a potential crash condition that can be triggered by maliciously crafted IPv6 packets, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network monitoring is critical and continuous operation is required.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the packet-ipv6.c file in the epan/dissectors directory of Wireshark's codebase. Specifically, the IPv6 dissector failed to properly validate IPv6 addresses before processing them, creating a condition where malformed or unexpected address formats could cause the application to terminate unexpectedly. This type of flaw falls under CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and more specifically aligns with CWE-787, representing out-of-bounds write operations that can occur when insufficient validation occurs on user-supplied data.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-9353 extends beyond simple application crashes, as it can severely disrupt network monitoring operations and compromise the integrity of network analysis tasks. Network administrators and security analysts who rely on Wireshark for real-time traffic inspection may experience unexpected service interruptions, potentially leading to loss of critical network visibility during security incidents or network troubleshooting activities. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely through network traffic capture, making it particularly concerning for systems that continuously monitor network flows without proper access controls or filtering mechanisms.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1498, which describes denial of service attacks targeting network infrastructure. The flaw demonstrates how seemingly benign protocol parsing functions can become attack vectors when proper input validation is omitted. The exploitability of this vulnerability is relatively low compared to other network-based attacks since it requires specific conditions to trigger the malformed packet processing, but the potential for disruption remains significant in production environments where continuous monitoring is essential.
The fix implemented by the Wireshark development team involved strengthening the validation mechanisms within the IPv6 dissector to properly handle edge cases and malformed address formats. This remediation addresses the core issue by ensuring that IPv6 addresses are validated before any processing occurs, preventing the crash condition that previously allowed attackers to cause service disruption. Organizations should prioritize updating to Wireshark versions beyond 2.2.6 to mitigate this vulnerability, as the fix represents a fundamental improvement in input validation practices that aligns with secure coding standards and best practices for network protocol analysis tools.