Don't Let The Wireshark Vulnerabilities Eat Your Computer Alive

What is your biggest fear, besides your hard drive crashing with an entire lifetime of photos on it and no backup? Many people will say that they suffer from Selachophobia, which is defined as:"an abnormal and persistent fear of sharks ". In that case, if you think that just because you are on the internet you can't get attacked by a shark, then you are very much mistaken. The latest news is that multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in versions of Wireshark.

There are many harsh ramifications that exist due to these vulnerabilities. One of the main risks related to these vulnerabilities involve malicious online attackers targeting systems and causing them to malfunction or crash dramatically. Attackers could also make use of and consume all the memory resources on your machine or system. This is achieved by sending manipulated data to the victim with the use of strategic methodologies. Never underestimate the power of these strategies as they are cleverly planned out with care and precision.                                                                                                  

Table 1. Problematic Wireshark vulnerabilities

The versions which have been affected are versions 0.9.2 including versions 1.2.0. Enough bad news, now it is time for some good news. Wireshark has proudly released its new 1.2.1 version. One of the options available to rectify this dilemma is to upgrade and try out the latest version for yourself.

A problem may however occur if you are running the Wireshark 1.2.0 or earlier versions with the inclusion of Ethereal, which are unable to upgrade effectively. There are ways to work around this problem by following the instructions listed below:

To disable the dissectors which are affected:

1. Proceed to select: "Analyze the following: Enabled Protocols" directly from the menu.
2. Please make sure that "AFS (RX)", "Infiniband", "IPMI/ATCA", "L2CAP", "MIOP", "RADIUS", and "sFlow" are all un-checked.
3. You need to select and click on the "Save" option and, then click the "OK" option.

You can use Wireshark with the majority of operating systems with the inclusion of Linux, UNIX as well as Windows. This includes the Windows Millennium Edition which includes these files: adapter.inf, BGTag.exe, cabbit.exe, danger~1.dll, ebdundo.exe as well as fa510nd5.inf.

I hope that this new update allows everyone to have a much safer Wireshark experience. I would like to leave you with a quote in conclusion:"I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user".-Bill Gates