tcpdump libpcap up to 1.10.5 pcap_ether_aton buffer over-read

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in tcpdump libpcap up to 1.10.5. It has been declared as problematic. The affected element is the function pcap_ether_aton. The manipulation results in buffer over-read. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2025-11961. The attack must be initiated from a local position. There is no exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in tcpdump libpcap up to 1.10.5. Affected is the function pcap_ether_aton. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer over-read vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-126. The product reads from a buffer using buffer access mechanisms such as indexes or pointers that reference memory locations after the targeted buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

pcap_ether_aton() is an auxiliary function in libpcap, it takes a string argument and returns a fixed-size allocated buffer. The string argument must be a well-formed MAC-48 address in one of the supported formats, but this requirement has been poorly documented. If an application calls the function with an argument that deviates from the expected format, the function can read data beyond the end of the provided string and write data beyond the end of the allocated buffer.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-11961 since 10/20/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Local access is required to approach this attack. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281502 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-11961), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 1.10.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b2d2f9a9a0581c40780bde509f7cc715920f1c02 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (281502). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Packet Analyzer Software

Vendor

• tcpdump

Name

• libpcap

Version

• 1.10.0
• 1.10.1
• 1.10.2
• 1.10.3
• 1.10.4
• 1.10.5

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

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• 🔒
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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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