Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Wireshark versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 could crash while analyzing TCP traffic. This is primarily an availability risk for analysts and systems using Wireshark-based packet inspection, not evidence of data theft or remote system compromise.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted availability fix for security operations tooling. It is not sourced as actively exploited or code execution, but crashes during packet analysis can delay incident response.
Technical view
The issue is in Wireshark's TCP dissector. The source bundle says the fix was made in epan/dissectors/packet-tcp.c by preserving valid data sources. No CVSS, CWE, or detailed crash conditions are provided in the bundle.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to environments running Wireshark 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 or dependent packages that process packet captures or live TCP traffic using the affected dissector.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not indicate active exploitation, and CISA KEV is false. The practical concern is a crafted or malformed capture or traffic stream causing Wireshark to crash during analysis.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse: the bundle names the affected versions, the TCP dissector, and a source-level fix. It does not provide CVSS, CWE, exploit status, or detailed trigger conditions. Avoid asserting impact beyond application crash.
Mitigation direction
- Identify Wireshark installations at versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.5.
- Apply the vendor or distribution security update for CVE-2018-9258.
- Prioritize analyst workstations and automated packet-analysis systems.
- Check Wireshark and Debian advisories for exact fixed package guidance.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed Wireshark versions are outside 2.4.0 through 2.4.5.
- Verify package changelogs reference CVE-2018-9258 or the TCP dissector fix.
- Review crash reports from packet-analysis hosts for Wireshark TCP dissector failures.
- Confirm automated packet-processing jobs still complete after updating.
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-2018-9258 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://code.wireshark.org/review/gitweb?p=wireshark.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=2d4695de1477df60b0188fd581c0c279db601978CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1388-1] wireshark security updateCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2018-21.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugs.wireshark.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14472CVE 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.