CVE-2025-11626 is a vulnerability identified in the Wireshark network protocol analyzer, specifically affecting versions 4.2.0 through 4.2.13 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.9. The flaw resides in the MONGO protocol dissector, where a loop contains an unreachable exit condition, resulting in an infinite loop scenario (CWE-835). When Wireshark processes specially crafted MONGO protocol packets, the dissector enters this infinite loop, causing the application to hang or become unresponsive. This effectively leads to a denial of service (DoS) condition, impacting the availability of the Wireshark application. The vulnerability requires local access to the system running Wireshark and user interaction to open a malicious capture file or live traffic containing the crafted MONGO packets. The CVSS v3.1 score is 5.5 (medium severity), reflecting that the attack vector is local (AV:L), with low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), but user interaction is necessary (UI:R). The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity but solely impacts availability. No public exploits or active exploitation in the wild have been reported as of the publication date. The absence of patch links suggests that fixes may be pending or recently released. This vulnerability is particularly relevant for organizations relying on Wireshark for network troubleshooting, security monitoring, or forensic analysis, as an attacker could disrupt these activities by causing Wireshark to hang.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-11626 is the potential disruption of network analysis and security monitoring activities. Wireshark is widely used by IT and security teams to inspect network traffic and diagnose issues. An infinite loop causing Wireshark to become unresponsive can delay incident response, forensic investigations, and routine network troubleshooting. This could indirectly increase the risk of undetected or prolonged cyber incidents. Critical infrastructure operators, financial institutions, and large enterprises with dedicated security operations centers (SOCs) are particularly vulnerable to operational disruptions. Since the vulnerability requires local access and user interaction, remote exploitation risk is low, but insider threats or social engineering attacks could trigger the issue. The denial of service does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity but reduces the availability of a key security tool, potentially impacting compliance with regulatory requirements for timely incident detection and response.

European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Monitor Wireshark vendor advisories and promptly apply patches or updates once they become available for versions 4.2.x and 4.4.x. 2) Until patched, avoid opening untrusted or unauthenticated MONGO protocol capture files or live traffic in Wireshark. 3) Employ sandboxing or containerization techniques to isolate Wireshark processes, limiting the impact of potential hangs or crashes. 4) Use alternative network analysis tools for MONGO protocol traffic if feasible, reducing reliance on vulnerable Wireshark versions. 5) Educate users on the risks of opening suspicious capture files and enforce strict access controls to prevent unauthorized use of Wireshark. 6) Integrate automated monitoring to detect Wireshark process hangs or crashes and trigger alerts for rapid remediation. 7) Review internal policies for handling network captures to minimize exposure to crafted malicious traffic. These measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on operational controls and process isolation to mitigate availability risks.