Wireshark: The Premier Network Packet Analyzer
Wireshark serves as a powerful network packet analyzer, adept at capturing and meticulously displaying network packets. One might liken this tool to an advanced measuring device that scrutinizes the inner workings of network cables, similar to how electricians use voltmeters to analyze electrical cables. Historically, many network analysis tools were costly and proprietary, but Wireshark has revolutionized this landscape by providing an exceptional open-source solution available to everyone.
Key Features of Wireshark
Wireshark boasts a plethora of features, solidifying its reputation as one of the best tools in its category. Here are some notable capabilities:
- Comprehensive inspection of numerous protocols, with ongoing updates.
- Support for live capture and detailed offline analysis.
- User-friendly three-pane packet browser interface.
- Multi-platform compatibility, including Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, and more.
- Captured network data can be navigated via a graphical user interface (GUI) or through the command-line utility TShark.
- Advanced display filter options leading the industry.
- Robust analysis for Voice over IP (VoIP).
- Ability to read and write in various capture file formats.
- On-the-fly decompression for gzip-compressed capture files.
- Live data monitoring from protocols such as Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, and many others, depending on the platform.
- Support for decryption across multiple protocols, including SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2.
- Customizable coloring rules for quick visual analysis of packet lists.
- Data export capabilities to formats such as XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text.
Recent Updates: Wireshark 4.4.4 Changelog
Security Vulnerabilities Fixed
- wnpa-sec-2025-01: Resolved issues in Bundle Protocol and CBOR dissector, including crashes, infinite loops, and memory leaks (Issue 20373).
Bug Fixes
- Resolved crashes when sorting columns during capture with an active display filter (Issue 20263).
- Addressed an invalid boolean value in dissect_tcp (OSS-Fuzz 384757274, Issue 20300).
- Fixed test failures occurring in versions 4.4.2 and 4.4.3 related to HTTP2 (Issue 20330).
- Rectified regression issues in the extcap interface toolbar (Issue 20354).
- Prevented crashes when clicking outside columns in the TCP tab of the Statistics → Conversations window (Issue 20357).
- Resolved FTBFS (Fails To Build From Source) with Ubuntu 25.04 development release (Issue 20359).
- Fixed crash related to DNS QDCOUNT = 0 when enabling qname stats (Issue 20367).
- Addressed Android extcap plugin failures under Windows because of broken socket connections after inactivity (Issue 20386).
- Corrected lifecycle start calculations in TECMP Status messages (Issue 20387).
- Fixed incorrect presentation of MQTT v5.0 properties total length (Issue 20389).
- Resolved address resolution issues in TShark with custom hosts files (Issue 20391).
- Fixed inaccuracies with JA4 fingerprints when empty ciphers are present (Issue 20394).
Enhanced Protocol Support
The latest update also includes improved support for various protocols, notably:
- CESoETH, DNS, IEEE 1609.2, ISOBUS, ITS, MPLS, MQTT, PDU Transport, RTP, TCP, TECMP, WebSocket, and WSMP.
New Capture File Support
Wireshark 4.4.4 has added support for new capture file formats, including:
- CLLog, EMS, and ERF.
Download Options
Stay updated with the latest features by downloading Wireshark 4.4.4:
- Wireshark 4.4.4 Installer | 83.2 MB (Open Source)
- Portable Wireshark 4.4.4
- ARM64 Installer
- Visit Wireshark’s Official Website
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