CVE-2026-125401ettercap heap-based buffer overflow
CVE-2026-125401 is a heap-based buffer overflow in ettercap, rated high (7.2 on CVSS 4.0).
Why this priority: High severity, with no exploitation signal yet.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Received
What it is
A buffer on the heap overflows and corrupts neighbouring data structures.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it from the same local network segment, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
Is it being exploited?
There is no public report of exploitation yet.
What to do
- No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place ettercap runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
- Segment the networks that can reach it.
Description from NVD
Ettercap through 0.8.4.1 contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in gg_get_version() in src/dissectors/ec_gg.c that writes up to 44 bytes into a 30-byte allocation. Remote attackers can send Gadu-Gadu traffic on TCP port 8074 with a crafted version field through a monitored network to corrupt heap memory in the Ettercap process, which normally runs as root.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
- Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
Trust boundaries in play
- Local network segment. The attacker must share a network segment with the target.
- Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does ettercap run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which network segments can reach them?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Read more
Patches and commits
Advisories
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.