Is CVE-2026-96418 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-96418 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-96418?

Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, published 29 September 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Wireshark Foundation Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.8, 4.4.0 to 4.4.18.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-96418?

A patch was published on 2026-09: Fixed in versions 4.6.9 and 4.4.19 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-96418 attacked?

It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-96418?

Check whether you run Wireshark Foundation Wireshark at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-96418: Wireshark TIFF dissector infinite loop

CVE-2026-96418 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2026-09-29

The TIFF protocol dissector in Wireshark, used to analyze TIFF image files and embedded TIFF traffic, contains a flaw that allows an attacker to craft a malicious TIFF file with a self-referential Image File Directory (IFD) chain. When a user opens such a file or Wireshark processes it in a network capture, the dissector loops indefinitely at 100% CPU, causing the application to hang and become unresponsive—a denial of service that prevents legitimate analysis work.

Technologies: Wireshark Foundation Wireshark. Vendors: Wireshark Foundation.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-96418 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-96418 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-96418?: Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, published 29 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Wireshark Foundation Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.8, 4.4.0 to 4.4.18.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-96418?: A patch was published on 2026-09: Fixed in versions 4.6.9 and 4.4.19 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-96418 attacked?: It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-96418?: Check whether you run Wireshark Foundation Wireshark at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

The TIFF dissector in file-tiff.c lacks cycle detection when traversing IFD chains, relying solely on checking if the next-IFD offset equals zero. An attacker can craft a TIFF where an IFD's next-IFD pointer references itself (or creates a cycle), causing an unbounded loop. The vulnerability is reachable via default-enabled heuristics (file-based .tif parsing) and from network traffic containing TIFF bodies (HTTP/MIME). Generic Wireshark loop safeguards do not fire in the default single-pass dissection mode (tree == NULL) because their counters are bypassed.

Affected products

Wireshark Foundation Wireshark 4.6.0 to 4.6.8, 4.4.0 to 4.4.18

Timeline

2026-09-23: disclosed
2026-09: patched: Fixed in versions 4.6.9 and 4.4.19

References

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