Executive brief
A vulnerability exists in tcpdump, a widely used tool for monitoring and analyzing network traffic. By sending specially crafted network packets or providing a malicious capture file, an attacker could cause the application to crash or potentially execute unauthorized code. This could lead to a denial of service or a compromise of the system running the tool.
Technical details
A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the FRF.15 (Frame Relay) parser of tcpdump versions prior to 4.9.0. The flaw is located in the frf15_print() function in print-fr.c. An attacker can exploit this by sending specially crafted network packets to a segment where tcpdump is performing live capture or by tricking a user into opening a malicious pcap file. Successful exploitation can lead to a denial of service (application crash) or potentially arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the tcpdump process. The issue was addressed in version 4.9.0.
Affected products
- tcpdump tcpdump < 4.9.0
Timeline
- 2017-01-26: patched: tcpdump 4.9.0 released fixing multiple vulnerabilities
- 2017-01-27: disclosed: NVD publication date