CVE-2018-14341 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
In Wireshark 2.6.0 to 2.6.1, 2.4.0 to 2.4.7, and 2.2.0 to 2.2.15, the DICOM dissector could go into a large or infinite loop. This was addressed in epan/dissectors/packet-dcm.c by preventing an offset overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/18/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-14341 affects Wireshark network protocol analyzer versions within specific ranges including 2.6.0 to 2.6.1, 2.4.0 to 2.4.7, and 2.2.0 to 2.2.15. This issue resides in the DICOM dissector component which is responsible for analyzing digital imaging and communications in medicine protocol traffic. The flaw manifests as a potential denial of service condition where the dissector enters into a large or infinite loop during packet processing, effectively causing the application to become unresponsive or consume excessive system resources. The root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper handling of packet offsets within the dissector logic, creating a scenario where the processing loop does not terminate correctly.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within the epan/dissectors/packet-dcm.c file where the DICOM dissector processes network packets containing medical imaging data. When malformed or specially crafted DICOM packets are processed, the dissector's offset calculation logic fails to properly validate input parameters, leading to an overflow condition that causes the processing loop to continue indefinitely. This behavior represents a classic example of a resource exhaustion vulnerability that can be exploited by attackers who craft malicious network traffic to trigger the problematic code path. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-835, which specifically addresses infinite loops in software implementations where the loop termination condition is never met due to improper input validation or boundary checking.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to network monitoring environments where Wireshark is deployed for continuous packet analysis. The infinite loop condition can cause complete system unresponsiveness, potentially leading to network monitoring gaps that could mask actual security incidents or network anomalies. Security operations teams relying on Wireshark for real-time traffic analysis may experience complete service disruption when encountering maliciously crafted DICOM packets, which could be particularly problematic in healthcare environments where medical device networks are monitored. The impact extends beyond simple denial of service as the resource exhaustion could affect system stability and potentially provide attackers with a means to conduct persistent denial of service attacks against network monitoring infrastructure.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability involves updating to patched versions of Wireshark where the offset overflow issue has been resolved in the packet-dcm.c file. The fix implemented by the Wireshark development team specifically addresses the problematic offset handling logic to prevent the overflow condition that leads to infinite looping. Organizations should prioritize patching affected systems, particularly those running older versions of Wireshark in production environments. Additionally, network administrators should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure to potentially malicious DICOM traffic, while monitoring for unusual patterns in network traffic that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.001, which covers network disruption through resource exhaustion attacks, making it a critical concern for cybersecurity teams responsible for maintaining network availability and monitoring capabilities.