Summary
Name: Multiple problems in Wireshark
Docid: wnpa-sec-2009-01
Date: February 6, 2009
Versions affected: 0.99.6 up to and including 1.0.5
Details
Description
Wireshark 1.0.6 fixes the following vulnerabilities:
- On non-Windows systems, Wireshark could crash if the HOME environment variable contained sprintf-style string formatting characters. Discovered by babi. (Bug 3150) Versions affected: 0.99.8 to 1.0.5
- Wireshark could crash while reading a malformed NetScreen snoop file. Discovered by babi. (Bug 3151) Versions affected: 0.99.7 to 1.0.5
- Wireshark could crash while reading a Tektronix K12 text capture file. (Bug 1937) Versions affected: 0.99.6 to 1.0.5
Impact
It may be possible to make Wireshark crash by altering the HOME environment variable or by convincing someone to read a malformed packet trace file.
Resolution
Upgrade to Wireshark 1.0.6 or later.
If are running Wireshark 1.0.5 or earlier (including Ethereal 0.99.0) and cannot upgrade, you can work around each of the problems listed above by doing the following:
- For each user that will run Wireshark (including root if you're running Wireshark as a privileged user), make sure the HOME environment variable doesnt' contain any "%" characters.
- Don't open any Tektronix K12 text or NetScreen capture files.