CVE-2018-9264 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
In Wireshark 2.4.0 to 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 to 2.2.13, the ADB dissector could crash with a heap-based buffer overflow. This was addressed in epan/dissectors/packet-adb.c by checking for a length inconsistency.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-9264 represents a critical heap-based buffer overflow flaw within Wireshark's Android Debug Bridge (ADB) dissector component. This issue affected versions ranging from 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 through 2.2.13, creating a significant security risk for network analysis operations. The flaw emerged from improper input validation within the packet-adb.c file, which is responsible for dissecting ADB protocol traffic during network packet analysis. When processing malformed ADB packets, the dissector failed to properly validate the length parameters of incoming data structures, leading to memory corruption that could result in application instability or arbitrary code execution.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from a classic buffer overflow condition where insufficient boundary checks allowed data to be written beyond allocated memory regions. The ADB dissector in Wireshark operates by parsing protocol-specific data fields and constructing human-readable packet information for network traffic analysis. When encountering malformed ADB packets containing oversized or incorrectly formatted length fields, the dissector would attempt to allocate memory based on these invalid parameters, causing heap corruption. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-121, heap-based buffer overflow, and specifically aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for process injection and T1566.001 for spearphishing attachment. The flaw represents a fundamental failure in input sanitization and memory management within the protocol dissector framework.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-9264 extends beyond simple application crashes, as it could potentially enable remote code execution in scenarios where an attacker controls network traffic passing through a vulnerable Wireshark instance. Network administrators and security analysts who use Wireshark for monitoring ADB traffic, particularly in mobile forensics or penetration testing environments, faced elevated risk exposure. The vulnerability was particularly concerning because ADB is commonly used in mobile device debugging and testing, making it a frequent target for both legitimate network monitoring and malicious exploitation attempts. Any user who processed ADB traffic through the affected Wireshark versions risked system compromise, especially in environments where network traffic analysis tools are deployed with elevated privileges or access to sensitive network data.
The remediation for this vulnerability involved implementing proper length validation checks within the epan/dissectors/packet-adb.c file as referenced in the original patch. This fix addressed the core issue by ensuring that all length parameters in ADB protocol packets are validated against expected ranges before memory allocation occurs. The solution follows standard security practices for preventing buffer overflow conditions and aligns with industry best practices outlined in the CWE guidelines for heap memory management. Organizations using Wireshark were advised to upgrade to patched versions immediately, as the vulnerability could be exploited without user interaction during normal packet analysis operations. The fix demonstrates the importance of input validation in network protocol analysis tools and highlights the critical need for robust memory management in dissectors that process untrusted network data, particularly in security tools that operate at the network protocol level where input validation is paramount for preventing exploitation.