# CVE-2016-4078: The IEEE 802.11 dissector in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.11 and 2.0.x before 2.0.3 does not properly restrict element lists, which allows r


- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Apr 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4078, GHSA-q5q9-8q79-9xp9, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4078

## What is CVE-2016-4078?

CVE-2016-4078 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Wireshark Wireshark, published on 25 Apr 2016. 

### Official description

The IEEE 802.11 dissector in Wireshark 1.12.x before 1.12.11 and 2.0.x before 2.0.3 does not properly restrict element lists, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (deep recursion and application crash) via a crafted packet, related to epan/dissectors/packet-capwap.c and epan/dissectors/packet-ieee80211.c.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4078?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Wireshark Wireshark.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-4078?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-4078 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4078 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Wireshark Wireshark

- [CVE-2011-0444](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-0444/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2010-2994](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-2994/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2010-2995](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-2995/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-1266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1266/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-1210](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1210/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-4078 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-4078 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Wireshark Wireshark, published on 25 Apr 2016. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4078 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Wireshark Wireshark. 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-2016-4078/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4078/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-4078
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-4078
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-4078

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4078/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.