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Fencer Intel
medium 4.3

CVE-2015-6242 json

The wmem_block_split_free_chunk function in epan/wmem/wmem_allocator_block.c in the wmem block allocator in the memory manager in Wireshark…

published 11y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2015-6184

cvss
4.3
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.8%
EPSS 2.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 86%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The wmem_block_split_free_chunk function in epan/wmem/wmem_allocator_block.c in the wmem block allocator in the memory manager in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.7 does not properly consider a certain case of multiple realloc operations that restore a memory chunk to its original size, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (incorrect free operation and application crash) via a crafted packet.

Patch / fix

  • wireshark Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.12.7+g7fc8978-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2015-6242

  • wireshark Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 2.6.3-1~ubuntu14.04.1
  • wireshark Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 2.6.3-1~ubuntu16.04.1
  • wireshark Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2.6.3-1~ubuntu18.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2015-6242

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • wireshark SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA, SLES 11 SP3 +6 more 1.12.7-0.5.3
  • wireshark SLES for SAP 12, SLES 12, SLED 12 +1 more 1.12.7-15.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2015:1676-2SUSE-SU-2015:1676-1SUSE-SU-2015:1713-1

  • wireshark openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.2.2-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10199-1

Is CVE-2015-6242 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2015-6242 updated cvss 4.3

wireshark: memory manager crash (wnpa-sec-2015-22)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 wireshark Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 wireshark, wireshark-gnome Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 wireshark, wireshark-gnome
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.81% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 86% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.