Wireshark is a network packet analyzer. A network packet analyzer will try to capture network packets and tries to display that packet data as detailed as possible. You could think of a network packet analyzer as a measuring device used to examine what"s going on inside a network cable, just like a voltmeter is used by an electrician to examine what"s going on inside an electric cable (but at a higher level, of course). In the past, such tools were either very expensive, proprietary, or both. However, with the advent of Wireshark, all that has changed. Wireshark is perhaps one of the best open source packet analyzers available today.
- Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
- Live capture and offline analysis
- Standard three-pane packet browser
- Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
- Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
- The most powerful display filters in the industry
- Rich VoIP analysis
- Read/write many different capture file formats
- Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
- Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platfrom)
- Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
- Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
- Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text
Wireshark 4.6.3 changelog:
Bug Fixes
The following vulnerabilities have been fixed:
- wnpa-sec-2026-01 BLF file parser crash. Issue 20880.
- wnpa-sec-2026-02 IEEE 802.11 dissector crash. Issue 20939.
- wnpa-sec-2026-03 SOME/IP-SD dissector crash. Issue 20945.
- wnpa-sec-2026-04 HTTP3 dissector infinite loop. Issue 20944.
The following bugs have been fixed:
- Wireshark 4.6.0 build fails on Solaris: pcapio.c:441:21: error: request for member "_flag" in something not a structure or union. Issue 20773.
- RTP Player streams cannot be stopped. Issue 20879.
- Additional ABI/API compatibility fixes. Issue 20881.
- Missing data in pinfo→cinfo in HomePlug message CM_ATTEN_CHAR.IND. Issue 20893.
- maxmind_db: crash when switching from a profile where it’s disabled to one where it’s enabled. Issue 20903.
- Compilation warning or error if CFLAGS defines _FORTIFY_SOURCE to other than 3 without first undefining it. Issue 20904.
- IEEE 802.11: Incorrect parsing of QoS and Mesh Control Field when the frame body contains an A-MSDU. Issue 20905.
- OSS-Fuzz 473164101: Heap-buffer-overflow in dissect_idn_laser_data. Issue 20936.
- Bug in decoding 5G NAS message - Extended CAG information list IE. Issue 20946.
Updated Protocol Support
- DCT2000, DHCP, H.248, H.265, HomePlug AV, HTTP3, IDN, IEEE 802.11, LTE RRC, NAS-5GS, PKCS12, QUIC, RTPS, SOME/IP-SD, SSH, and Thrift
New and Updated Capture File Support
- 3GPP TS 32.423 Trace, BLF, NetScreen, and Viavi Observer
Download: Wireshark 4.6.3 | 92.1 MB (Open Source)
Download: Portable Wireshark 4.6.3 | ARM64 Installer
View: Wireshark Website | Screenshot
