VulnerabilityPublished 7 Jun 2023Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-0667: Wireshark · Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Affects WiresharkSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium : upgrade to 4.0.6 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 2.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 80% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.0.6

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Jun 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade wireshark/wireshark to 4.0.6.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubwireshark/wireshark`pkg:github/wireshark/wireshark`Other threats	Affected <4.0.6	Fixed in 4.0.6

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Monitor Wireshark Foundation announcements and promptly apply official patches or updates addressing CVE-2023-0667 once released.
If you cannot patch yet, avoid opening untrusted or suspicious capture files, especially those containing MSMMS protocol data.
Implement strict network segmentation and firewall rules to limit exposure of systems running Wireshark to untrusted networks or sources.
Use sandboxing or isolated environments for analyzing unknown capture files to contain potential exploitation.
Educate security analysts and network engineers on the risks of opening unverified capture files and encourage verification of file provenance.
Employ endpoint protection solutions that can detect anomalous behavior or crashes related to Wireshark processes.
Consider alternative packet analysis tools or updated versions that do not exhibit this vulnerability for critical operations.
Regularly audit and restrict user privileges to minimize the impact of potential code execution within Wireshark's process context.

Description

Due to failure in validating the length provided by an attacker-crafted MSMMS packet, Wireshark version 4.0.5 and prior, in an unusual configuration, is susceptible to a heap-based buffer overflow, and possibly code execution in the context of the process running Wireshark

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-0667 is the potential disruption of network monitoring and forensic analysis capabilities due to Wireshark crashes or instability. This can hinder incident response and network troubleshooting efforts, especially in security operations centers (SOCs) and critical infrastructure environments that rely heavily on Wireshark for packet inspection. Although code execution is possible, it is less likely given the complexity and user interaction required, reducing the risk of widespread compromise. However, successful exploitation could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Wireshark user, potentially leading to further system compromise if the user has elevated rights. The availability impact may also affect organizations during active incident investigations, delaying detection and mitigation of other threats. European entities in sectors such as telecommunications, finance, energy, and government, which frequently use Wireshark for network diagnostics, could face operational disruptions. Additionally, the vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks against security analysts or researchers if malicious capture files are shared or downloaded from untrusted sources.

CWE-122Heap-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #16
A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().
Pre-design: Use a language or compiler that performs automatic bounds checking.
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Forced Integer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 00:07 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-122

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats