An out-of-bounds write was discovered in Wireshark's IEEE 802.11 protocol dissector, affecting versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.2 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.12. The flaw allows an attacker to craft a malicious 802.11 frame that, when parsed, causes the program to crash, resulting in a denial of service. The weakness is identified as a classic out-of-bounds write (CWE-787), directly compromising the integrity of the application’s input validation process.

The vulnerability impacts users running Wireshark built by the Wireshark Foundation across any platform where these software versions are installed. All installations of Wireshark 4.6.0–4.6.2 and 4.4.0–4.4.12 are susceptible; newer or older releases are not affected.

The CVSS score of 5.3 indicates moderate severity, and the EPSS score of less than 1% implies a low likelihood of exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Because Wireshark processes packet capture files locally, the likely attack vector is an attacker who can supply a malicious capture file or persuade the user to open one. Successful exploitation results in application termination without compromising system-wide confidentiality or integrity, but it can disrupt analysis workflows.