VulnerabilityPublished 3 Dec 2025Updated 27 Mar 2026

CVE-2025-13946: Wireshark · Infinite Loop

Affects WiresharkSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 3% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
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: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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 3 Dec 2025
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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubwireshark/wireshark`pkg:github/wireshark/wireshark`Other threats	Affected =4.6.0 =4.4.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-13946, organizations should: 1) Immediately restrict the opening of untrusted or unauthenticated packet capture files, especially those containing MEGACO protocol data. 2) Use sandboxed or isolated environments for analyzing suspicious captures to prevent impact on critical systems. 3) Monitor Wireshark Foundation announcements and promptly apply official patches once released. 4) Consider disabling or limiting the MEGACO dissector if it is not required for analysis, reducing the attack surface. 5) Educate network analysts and security teams about the risk of opening unverified capture files and enforce strict file handling policies. 6) Employ alternative network analysis tools temporarily if patching is delayed. 7) Implement network-level filtering to block or flag suspicious MEGACO traffic that could be used to craft malicious captures. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on operational controls and protocol-specific mitigations.

Description

MEGACO dissector infinite loop in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.1 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.11 allows denial of service

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-13946 is denial of service, which can disrupt network analysis and incident response activities. Organizations relying on Wireshark for real-time packet inspection or forensic analysis may experience application hangs or crashes, delaying threat detection and response. This can be particularly problematic in high-security environments where timely network monitoring is essential. Although the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the availability impact can indirectly affect security posture by reducing visibility into network traffic. Attackers could exploit this by sending crafted MEGACO packets or capture files to analysts, causing Wireshark to become unresponsive. This could be used as a distraction or to degrade security operations. The scope is limited to local users or analysts who open malicious files, so remote exploitation without user interaction is unlikely. Nonetheless, the widespread use of Wireshark in enterprises, government agencies, and telecommunications sectors means the potential for operational disruption is significant.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Mar 2026, 18:21 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-835

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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