Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability affects certain Wireshark releases. A specially malformed ADB packet in captured traffic could crash Wireshark while a user analyzes it. The sources describe a crash from a heap-based buffer overflow, not confirmed remote code execution or active exploitation.
Executive priority
Prioritize timely remediation on security analysis workstations. This is not evidenced as an internet-facing mass-exploitation issue, but it can disrupt incident response or malware analysis if vulnerable tools handle hostile captures.
Technical view
Wireshark 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 through 2.2.13 had an ADB dissector flaw. The fix changed epan/dissectors/packet-adb.c to check for a length inconsistency before processing data that could overflow heap memory and crash the application.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on analyst workstations, forensic systems, or servers running affected Wireshark versions and opening packet captures containing ADB traffic. The bundle does not identify other affected products or CPEs.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing, active exploitation, public weaponization, or exploitation beyond crash behavior. Risk depends on whether users process untrusted packet captures or live traffic with vulnerable Wireshark versions.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to Wireshark advisories, Debian advisory, bug tracking, and a fixing commit. The bundle provides no CVSS, CWE, exploit status, or confirmed impact beyond crash from heap-based buffer overflow.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Wireshark to a version containing the ADB dissector fix.
- Apply Debian DSA-4217 packages where Debian-managed Wireshark is used.
- Remove affected Wireshark versions from analyst and forensic workstations.
- Avoid opening untrusted captures with affected versions until patched.
- Check Wireshark vendor guidance for supported fixed releases.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Wireshark versions across analyst and forensic systems.
- Confirm no installations are 2.4.0-2.4.5 or 2.2.0-2.2.13.
- Verify Debian systems include updates referenced by DSA-4217.
- Review workflows that process untrusted packet captures.
- Document remediation status for systems handling ADB traffic.
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-2018-9264 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
- DSA-4217CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_DEBIAN
- https://code.wireshark.org/review/gitweb?p=wireshark.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=0290a62be0fca8da9bb190f59dc1fe26c1d65024CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugs.wireshark.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=14460CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.wireshark.org/security/wnpa-sec-2018-16.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.