# CVE-2012-4286: Denial of service in n/a

> A divide-by-zero error in Wireshark's pcap-ng parser allows remote attackers to crash the application via a crafted file, requiring user interaction to open it.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Aug 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-4286, GHSA-545q-cmj3-26f6

## What is CVE-2012-4286?

CVE-2012-4286 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Sun Sunos, published on 16 Aug 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The pcapng_read_packet_block function in wiretap/pcapng.c in the pcap-ng file parser in Wireshark 1.8.x before 1.8.2 allows user-assisted remote attackers to cause a denial of service (divide-by-zero error and application crash) via a crafted pcap-ng file.

Weakness: CWE-189

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-4286?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Sun Sunos, Wireshark Wireshark.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-4286?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-4286 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4286 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Sun Sunos

- [CVE-2010-4435](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4435/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-4619](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4619/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-2144](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2144/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-1369](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1369/): Misconfiguration in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-1583](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-1583/): Command injection in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-4286 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-4286 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Sun Sunos, published on 16 Aug 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4286 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Sun Sunos. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4286/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4286/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4286
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4286
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-4286

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4286/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.