CVE-2018-5336 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
In Wireshark 2.4.0 to 2.4.3 and 2.2.0 to 2.2.11, the JSON, XML, NTP, XMPP, and GDB dissectors could crash. This was addressed in epan/tvbparse.c by limiting the recursion depth.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/20/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-5336 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting multiple versions of the popular network protocol analyzer Wireshark. This issue impacts versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.3 and 2.2.0 through 2.2.11, where specific dissectors within the application demonstrate problematic behavior that can lead to complete application termination. The affected dissectors include JSON, XML, NTP, XMPP, and GDB parsers, which are essential components responsible for decoding and interpreting various network protocols during packet analysis operations. The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the lack of proper recursion depth limitation within the protocol parsing logic, creating an exploitable condition where maliciously crafted network packets can trigger infinite recursive calls.
The technical flaw manifests in the epan/tvbparse.c file where the recursion depth handling was insufficient to prevent excessive nested function calls during protocol parsing operations. When Wireshark encounters specially crafted packets that exploit these dissectors, the parsing functions can recursively call themselves without proper bounds checking, eventually exhausting system resources and causing the application to crash. This behavior aligns with CWE-674, which describes the issue of uncontrolled recursion leading to resource exhaustion and system instability. The vulnerability operates at the application layer where network protocol analysis occurs, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network monitoring is critical for security operations.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-5336 extends beyond simple application crashes, potentially disrupting network monitoring activities and security operations that depend on Wireshark's reliability. Network administrators and security analysts who rely on Wireshark for troubleshooting and security incident response may experience unexpected service interruptions when analyzing traffic containing maliciously crafted packets. This vulnerability creates a potential attack vector where adversaries could deliberately cause network analysis tools to become unavailable, effectively creating a denial of service condition that undermines the integrity of network security monitoring. The flaw particularly affects environments where automated network monitoring systems depend on Wireshark's stability, as any disruption could compromise broader security infrastructure.
The mitigation strategy implemented by the Wireshark development team involved adding explicit recursion depth limiting mechanisms within the epan/tvbparse.c file to prevent excessive nested parsing operations. This approach directly addresses the underlying architectural issue by establishing clear boundaries on recursive function calls within the protocol dissectors. Organizations should immediately upgrade to patched versions of Wireshark to eliminate this vulnerability, as the fix represents a fundamental improvement to the application's resource management and stability. The solution follows established security practices for preventing stack overflow conditions and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network disruption through resource exhaustion attacks. Regular security updates and patch management processes should be maintained to ensure continued protection against similar vulnerabilities in network analysis tools.