CVE-2011-1956

medium

Published 2011-06-06 · Modified 2026-04-29

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CVSS v3

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CVSS v4 NEW

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not yet in upstream

VIR risk

5.3

Description

The bytes_repr_len function in Wireshark 1.4.5 uses an incorrect pointer argument, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via arbitrary TCP traffic.

Predictions

Exploit likelihood

20%

Patch ETA

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Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

No mitigations published for this CVE yet.

The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.

✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here with source_tier=community-verified.

Exploits

Public proof-of-concept code below. AS-IS, for defenders and authorised testing only.

Exploit-DB

EDB-35873 dos windows verified

rouli · 2011-06-17

Wireshark 1.4.5 - 'bytes_repr_len()' Null Pointer Dereference Denial of Service

Source code queued for fetch — refresh in a moment.

OS impact

Debian Fixed 5 releases

Version	Status	Fixed in
trixie	Fixed	`1.4.6-1`
sid	Fixed	`1.4.6-1`
forky	Fixed	`1.4.6-1`
bullseye	Fixed	`1.4.6-1`
bookworm	Fixed	`1.4.6-1`

Application impact

Vendor	Product	Versions	Fixed
wireshark	wireshark	`1.4.5`

References

Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.