DEBIAN-CVE-2026-125406: High severity debian/ettercap vulnerability
Ettercap through 0.8.4.1 contains a stack buffer underwrite vulnerability in the telnet dissector in src/dissectors/ectelnet.c that decrements the output pointer on backspace without a lower bound check. Attackers can send a telnet stream with more backspaces than preceding characters to write below the stack buffer, corrupting the stack of the Ettercap process that normally runs as root.
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is exposed to this issue?
Systems running the affected Debian Ettercap package are exposed when Ettercap processes telnet traffic. The impact is especially severe because the Ettercap process normally runs as root.
What does an attacker need to exploit it?
An attacker needs to send a crafted telnet stream containing more backspace characters than preceding characters. No privileges or user interaction are required according to the provided severity vector.
Are default deployments affected?
The description states that the Ettercap process normally runs as root, but it does not specify whether the vulnerable telnet dissector is enabled or reached in every default deployment.