VulnerabilityPublished 24 May 2026Updated 26 May 2026

CVE-2026-9365: Ettercap · Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Affects EttercapSource CVE Database V5

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Public exploit available · CVSS 6.3 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 24% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Base metrics

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Threat metrics

Exploit Maturity: POC

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: High: The successful attack depends on the evasion or circumvention of security-enhancing techniques in place that would otherwise hinder the attack. These include: Evasion of exploit mitigation techniques, for example, circumvention of address space randomization (ASLR) or data execution prevention (DEP) must be performed for the attack to be successful; Obtaining target-specific secrets. The attacker must gather some target-specific secret before the attack can be successful. A secret is any piece of information that cannot be obtained through any amount of reconnaissance. To obtain the secret the attacker must perform additional attacks or break otherwise secure measures (e.g. knowledge of a secret key may be needed to break a crypto channel). This operation must be performed for each attacked target.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system 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 Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system 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 to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system 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 Vulnerable System 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 Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Exploit Maturity: POC: Based on threat intelligence sources each of the following must apply: · Proof-of-concept is publicly available · No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit this vulnerability · No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: evidence found.
CVSS exploit maturity: proof of concept public
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), CVSS vector, the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), 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
Ettercap	Affected 0.8.0 – 0.8.3 4 affected builds	Fixed in–
GitHubettercap/ettercap`pkg:github/ettercap/ettercap`Other threats	Affected 0.8.0 – 0.8.3 4 affected builds	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (1)

cpe:2.3:a:ettercap:ettercap:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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AI-suggested

Upgrade Ettercap to version 0.8.4 or later, which includes the official fix for this vulnerability (patch feeae6fa366e01a3dd9f1857ec6aae847b2ae00c). No other mitigation or temporary workaround is indicated. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor's release notes.

Description

A vulnerability has been found in Ettercap up to 0.8.3. The affected element is the function FUNC_DECODER of the file src/dissectors/ec_gg.c of the component GG Dissector. The manipulation of the argument gg leads to heap-based buffer overflow. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. Upgrading to version 0.8.4 is sufficient to fix this issue. The identifier of the patch is feeae6fa366e01a3dd9f1857ec6aae847b2ae00c. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Impact

Successful exploitation can lead to heap-based buffer overflow, potentially causing application crashes or arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without privileges or user interaction, but the attack complexity is high and exploitability is difficult. Public exploit code exists, increasing risk if unpatched.

Summary

This vulnerability involves a heap-based buffer overflow in the FUNC_DECODER function of the GG Dissector component (src/dissectors/ec_gg.c) in Ettercap versions 0.8.0 through 0.8.3. The flaw is triggered by improper handling of the gg argument, allowing remote attackers to cause a buffer overflow condition on the heap. The attack complexity is high and no privileges or user interaction are required. The vulnerability has a CVSS 4.0 base score of 6.3, indicating medium severity. A patch identified by commit feeae6fa366e01a3dd9f1857ec6aae847b2ae00c is available in version 0.8.4.

References

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