The vulnerability is an infinite loop in Wireshark’s OpenFlow v6 protocol dissector, identified as CWE-835 and CWE-606. When a packet that triggers the loop is processed, Wireshark’s CPU is trapped in the loop, causing high resource consumption or a crash that terminates the application. This results in a denial of service to whoever is relying on Wireshark to analyze traffic, stalling further inspection or processing.

The flaw affects Wireshark Foundation’s Wireshark product in versions 4.6.0 through 4.6.4 and 4.4.0 through 4.4.14. Users of any of those releases are vulnerable to the infinite loop when a crafted OpenFlow v6 packet is parsed.

The CVSS score of 5.5 reflects moderate severity. This defect corresponds to CWE-835 and CWE-606, and the EPSS score of <1% indicates a very low but non-zero exploitation probability; however, because a malicious packet can be injected into a capture, exploitation remains possible. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The attack vector can be inferred to be payload-based: an attacker would create or supply an OpenFlow v6 packet that triggers the loop and deliver it to a Wireshark instance—either by opening a crafted trace file or by capturing traffic that contains the packet. Once the loop is entered, Wireshark may become unresponsive or crash, achieving a denial-of-service outcome.