CVE-2011-0538: Wireshark 1.2.0 through 1.2.14, 1.4.0 through 1.4.3, and 1.5.0 frees an uninitialized pointer during proces...

Security readout for executives and security teams

This vulnerability affects older Wireshark versions when they process a malformed packet capture file in pcap-ng format. The main confirmed business risk is a crash or memory corruption in an analyst tool, potentially disrupting forensic or network analysis workflows. Exposure is mainly where old Wireshark builds still open untrusted capture files. Exposure is most likely on legacy analyst workstations, jump boxes, forensic environments, or automated packet-processing systems running the affected Wireshark versions and opening external or customer-supplied pcap-ng files. Treat this as a cleanup and hardening item for legacy security tooling, not an emergency unless vulnerable systems process untrusted capture files. Prioritize SOC, incident response, and automated analysis hosts first. Mitigation focus: Upgrade Wireshark beyond the affected version ranges using vendor guidance.; Apply relevant distribution updates such as Fedora or Red Hat advisories where applicable.; Avoid opening untrusted pcap-ng files on vulnerable systems..

Prepared

Jun 28, 2026, 01:17 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.