This vulnerability (CVE-2026-6869) affects the Wireshark network protocol analyzer in versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14. It is caused by improper control of sequential memory allocation in the WebSocket protocol dissector, leading to a crash that results in denial of service. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.5, reflecting a local attack vector with low complexity and no privileges required, but requiring user interaction. The impact is limited to availability, with no confidentiality or integrity loss. No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no vendor advisory or patch is currently available.

The vulnerability allows an attacker with local access and the ability to interact with the application to cause a denial of service by crashing the WebSocket protocol dissector in affected Wireshark versions. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. No known exploits in the wild have been reported.

Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until an official fix is released, users should avoid processing untrusted WebSocket traffic in the affected Wireshark versions or consider upgrading to versions not affected once available.