VulnerabilityPublished 12 Apr 2023Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-1994: Null Pointer Dereference in Wireshark

Affects WiresharkSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.3 Medium : upgrade to 4.0.5 or 3.6.13 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.3Medium

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

EPSS: 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 62% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.0.5, 3.6.13

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

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

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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Apr 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 the Debian debian/wireshark package to 4.0.5 or 3.6.13.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Debiandebian/wireshark`pkg:deb/debian/wireshark`Other threats	Affected <4.0.5 <3.6.13	Fixed in 4.0.5 3.6.13

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade Wireshark to versions 3.6.13 or later, or 4.0.5 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed.
Avoid opening capture files from untrusted or unknown sources to reduce risk of triggering the crash.
Implement strict network segmentation and filtering to limit exposure to potentially malicious GQUIC traffic, especially on monitoring networks.
Use sandboxing or isolated environments for analyzing untrusted capture files to prevent disruption of critical systems.
Educate security teams about the risks of crafted capture files and encourage verification of file provenance before analysis.
Monitor Wireshark usage logs and crash reports to detect potential exploitation attempts.
Consider alternative or complementary network analysis tools during patching windows to maintain operational continuity.
Collaborate with vendors and community to obtain timely patches and updates.
Employ network intrusion detection systems to flag suspicious GQUIC traffic patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts.

Description

GQUIC dissector crash in Wireshark 4.0.0 to 4.0.4 and 3.6.0 to 3.6.12 allows denial of service via packet injection or crafted capture file

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-1994 is operational disruption. Wireshark is widely used by network administrators, security analysts, and incident responders to monitor and analyze network traffic. A denial of service caused by crafted packets or malicious capture files could interrupt these activities, delaying threat detection and response. This is particularly critical for sectors with stringent security monitoring requirements such as finance, energy, telecommunications, and government agencies. While the vulnerability does not directly lead to data breaches or remote code execution, the loss of availability of a key analysis tool can degrade overall security posture. Additionally, organizations that share capture files for collaborative analysis could inadvertently propagate malicious files triggering the crash. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the ease of triggering the crash via crafted packets or files means attackers could weaponize this vulnerability in targeted attacks or during reconnaissance phases. European entities with mature cybersecurity operations and those involved in critical infrastructure protection are more likely to be impacted due to their reliance on Wireshark for network visibility.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 00:09 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats