Microsoft is providing notification of the discovery and remediation of a vulnerability affecting Wireshark version 1.6.0 and earlier. Microsoft discovered and disclosed the vulnerability under coordinated vulnerability disclosure to the affected vendor, Wireshark. Wireshark has remediated the vulnerability in their software.
A vulnerability exists in the way that Wireshark handles specially crafted packets which may allow for remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
Microsoft Vulnerability Research reported this issue to and coordinated with Wireshark to ensure remediation of this issue. The vulnerability has been assigned the entry, CVE-2011-3483, in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list. For more information, including information about updates from Wireshark, see the Wireshark download page.