Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a denial-of-service flaw in Wireshark's LWAPP packet parser. Certain LWAPP input could make vulnerable Wireshark versions crash. The business impact is disruption to packet analysis and incident response workflows, especially when analysts open captures from untrusted environments. Sources do not show code execution or confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat as a routine but real workstation resilience issue. Prioritize patching teams that inspect external packet captures or hostile network traffic, because tool crashes can slow investigations.
Technical view
Wireshark 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 through 2.2.13 are reported affected. The LWAPP dissector could recurse too deeply and crash; Wireshark addressed this in packet-lwapp.c by limiting encapsulation levels to restrict recursion depth.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where vulnerable Wireshark builds are used to inspect LWAPP traffic or packet capture files. Security operations, network engineering, and incident response workstations are the most relevant assets.
Exploitation context
The provided sources identify a crash condition, not privilege escalation or remote code execution. The CVE is not listed as KEV, and the bundle provides no evidence of active exploitation.
Researcher notes
The key fix is an encapsulation-depth limit in epan/dissectors/packet-lwapp.c. Severity metadata is incomplete in the bundle, so risk assessment rests on the documented crash behavior and affected Wireshark ranges.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Wireshark beyond the affected 2.4.x and 2.2.x ranges.
- Apply supported operating system vendor security updates for Wireshark packages.
- Avoid opening untrusted packet captures with vulnerable Wireshark versions.
- Check Wireshark and distribution advisories for exact fixed package versions.
Validation and detection
- Inventory analyst workstations and servers for Wireshark version exposure.
- Confirm no systems run Wireshark 2.4.0-2.4.5 or 2.2.0-2.2.13.
- Verify vendor package changelogs include the LWAPP dissector recursion-depth fix.
- Review SOC handling rules for untrusted packet captures.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2018-9256 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugs.wireshark.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14467CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190115 [SECURITY] [DLA 1634-1] wireshark security updateCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- https://code.wireshark.org/review/gitweb?p=wireshark.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=dac48f148538c706c446e5105d84ebcb54587528CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2018-20.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.