Description
AFP Spotlight protocol dissector crash in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.14 allows denial of service
Published: 2026-04-30
Score: 5.5 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Impact

An uncontrolled recursion bug exists in the AFP Spotlight protocol dissector of Wireshark that can trigger a crash when processing maliciously crafted packets. This causes a denial of service as the application terminates unexpectedly. The weakness maps to CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion).

Affected Systems

Wireshark Foundation’s Wireshark application is affected. Versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14 are vulnerable. The issue is present in the AFP Spotlight dissector of these releases.

Risk and Exploitability

CVSS score of 5.5 indicates moderate impact. The EPSS score is not available so we cannot quantify likelihood, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The likely attack vector involves an attacker supplying a crafted AFP Spotlight payload that Wireshark will parse locally, leading to a crash. No remote code execution or elevation is possible; the threat is limited to service disruption for the user.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on April 30, 2026 at 13:43 UTC.

Remediation

Vendor Solution

Upgrade to version 4.6.5 or above

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Upgrade Wireshark to version 4.6.5 or newer.
  • If an upgrade cannot be performed immediately, restrict the use of Wireshark to trusted packet captures and avoid opening unknown AFP Spotlight files.
  • Consider sandboxing or running Wireshark within a separate virtual environment to contain potential crashes.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on April 30, 2026 at 13:43 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Fri, 01 May 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:wireshark:wireshark:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Wireshark
Wireshark wireshark
Vendors & Products Wireshark
Wireshark wireshark

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description AFP Spotlight protocol dissector crash in Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 to 4.4.14 allows denial of service
Title Uncontrolled Recursion in Wireshark
Weaknesses CWE-674
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Subscriptions

Wireshark Wireshark
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitLab

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-30T13:00:48.178Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T06:33:06.811Z

Link: CVE-2026-5401

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-04-30T13:00:26.423Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2026-04-30T07:16:37.720

Modified: 2026-05-01T19:26:36.903

Link: CVE-2026-5401

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-04-30T13:45:23Z

Weaknesses