Руководства wireshark на русском

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Даже поверхностное знание программы Wireshark и её фильтров на порядок сэкономит время при устранении проблем сетевого или прикладного уровня. Wireshark полезен для многих задач в работе сетевого инженера, специалиста по безопасности или системного администратора. Вот несколько примеров использования:

Устранение неполадок сетевого подключения

  • Визуальное отображение потери пакетов
  • Анализ ретрансляции TCP
  • График по пакетам с большой задержкой ответа

Исследование сессий прикладного уровня (даже при шифровании с помощью SSL/TLS, см. ниже)

  • Полный просмотр HTTP-сессий, включая все заголовки и данные для запросов и ответов
  • Просмотр сеансов Telnet, просмотр паролей, введённых команд и ответов
  • Просмотр трафика SMTP и POP3, чтение писем

Устранение неполадок DHCP с данными на уровне пакетов

  • Изучение трансляций широковещательного DHCP
  • Второй шаг обмена DHCP (DHCP Offer) с адресом и параметрами
  • Клиентский запрос по предложенному адресу
  • Ack от сервера, подтверждающего запрос

Извлечение файлов из сессий HTTP

  • Экспорт объектов из HTTP, таких как JavaScript, изображения или даже исполняемые файлы

Извлечение файлов из сессий SMB

  • Аналогично опции экспорта HTTP, но извлечение файлов, передаваемых по SMB, протоколу общего доступа к файлам в Windows

Обнаружение и проверка вредоносных программ

  • Обнаружение аномального поведения, которое может указывать на вредоносное ПО
  • Поиск необычных доменов или конечных IP
  • Графики ввода-вывода для обнаружения постоянных соединений (маячков) с управляющими серверами
  • Отфильтровка «нормальных» данных и выявление необычных
  • Извлечение больших DNS-ответов и прочих аномалий, которые могут указывать на вредоносное ПО

Проверка сканирования портов и других типов сканирования на уязвимости

  • Понимание, какой сетевой трафик поступает от сканеров
  • Анализ процедур по проверке уязвимостей, чтобы различать ложноположительные и ложноотрицательные срабатывания

Эти примеры — только вершина айсберга. В руководстве мы расскажем, как использовать столь мощный инструмент.

Установка Wireshark

Wireshark работает на различных операционных системах и его несложно установить. Упомянем только Ubuntu Linux, Centos и Windows.

Установка на Ubuntu или Debian

#apt-get update
#apt-get install wireshark tshark

Установка на Fedora или CentOS

#yum install wireshark-gnome

Установка на Windows

На странице загрузки лежит исполняемый файл для установки. Довольно просто ставится и драйвер захвата пакетов, с помощью которого сетевая карта переходит в «неразборчивый» режим (promiscuous mode позволяет принимать все пакеты независимо от того, кому они адресованы).

Начало работы с фильтрами

С первым перехватом вы увидите в интерфейсе Wireshark стандартный шаблон и подробности о пакете.

Как только захватили сессию HTTP, остановите запись и поиграйте с основными фильтрами и настройками Analyze | Follow | HTTP Stream.

Названия фильтров говорят сами за себя. Просто вводите соответствующие выражения в строку фильтра (или в командную строку, если используете tshark). Основное преимущество фильтров — в удалении шума (трафик, который нам не интерестен). Можно фильтровать трафик по MAC-адресу, IP-адресу, подсети или протоколу. Самый простой фильтр — ввести http, так что будет отображаться только трафик HTTP (порт tcp 80).

Примеры фильтров по IP-адресам

ip.addr == 192.168.0.5
!(ip.addr == 192.168.0.0/24)

Примеры фильтров по протоколу

tcp
udp
tcp.port == 80 || udp.port == 80
http
not arp and not (udp.port == 53)

Попробуйте сделать комбинацию фильтров, которая показывает весь исходящий трафик, кроме HTTP и HTTPS, который направляется за пределы локальной сети. Это хороший способ обнаружить программное обеспечение (даже вредоносное), которое взаимодействует с интернетом по необычным протоколам.

Следуйте за потоком

Как только вы захватили несколько HTTP-пакетов, можно применить на одном из них пункт меню Analyze | Follow | HTTP Stream. Он покажет целиком сессию HTTP. В этом новом окне вы увидите HTTP-запрос от браузера и HTTP-ответ от сервера.

Резолвинг DNS в Wireshark

По умолчанию Wireshark не резолвит сетевые адреса в консоли. Это можно изменить в настройках.

Edit | Preferences | Name Resolution | Enable Network Name Resolution

Как и в случае tcpdump, процедура резолвинга замедлит отображение пакетов. Также важно понимать, что при оперативном захвате пакетов DNS-запросы с вашего хоста станут дополнительным трафиком, который могут перехватить.

Tshark для командной строки

Если вы ещё не баловались с tshark, взгляните на наше руководство с примерами фильтров. Эту программу часто игнорируют, хотя она отлично подходит для захвата сессий на удалённой системе. В отличие от tcpdump, она позволяет на лету захватывать и просматривать сессии прикладного уровня: декодеры протоколов Wireshark также доступны для tshark.

Составление правил для файрвола

Вот быстрый способ создания правил из командной строки, чтобы не искать в интернете конкретный синтаксис. Выберите подходящее правило — и перейдите в Tools | Firewall ACL Rules. Поддерживаются различные файрволы, такие как Cisco IOS, ipfilter, ipfw, iptables, pf и даже файрвол Windows через netsh.

Работа с географической базой GeoIP

Если Wireshark скомпилирован с поддержкой GeoIP и у вас есть бесплатные базы Maxmind, то программа может определять местоположение компьютеров по их IP-адресам. Проверьте в About | Wireshark, что программа скомпилирована с той версией, какая у вас в наличии. Если GeoIP присутствует в списке, то проверьте наличие на диске баз GeoLite City, Country и ASNum. Укажите расположение баз в меню Edit | Preferences | Name Resolution.

Проверьте систему на дампе трафика, выбрав опцию Statistics | Endpoints | IPv4. В колонках справа должна появиться информация о местоположении и ASN для IP-адреса.

Другая функция GeoIP — фильтрация трафика по местоположению с помощью фильтра ip.geoip. Например, так можно исключить трафик из конкретной ASN. Нижеуказанная команда исключает пакеты от сетевого блока ASN 63949 (Linode).

ip and not ip.geoip.asnum == 63949

Конечно, тот же фильтр можно применить к отдельным городам и странам. Удалите шум и оставьте только действительно интересный трафик.

Расшифровка сессий SSL/TLS

Один из способов расшифровки сессий SSL/TLS — использовать закрытый ключ с сервера, к которому подключен клиент.

Конечно, у вас не всегда есть доступ к приватному ключу. Но есть другой вариант простого просмотра трафика SSL/TLS на локальной системе. Если Firefox или Chrome загружаются с помощью специальной переменной среды, то симметричные ключи отдельных сеансов SSL/TLS записаны в файл, который Wireshark может прочитать. С помощью этих ключей Wireshark покажет полностью расшифрованную сессию!

1. Настройка переменной среды

Linux / Mac

export SSLKEYLOGFILE=~/sslkeylogfile.log

Windows

На вкладке System Properties | Advanced нажмите кнопку Environment Variables и добавьте имя переменной (SSLKEYLOGFILE), а в качестве значения — путь к файлу.

2. Настройка Wireshark

Из выпадающего меню выберите Edit | Preferences | Protocols | SSL | (Pre)-Master-Secret Log Filename — Browse, указав файл, который вы указали в переменную среды.

Начинайте захват трафика в локальной системе.

3. Перезапуск Firefox или Chrome

После перехода на сайт HTTPS лог-файл начнёт увеличиваться в размере, поскольку записывает симметричные ключи сессии.

Взгляните на ранее запущенную сессию Wireshark. Вы должны увидеть что-то похожее на скриншот внизу с расшифрованными сессиями. Расшифрованные пакеты — на вкладке в нижней панели.

Другой способ просмотра сеанса — через выпадающее меню Analysis | Follow | Stream | SSL. Если сеанс успешно расшифрован, вы увидите опцию для SSL.

Разумеется, будьте осторожны при записи этих ключей и пакетов. Если посторонний получит доступ к лог-файлу, то легко найдёт там ваши пароли и куки аутентификации.

Ещё один вариант выхода на базовый HTTP-трафика — использовать инструмент Burp Suite с загруженным сертификатом CA в браузере. В этом случае прокси расшифровывает соединение на стороне клиента, а затем устанавливает новый сеанс SSL/TLS на сервере. Есть много способов проведения такой MiTM-атаки на себя, это два самых простых.

Извлечение файлов из пакетов с помощью функции экспорта (HTTP или SMB)

Файлы легко извлекаются через меню экспорта.

File | Export Objects | HTTP

Все найденные файлы отобразятся в новом окне. Отсюда же можно сохранить отдельные файлы или сразу все. Аналогичный метод применяется для извлечения файлов из сессий SMB. Как мы уже упоминали, это протокол Microsoft Server Message Block, который используется для общего доступа к файлам под Windows.

Строка состояния

Строка состояния в правой части окна позволяет быстро перейти в нужное место сетевого дампа, щёлкнув по цветовому индикатору. Например, красным цветом в строке состояния помечены пакеты с ошибками.

Образец PCAP

Когда только начинаете работу с Wireshark, хочется посмотреть на какие-нибудь интересные дампы с пакетами. Их можно найти на странице Wireshark Samples. Примеров с разными протоколами там хватит вам на несколько месяцев анализа, есть даже образцы трафика червей и эксплоитов.

Настройка окружения

Внешний вид консоли по умолчанию всячески настраивается. Можно добавлять или удалять столбцы, добавляя даже такие простые вещи как столбец времени UTC, что сразу повышает информативность логов, если анализировать историю пакетов.

Столбцы настраиваются в меню Edit | Preferences | Appearance | Columns. Там же изменяется общий шаблон, шрифт и цвета.

На видео — полезные советы по настройке окружения, в том числе выявление неполадок по порядковым номерам последовательности TCP.

capinfos

В комплекте с Wireshark поставляется удобный инструмент командной строки capinfos. Эта утилита генерирует статистику пакетного дампа, с временем начала/окончания записи и другими подробностями. С опцией -T она выдаёт текст с табуляцией — он подходит для импорта в электронные таблицы или анализа в консоли.

test@ubuntu:~$ capinfos test.pcap
File name:           test.pcap
File type:           Wireshark/tcpdump/... - pcap
File encapsulation:  Ethernet
File timestamp precision:  microseconds (6)
Packet size limit:   file hdr: 262144 bytes
Number of packets:   341 k
File size:           449 MB
Data size:           444 MB
Capture duration:    3673.413779 seconds
First packet time:   2018-12-01 11:26:53.521929
Last packet time:    2018-12-01 12:28:06.935708
Data byte rate:      120 kBps
Data bit rate:       967 kbps
Average packet size: 1300.72 bytes
Average packet rate: 93 packets/s
SHA256:              989388128d676c329ccdbdec4ed221ab8ecffad81910a16f473ec2c2f54c5d6e
RIPEMD160:           0742b6bbc79735e57904008d6064cce7eb95abc9
SHA1:                d725b389bea044d6520470c8dab0de1598b01d89
Strict time order:   True
Number of interfaces in file: 1

Заключение

Эта статья изначально была опубликована в 2011 году, затем серьёзно обновилась. Если у вас есть какие-либо комментарии, улучшения или советы для шпаргалки, пишите мне. Wireshark — один из тех незаменимых инструментов, который многие используют, но мало кто владеет в совершенстве. Тут можно углубляться всё дальше и дальше.

Version 4.1.0


Preface

1. Foreword

Wireshark is the world’s foremost network protocol analyzer,
but the rich feature set can be daunting for the unfamiliar.
This document is part of an effort by the Wireshark team to improve
Wireshark’s usability.
We hope that you find it useful and look forward to your comments.

2. Who should read this document?

The intended audience of this book is anyone using Wireshark.

This book explains all of the basic and some advanced features
of Wireshark. As Wireshark has become a very complex program,
not every feature may be explained in this book.

This book is not intended to explain network sniffing in general and it
will not provide details about specific network protocols. A lot of
useful information regarding these topics can be found at the Wireshark
Wiki at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/.

By reading this book, you will learn how to install Wireshark, how to use the
basic elements of the graphical user interface (such as the menu) and what’s
behind some of the advanced features that are not always obvious at first sight.
It will hopefully guide you around some common problems that frequently appear
for new (and sometimes even advanced) Wireshark users.

3. Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the whole Wireshark team for their assistance.
In particular, the authors would like to thank:

  • Gerald Combs, for initiating the Wireshark project and funding to do this
    documentation.
  • Guy Harris, for many helpful hints and a great deal of patience in reviewing
    this document.
  • Gilbert Ramirez, for general encouragement and helpful hints along the way.

The authors would also like to thank the following people for their helpful
feedback on this document:

  • Pat Eyler, for his suggestions on improving the example on generating a backtrace.
  • Martin Regner, for his various suggestions and corrections.
  • Graeme Hewson, for many grammatical corrections.

The authors would like to acknowledge those man page and README authors for the
Wireshark project from who sections of this document borrow heavily:

  • Scott Renfro from whose mergecap man page Section D.8, “mergecap: Merging multiple capture files into one” is derived.
  • Ashok Narayanan from whose text2pcap man page Section D.9, “text2pcap: Converting ASCII hexdumps to network captures” is derived.

4. About this document

This book was originally developed by Richard
Sharpe with funds provided from the Wireshark Fund. It was updated by
Ed Warnicke and more recently redesigned and
updated by Ulf Lamping.

It was originally written in DocBook/XML and converted to AsciiDoc by
Gerald Combs.

6. Providing feedback about this document

Should you have any feedback about this document, please send it to the
authors through wireshark-dev[AT]wireshark.org.

7. Typographic Conventions

The following table shows the typographic conventions that are used in this guide.

Table 1. Typographic Conventions

Style Description Example

Italic

File names, folder names, and extensions

C:Developmentwireshark.

Monospace

Commands, flags, and environment variables

CMake’s -G option.

Bold Monospace

Commands that should be run by the user

Run cmake -G Ninja ...

Button

Dialog and window buttons

Press Launch to go to the Moon.

Key

Keyboard shortcut

Press Ctrl+Down to move to the next packet.

Menu item

Select → to move to the next packet.

7.1. Admonitions

Important and notable items are marked as follows:

[Warning] This is a warning

You should pay attention to a warning, otherwise data loss might occur.

[Caution] This is a caution

Act carefully (i.e., exercise care).

[Important] This is important information

RTFM — Read The Fine Manual

[Tip] This is a tip

Tips are helpful for your everyday work using Wireshark.

[Note] This is a note

A note will point you to common mistakes and things that might not be obvious.

7.2. Shell Prompt and Source Code Examples

Bourne shell, normal user. 

$ # This is a comment
$ git config --global log.abbrevcommit true

Bourne shell, root user. 

# # This is a comment
# ninja install

Command Prompt (cmd.exe). 

>rem This is a comment
>cd C:Development

PowerShell. 

PS$># This is a comment
PS$> choco list -l

C Source Code. 

#include "config.h"

/* This method dissects foos */
static int
dissect_foo_message(tvbuff_t *tvb, packet_info *pinfo _U_, proto_tree *tree _U_, void *data _U_)
{
    /* TODO: implement your dissecting code */
    return tvb_captured_length(tvb);
}

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. What is Wireshark?

Wireshark is a network packet analyzer. A network packet analyzer
presents captured packet data in as much detail as possible.

You could think of a network packet analyzer as a measuring device for
examining what’s happening inside a network cable, just like an electrician uses
a voltmeter for examining what’s happening 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, that has changed. Wireshark is
available for free, is open source, and is one of the best packet
analyzers available today.

1.1.1. Some intended purposes

Here are some reasons people use Wireshark:

  • Network administrators use it to troubleshoot network problems
  • Network security engineers use it to examine security problems
  • QA engineers use it to verify network applications
  • Developers use it to debug protocol implementations
  • People use it to learn network protocol internals

Wireshark can also be helpful in many other situations.

1.1.2. Features

The following are some of the many features Wireshark provides:

  • Available for UNIX and Windows.
  • Capture live packet data from a network interface.
  • Open files containing packet data captured with tcpdump/WinDump,
    Wireshark, and many other packet capture programs.
  • Import packets from text files containing hex dumps of packet data.
  • Display packets with very detailed protocol information.
  • Save packet data captured.
  • Export some or all packets in a number of capture file formats.
  • Filter packets on many criteria.
  • Search for packets on many criteria.
  • Colorize packet display based on filters.
  • Create various statistics.
  • …​and a lot more!

However, to really appreciate its power you have to start using it.

Figure 1.1, “Wireshark captures packets and lets you examine their contents.” shows Wireshark having captured some packets and waiting for you
to examine them.

Figure 1.1. Wireshark captures packets and lets you examine their contents.

1.1.3. Live capture from many different network media

Wireshark can capture traffic from many different network media types,
including Ethernet, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, USB, and more. The specific media
types supported may be limited by several factors, including your hardware
and operating system. An overview of the supported media types can be found at
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/CaptureSetup/NetworkMedia.

1.1.4. Import files from many other capture programs

Wireshark can open packet captures from a large number of capture
programs. For a list of input formats see Section 5.2.2, “Input File Formats”.

1.1.5. Export files for many other capture programs

Wireshark can save captured packets in many formats, including those used by other
capture programs. For a list of output formats see Section 5.3.2, “Output File Formats”.

1.1.6. Many protocol dissectors

There are protocol dissectors (or decoders, as they are known in other products)
for a great many protocols: see Appendix C, Protocols and Protocol Fields.

1.1.7. Open Source Software

Wireshark is an open source software project, and is released under the
GNU General Public License (GPL). You can freely use
Wireshark on any number of computers you like, without worrying about license
keys or fees or such. In addition, all source code is freely available under the
GPL. Because of that, it is very easy for people to add new protocols to
Wireshark, either as plugins, or built into the source, and they often do!

1.1.8. What Wireshark is not

Here are some things Wireshark does not provide:

  • Wireshark isn’t an intrusion detection system. It will not warn you when
    someone does strange things on your network that he/she isn’t allowed to do.
    However, if strange things happen, Wireshark might help you figure out what is
    really going on.
  • Wireshark will not manipulate things on the network, it will only “measure”
    things from it. Wireshark doesn’t send packets on the network or do other
    active things (except domain name resolution, but that can be disabled).

1.2. System Requirements

The amount of resources Wireshark needs depends on your environment and on the
size of the capture file you are analyzing. The values below should be fine for
small to medium-sized capture files no more than a few hundred MB. Larger
capture files will require more memory and disk space.

[Note] Busy networks mean large captures

A busy network can produce huge capture files. Capturing on
even a 100 megabit network can produce hundreds of megabytes of
capture data in a short time. A computer with a fast processor, and lots of
memory and disk space is always a good idea.

If Wireshark runs out of memory it will crash. See
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/KnownBugs/OutOfMemory for details and workarounds.

Although Wireshark uses a separate process to capture packets, the packet
analysis is single-threaded and won’t benefit much from multi-core systems.

1.2.1. Microsoft Windows

Wireshark should support any version of Windows that is still within its
extended support
lifetime. At the time of writing this includes Windows 10, 8.1,
Server 2019,
Server 2016,
Server 2012 R2,
and Server 2012.
It also requires the following:

  • The Universal C Runtime. This is included with Windows 10 and Windows
    Server 2019 and is installed automatically on earlier versions if
    Microsoft Windows Update is enabled. Otherwise you must install
    KB2999226 or
    KB3118401.
  • Any modern 64-bit AMD64/x86-64 or 32-bit x86 processor.
  • 500 MB available RAM. Larger capture files require more RAM.
  • 500 MB available disk space. Capture files require additional disk space.
  • Any modern display. 1280 × 1024 or higher resolution is
    recommended. Wireshark will make use of HiDPI or Retina resolutions if
    available. Power users will find multiple monitors useful.
  • A supported network card for capturing

    • Ethernet. Any card supported by Windows should work. See the wiki pages on
      Ethernet capture and
      offloading for issues that
      may affect your environment.
    • 802.11. See the Wireshark
      wiki page. Capturing raw 802.11 information may be difficult without
      special equipment.
    • Other media. See https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/CaptureSetup/NetworkMedia.

Older versions of Windows which are outside Microsoft’s extended lifecycle
support window are no longer supported. It is often difficult or impossible to
support these systems due to circumstances beyond our control, such as third
party libraries on which we depend or due to necessary features that are only
present in newer versions of Windows such as hardened security or memory
management.

  • Wireshark 3.6 was the last release branch to officially support 32-bit Windows.
  • Wireshark 3.2 was the last release branch to officially support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
  • Wireshark 2.2 was the last release branch to support Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 sans R2
  • Wireshark 1.12 was the last release branch to support Windows Server 2003.
  • Wireshark 1.10 was the last release branch to officially support Windows XP.

See the Wireshark
release lifecycle page for more details.

1.2.2. macOS

Wireshark supports macOS 10.14 and later.
Similar to Windows, supported macOS versions depend on third party libraries and on Apple’s requirements.
Apple Silicon hardware is supported natively starting with version 4.0

  • Wireshark 3.6 was the last release branch to support macOS 10.13.
  • Wireshark 3.4 was the last release branch to support macOS 10.12.
  • Wireshark 2.6 was the last release branch to support Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 and OS X 10.8 to 10.11.
  • Wireshark 2.0 was the last release branch to support OS X on 32-bit Intel.
  • Wireshark 1.8 was the last release branch to support Mac OS X on PowerPC.

The system requirements should be comparable to the specifications listed above for Windows.

1.2.3. UNIX, Linux, and BSD

Wireshark runs on most UNIX and UNIX-like platforms including Linux and most BSD variants.
The system requirements should be comparable to the specifications listed above for Windows.

Binary packages are available for most Unices and Linux distributions
including the following platforms:

  • Alpine Linux
  • Arch Linux
  • Canonical Ubuntu
  • Debian GNU/Linux
  • FreeBSD
  • Gentoo Linux
  • HP-UX
  • NetBSD
  • OpenPKG
  • Oracle Solaris
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS / Fedora

If a binary package is not available for your platform you can download
the source and try to build it. Please report your experiences to
wireshark-dev[AT]wireshark.org.

1.3. Where To Get Wireshark

You can get the latest copy of the program from the Wireshark website at https://www.wireshark.org/download.html.
The download page should automatically highlight the appropriate download for your platform and direct you to the nearest mirror.
Official Windows and macOS installers are signed using trusted certificates on those platforms.
macOS installers are additionally notarized.

A new Wireshark version typically becomes available every six weeks.

If you want to be notified about new Wireshark releases you should subscribe to the wireshark-announce mailing list.
You will find more details in Section 1.6.5, “Mailing Lists”.

Each release includes a list of file hashes which are sent to the wireshark-announce mailing list and placed in a file named SIGNATURES-x.y.z.txt.
Announcement messages are archived at https://www.wireshark.org/lists/wireshark-announce/ and SIGNATURES files can be found at https://www.wireshark.org/download/src/all-versions/.
Both are GPG-signed and include verification instructions for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
As noted above, you can also verify downloads on Windows and macOS using the code signature validation features on those systems.

1.4. A Brief History Of Wireshark

In late 1997 Gerald Combs needed a tool for tracking down network problems
and wanted to learn more about networking so he started writing Ethereal (the
original name of the Wireshark project) as a way to solve both problems.

Ethereal was initially released after several pauses in development in July
1998 as version 0.2.0. Within days patches, bug reports, and words of
encouragement started arriving and Ethereal was on its way to success.

Not long after that Gilbert Ramirez saw its potential and contributed a
low-level dissector to it.

In October, 1998 Guy Harris was looking for something better than tcpview so he
started applying patches and contributing dissectors to Ethereal.

In late 1998 Richard Sharpe, who was giving TCP/IP courses, saw its potential
on such courses and started looking at it to see if it supported the protocols
he needed. While it didn’t at that point new protocols could be easily added.
So he started contributing dissectors and contributing patches.

The list of people who have contributed to the project has become very long
since then, and almost all of them started with a protocol that they needed that
Wireshark did not already handle. So they copied an existing dissector and
contributed the code back to the team.

In 2006 the project moved house and re-emerged under a new name: Wireshark.

In 2008, after ten years of development, Wireshark finally arrived at version
1.0. This release was the first deemed complete, with the minimum features
implemented. Its release coincided with the first Wireshark Developer and User
Conference, called Sharkfest.

In 2015 Wireshark 2.0 was released, which featured a new user interface.

1.5. Development And Maintenance Of Wireshark

Wireshark was initially developed by Gerald Combs. Ongoing development and
maintenance of Wireshark is handled by the Wireshark team, a loose group of
individuals who fix bugs and provide new functionality.

There have also been a large number of people who have contributed
protocol dissectors to Wireshark, and it is expected that this will
continue. You can find a list of the people who have contributed code to
Wireshark by checking the about dialog box of Wireshark, or at the
authors page on the Wireshark web site.

Wireshark is an open source software project, and is released under the
GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. All source code is
freely available under the GPL. You are welcome to modify Wireshark to suit your
own needs, and it would be appreciated if you contribute your improvements back
to the Wireshark team.

You gain three benefits by contributing your improvements back to the community:

  1. Other people who find your contributions useful will appreciate them, and you
    will know that you have helped people in the same way that the developers of
    Wireshark have helped you.
  2. The developers of Wireshark can further improve your changes or implement
    additional features on top of your code, which may also benefit you.
  3. The maintainers and developers of Wireshark will maintain your code,
    fixing it when API changes or other changes are made, and generally keeping it
    in tune with what is happening with Wireshark. So when Wireshark is updated
    (which is often), you can get a new Wireshark version from the website
    and your changes will already be included without any additional effort from you.

The Wireshark source code and binary kits for some platforms are all
available on the download page of the Wireshark website:
https://www.wireshark.org/download.html.

1.6. Reporting Problems And Getting Help

If you have problems or need help with Wireshark there are several places that
may be of interest (besides this guide, of course).

1.6.2. Wiki

The Wireshark Wiki at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/ provides a
wide range of information related to Wireshark and packet capture in general.
You will find a lot of information not part of this user’s guide. For example,
it contains an explanation how to capture on a switched network, an ongoing effort
to build a protocol reference, protocol-specific information, and much more.

And best of all, if you would like to contribute your knowledge on a specific
topic (maybe a network protocol you know well), you can edit the wiki pages
with your web browser.

1.6.3. Q&A Site

The Wireshark Q&A site at https://ask.wireshark.org/ offers a resource where
questions and answers come together. You can search for
questions asked before and see what answers were given by people who
knew about the issue. Answers are ranked, so you can easily pick out the best
ones. If your question hasn’t been discussed before you can post
one yourself.

1.6.4. FAQ

The Frequently Asked Questions lists often asked questions and their
corresponding answers.

[Note] Read the FAQ

Before sending any mail to the mailing lists below, be sure to read the FAQ. It
will often answer any questions you might have. This will save yourself and
others a lot of time. Keep in mind that a lot of people are subscribed to the
mailing lists.

You will find the FAQ inside Wireshark by clicking the menu item Help/Contents
and selecting the FAQ page in the dialog shown.

An online version is available at the Wireshark website at
https://www.wireshark.org/faq.html. You might prefer this online version, as it’s
typically more up to date and the HTML format is easier to use.

1.6.5. Mailing Lists

There are several mailing lists of specific Wireshark topics available:

wireshark-announce
Information about new program releases, which usually appear about every six weeks.
wireshark-users
Topics of interest to users of Wireshark.
People typically post questions about using Wireshark and others (hopefully) provide answers.
wireshark-dev
Topics of interest to developers of Wireshark.
If you want to develop a protocol dissector or update the user interface, join this list.

You can subscribe to each of these lists from the Wireshark web site:
https://www.wireshark.org/lists/. From there, you can choose which mailing
list you want to subscribe to by clicking on the
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Options button under the title of the relevant
list. The links to the archives are included on that page as well.

[Tip] The lists are archived

You can search in the list archives to see if someone asked the same question
some time before and maybe already got an answer. That way you don’t have to
wait until someone answers your question.

1.6.6. Reporting Problems

[Note] Note

Before reporting any problems, please make sure you have installed the latest
version of Wireshark.

When reporting problems with Wireshark please supply the following information:

  1. The version number of Wireshark and the dependent libraries linked with it,
    such as Qt or GLib. You can obtain this from Wireshark’s about box or the
    command wireshark -v.
  2. Information about the platform you run Wireshark on
    (Windows, Linux, etc. and 32-bit, 64-bit, etc.).
  3. A detailed description of your problem.
  4. If you get an error/warning message, copy the text of that message (and also a
    few lines before and after it, if there are some) so others may find the
    place where things go wrong. Please don’t give something like: “I get a
    warning while doing x” as this won’t give a good idea where to look.
[Warning] Don’t send confidential information!

If you send capture files to the mailing lists be sure they don’t contain any
sensitive or confidential information like passwords or personally identifiable
information (PII).

In many cases you can use a tool like TraceWrangler to sanitize a capture file before sharing it.

[Note] Don’t send large files

Do not send large files (> 1 MB) to the mailing lists. Instead, provide a
download link. For bugs and feature requests, you can create an issue on
GitLab Issues and upload the file there.

1.6.7. Reporting Crashes on UNIX/Linux platforms

When reporting crashes with Wireshark it is helpful if you supply the traceback
information along with the information mentioned in “Reporting Problems”.

You can obtain this traceback information with the following commands on UNIX or
Linux (note the backticks):

$ gdb `whereis wireshark | cut -f2 -d: | cut -d' ' -f2` core >& backtrace.txt
backtrace
^D

If you do not have gdb available, you will have to check out your operating system’s debugger.

Email backtrace.txt to wireshark-dev[AT]wireshark.org.

Chapter 2. Building and Installing Wireshark

2.1. Introduction

As with all things there must be a beginning and so it is with Wireshark. To
use Wireshark you must first install it. If you are running Windows or macOS
you can download an official release at https://www.wireshark.org/download.html, install it,
and skip the rest of this chapter.

If you are running another operating system such as Linux or FreeBSD you might
want to install from source. Several Linux distributions offer Wireshark
packages but they commonly provide out-of-date versions. No other versions of UNIX
ship Wireshark so far. For that reason, you will need to know where to get the
latest version of Wireshark and how to install it.

This chapter shows you how to obtain source and binary packages and how to
build Wireshark from source should you choose to do so.

The general steps are the following:

  1. Download the relevant package for your needs, e.g., source or binary
    distribution.
  2. For source distributions, compile the source into a binary.
    This may involve building and/or installing other necessary packages.
  3. Install the binaries into their final destinations.

2.2. Obtaining the source and binary distributions

You can obtain both source and binary distributions from the Wireshark main page or the download page at https://www.wireshark.org/download.html.
Select the package most appropriate for your system.

2.3. Installing Wireshark under Windows

The official Windows packages can be downloaded from the Wireshark main page or the download page.
Installer names contain the platform and version.
For example, Wireshark-win64-4.1.0.exe installs Wireshark 4.1.0 for 64-bit Windows.
The Wireshark installer includes Npcap which is required for packet capture.
Windows packages automatically update.
See Section 2.8, “Updating Wireshark” for details.

Simply download the Wireshark installer from https://www.wireshark.org/download.html and execute it.
Official packages are signed by Wireshark Foundation.
You can choose to install several optional components and select the location of the installed package.
The default settings are recommended for most users.

2.3.1. Installation Components

On the Choose Components page of the installer you can select from the following:

  • Wireshark — The network protocol analyzer that we all know and mostly love.
  • TShark — A command-line network protocol analyzer. If you haven’t tried it
    you should.
  • Plugins & Extensions — Extras for the Wireshark and TShark dissection engines

    • Codec Plugins — Additional codec support.
    • Configuration Profiles — Additional configuration profiles.
    • Dissector Plugins — Additional protocol dissectors.
    • File Type Plugins — capture file support — Extend wiretap support for capture file types. (e.g. usbdump)
    • Mate — Meta Analysis and Tracing Engine — User configurable extension(s)
      of the display filter engine, see Chapter 12, MATE for details.
    • SNMP MIBs — SNMP MIBs for a more detailed SNMP dissection.
    • TRANSUM — performance analysis — Plugin to calculate Response Time Element (RTE) statistics.
    • Tree Statistics Plugin — Extended statistics. (see stats_tree in WSDG; Packet Lengths in WSUG)
  • Tools — Additional command line tools to work with capture files and troubleshoot

    • Capinfos — Print information about capture files.
    • Captype — Print the type(format) of capture files.
    • DFTest — Show display filter byte-code, for debugging dfilter routines.
    • Editcap — Copy packets to a new file, optionally trimming packets, omitting them,
      or saving to a different format.
    • Mergecap — Combine multiple saved capture files into a single output file.
    • MMDBResolve — MaxMind Database resolution tool — read IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and
      print their IP geolocation information.
    • Randpkt — Create a pcap trace file full of random packets. (randpkt produces very bad packets)
    • Rawshark — Dump and analyze raw pcap data.
    • Reordercap — Copy packets to a new file, sorted by time.
    • Text2Pcap — Generate a capture file from an ASCII hexdump of packets.
  • External Capture (extcap) — External Capture Interfaces

    • Androiddump — Provide capture interfaces from Android devices.
    • Etwdump — Provide an interface to read Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) event trace (ETL).
    • Randpktdump — Provide an interface to the random packet generator. (see also randpkt)
    • Sshdump, Ciscodump, and Wifidump — Provide remote capture through SSH. (tcpdump, Cisco EPC, wifi)
    • UDPdump — Provide capture interface to receive UDP packets streamed from network devices.
  • Documentation — Local installation of the User’s Guide and FAQ. The Help buttons on
    most dialogs will require an internet connection to show help pages if the
    User’s Guide is not installed locally.

2.3.2. Additional Tasks

  • Wireshark Start Menu Item — Add a shortcut to the start menu.
  • Wireshark Desktop Icon — Add a Wireshark icon to the desktop.
  • Associate trace file extensions with Wireshark — Associate standard network trace files to Wireshark.

2.3.3. Install Location

By default Wireshark installs into %ProgramFiles%Wireshark on 32-bit Windows
and %ProgramFiles64%Wireshark on 64-bit Windows. This expands to C:Program
FilesWireshark
on most systems.

2.3.4. Installing Npcap

The Wireshark installer contains the latest Npcap installer.

If you don’t have Npcap installed you won’t be able to capture live network
traffic but you will still be able to open saved capture files. By default the
latest version of Npcap will be installed. If you don’t wish to do this or if
you wish to reinstall Npcap you can check the Install Npcap box as needed.

For more information about Npcap see https://npcap.com/ and
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Npcap.

2.3.5. Windows installer command line options

For special cases, there are some command line parameters available:

  • /S runs the installer or uninstaller silently with default values. The
    silent installer will not install Npcap.
  • /desktopicon installation of the desktop icon, =yes — force installation,
    =no — don’t install, otherwise use default settings. This option can be
    useful for a silent installer.
  • /quicklaunchicon installation of the quick launch icon, =yes — force
    installation, =no — don’t install, otherwise use default settings.
  • /D sets the default installation directory ($INSTDIR), overriding InstallDir
    and InstallDirRegKey. It must be the last parameter used in the command line
    and must not contain any quotes even if the path contains spaces.
  • /NCRC disables the CRC check. We recommend against using this flag.
  • /EXTRACOMPONENTS comma separated list of optional components to install.
    The following extcap binaries are supported.

    • androiddump — Provide interfaces to capture from Android devices
    • ciscodump — Provide interfaces to capture from a remote Cisco router through SSH
    • randpktdump — Provide an interface to generate random captures using randpkt
    • sshdump — Provide interfaces to capture from a remote host through SSH using a remote capture binary
    • udpdump — Provide a UDP receiver that gets packets from network devices

Example:

> Wireshark-win64-wireshark-2.0.5.exe /NCRC /S /desktopicon=yes /quicklaunchicon=no /D=C:Program FilesFoo

> Wireshark-win64-3.3.0.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=sshdump,udpdump

Running the installer without any parameters shows the normal interactive installer.

2.3.6. Manual Npcap Installation

As mentioned above, the Wireshark installer also installs Npcap.
If you prefer to install Npcap manually or want to use a different version than the
one included in the Wireshark installer, you can download Npcap from
the main Npcap site at https://npcap.com/.

2.3.7. Update Npcap

Wireshark updates may also include a new version of Npcap.
Manual Npcap updates instructions can be found on the Npcap web
site at https://npcap.com/. You may have to reboot your machine after installing
a new Npcap version.

2.3.8. Uninstall Wireshark

You can uninstall Wireshark using the Programs and Features control panel.
Select the “Wireshark” entry to start the uninstallation procedure.

The Wireshark uninstaller provides several options for removal. The default is
to remove the core components but keep your personal settings and Npcap.
Npcap is kept in case other programs need it.

2.3.9. Uninstall Npcap

You can uninstall Npcap independently of Wireshark using the Npcap entry
in the Programs and Features control panel. Remember that if you uninstall
Npcap you won’t be able to capture anything with Wireshark.

2.5. Installing Wireshark under macOS

The official macOS packages can be downloaded from the Wireshark main page or the download page.
Packages are distributed as disk images (.dmg) containing the application bundle.
Package names contain the platform and version.
To install Wireshark simply open the disk image and drag Wireshark to your /Applications folder.
macOS packages automatically update.
See Section 2.8, “Updating Wireshark” for details.

In order to capture packets, you must install the “ChmodBPF” launch daemon.
You can do so by opening the Install ChmodBPF.pkg file in the Wireshark .dmg or from Wireshark itself by opening → selecting the “Folders” tab, and double-clicking “macOS Extras”.

The installer package includes Wireshark along with ChmodBPF and system path packages.
See the included Read me first.html file for more details.

2.6. Installing the binaries under UNIX

In general installing the binary under your version of UNIX will be specific to
the installation methods used with your version of UNIX. For example, under AIX,
you would use smit to install the Wireshark binary package, while under Tru64
UNIX (formerly Digital UNIX) you would use setld.

2.6.1. Installing from RPMs under Red Hat and alike

Building RPMs from Wireshark’s source code results in several packages (most
distributions follow the same system):

  • The wireshark package contains the core Wireshark libraries and command-line
    tools.
  • The wireshark or wireshark-qt package contains the Qt-based GUI.

Many distributions use yum or a similar package management tool to make
installation of software (including its dependencies) easier. If your
distribution uses yum, use the following command to install Wireshark
together with the Qt GUI:

yum install wireshark wireshark-qt

If you’ve built your own RPMs from the Wireshark sources you can install them
by running, for example:

rpm -ivh wireshark-2.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm wireshark-qt-2.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm

If the above command fails because of missing dependencies, install the
dependencies first, and then retry the step above.

2.6.2. Installing from debs under Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives

If you can just install from the repository then use

apt install wireshark

Apt should take care of all of the dependency issues for you.

2.6.3. Installing from portage under Gentoo Linux

Use the following command to install Wireshark under Gentoo Linux with all of
the extra features:

USE="c-ares ipv6 snmp ssl kerberos threads selinux" emerge wireshark

2.6.4. Installing from packages under FreeBSD

Use the following command to install Wireshark under FreeBSD:

pkg_add -r wireshark

pkg_add should take care of all of the dependency issues for you.

2.8. Updating Wireshark

By default, Wireshark on Windows and macOS will check for new versions and notify you when they are available.
If you have the Check for updates preference disabled or if you run Wireshark in an isolated environment you should subscribe to the wireshark-announce mailing list to be notified of new versions.
See Section 1.6.5, “Mailing Lists” for details on subscribing to this list.

New versions of Wireshark are usually released every four to six weeks.
Updating Wireshark is done the same way as installing it.
Simply download and run the installer on Windows, or download and drag the application on macOS.
A reboot is usually not required and all your personal settings will remain unchanged.

We offer two update channels, Stable and Development.
The Stable channel is the default, and only installs packages from stable (even-numbered) release branches.
The Development channel installs development and release candidate packages when they are available, and stable releases otherwise.
To configure your release channel, go to → and search for “update.channel”.
See Section 11.5, “Preferences” for details.

Chapter 3. User Interface

3.1. Introduction

By now you have installed Wireshark and are likely keen to get started
capturing your first packets. In the next chapters we will explore:

  • How the Wireshark user interface works
  • How to capture packets in Wireshark
  • How to view packets in Wireshark
  • How to filter packets in Wireshark
  • …​ and many other things!

3.2. Start Wireshark

You can start Wireshark from your shell or window manager.

[Tip] Power user tip

When starting Wireshark it’s possible to specify optional settings using the
command line. See Section 11.2, “Start Wireshark from the command line” for details.

The following chapters contain many screenshots of Wireshark. As
Wireshark runs on many different platforms with many different window managers,
different styles applied and there are different versions of the underlying GUI
toolkit used, your screen might look different from the provided screenshots.
But as there are no real differences in functionality these screenshots should
still be well understandable.

3.3. The Main window

Let’s look at Wireshark’s user interface. Figure 3.1, “The Main window” shows Wireshark as you
would usually see it after some packets are captured or loaded (how to do this
will be described later).

Figure 3.1. The Main window

Wireshark’s main window consists of parts that are commonly known from many
other GUI programs.

  1. The menu (see Section 3.4, “The Menu”) is used to start actions.
  2. The main toolbar (see Section 3.16, “The “Main” Toolbar”) provides quick access to
    frequently used items from the menu.
  3. The filter toolbar (see Section 3.17, “The “Filter” Toolbar”) allows users to
    set display filters to filter which packets are displayed (see
    Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”).
  4. The packet list pane (see Section 3.18, “The “Packet List” Pane”) displays a summary
    of each packet captured. By clicking on packets in this pane you control what is
    displayed in the other two panes.
  5. The packet details pane (see Section 3.19, “The “Packet Details” Pane”) displays the
    packet selected in the packet list pane in more detail.
  6. The packet bytes pane (see Section 3.20, “The “Packet Bytes” Pane”) displays the
    data from the packet selected in the packet list pane, and highlights the field
    selected in the packet details pane.
  7. The packet diagram pane (see Section 3.21, “The “Packet Diagram” Pane”) displays the
    packet selected in the packet list as a textbook-style diagram.
  8. The statusbar (see Section 3.22, “The Statusbar”) shows some detailed
    information about the current program state and the captured data.
[Tip] Tip

The layout of the main window can be customized by changing preference settings.
See Section 11.5, “Preferences” for details.

3.3.1. Main Window Navigation

Packet list and detail navigation can be done entirely from the keyboard.
Table 3.1, “Keyboard Navigation” shows a list of keystrokes that will let you quickly move around
a capture file. See Table 3.6, “Go menu items” for additional navigation keystrokes.

Table 3.1. Keyboard Navigation

Accelerator Description

Tab or Shift+Tab

Move between screen elements, e.g., from the toolbars to the packet list to the packet detail.

Move to the next packet or detail item.

Move to the previous packet or detail item.

Ctrl+ or F8

Move to the next packet, even if the packet list isn’t focused.

Ctrl+ or F7

Move to the previous packet, even if the packet list isn’t focused.

Ctrl+.

Move to the next packet of the conversation (TCP, UDP or IP).

Ctrl+,

Move to the previous packet of the conversation (TCP, UDP or IP).

Alt+ or Option+ (macOS)

Move to the next packet in the selection history.

Alt+ or Option+ (macOS)

Move to the previous packet in the selection history.

In the packet detail, closes the selected tree item. If it’s already closed, jumps to the parent node.

In the packet detail, opens the selected tree item.

Shift+

In the packet detail, opens the selected tree item and all of its subtrees.

Ctrl+

In the packet detail, opens all tree items.

Ctrl+

In the packet detail, closes all tree items.

Backspace

In the packet detail, jumps to the parent node.

Return or Enter

In the packet detail, toggles the selected tree item.

→ → will show a list of all shortcuts
in the main window. Additionally, typing anywhere in the main window will start
filling in a display filter.

3.4. The Menu

Wireshark’s main menu is located either at the top of the main window (Windows,
Linux) or at the top of your main screen (macOS). An example is shown in
Figure 3.2, “The Menu”.

[Note] Note

Some menu items will be disabled (greyed out) if the corresponding feature isn’t
available. For example, you cannot save a capture file if you haven’t captured
or loaded any packets.

The main menu contains the following items:

This menu contains items to open and merge capture files, save, print, or export
capture files in whole or in part, and to quit the Wireshark application. See
Section 3.5, “The “File” Menu”.
This menu contains items to find a packet, time reference or mark one or more
packets, handle configuration profiles, and set your preferences; (cut, copy,
and paste are not presently implemented). See Section 3.6, “The “Edit” Menu”.
This menu controls the display of the captured data, including colorization of
packets, zooming the font, showing a packet in a separate window, expanding and
collapsing trees in packet details, …​. See Section 3.7, “The “View” Menu”.
This menu contains items to go to a specific packet. See Section 3.8, “The “Go” Menu”.
This menu allows you to start and stop captures and to edit capture filters. See
Section 3.9, “The “Capture” Menu”.
This menu contains items to manipulate display filters, enable or disable the
dissection of protocols, configure user specified decodes and follow a TCP
stream. See Section 3.10, “The “Analyze” Menu”.
This menu contains items to display various statistic windows, including a
summary of the packets that have been captured, display protocol hierarchy
statistics and much more. See Section 3.11, “The “Statistics” Menu”.
This menu contains items to display various telephony related statistic windows,
including a media analysis, flow diagrams, display protocol hierarchy statistics
and much more. See Section 3.12, “The “Telephony” Menu”.
This menu contains items to display Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11 wireless statistics.
This menu contains various tools available in Wireshark, such as creating
Firewall ACL Rules. See Section 3.14, “The “Tools” Menu”.
This menu contains items to help the user, e.g., access to some basic help,
manual pages of the various command line tools, online access to some of the
webpages, and the usual about dialog. See Section 3.15, “The “Help” Menu”.

Each of these menu items is described in more detail in the sections that follow.

[Tip] Shortcuts make life easier

Most common menu items have keyboard shortcuts. For example, you can
press the Control and the K keys together to open the
“Capture Options” dialog.

3.5. The “File” Menu

The Wireshark file menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.2, “File menu items”.

Figure 3.3. The “File” Menu

Table 3.2. File menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description

Ctrl+O

This shows the file open dialog box that allows you to load a
capture file for viewing. It is discussed in more detail in Section 5.2.1, “The “Open Capture File” Dialog Box”.

 

This lets you open recently opened capture files.
Clicking on one of the submenu items will open the corresponding capture file
directly.

 

This menu item lets you merge a capture file into the currently loaded one. It
is discussed in more detail in Section 5.4, “Merging Capture Files”.

 

This menu item brings up the import file dialog box that allows you to import a
text file containing a hex dump into a new temporary capture. It is discussed in
more detail in Section 5.5, “Import Hex Dump”.

Ctrl+W

This menu item closes the current capture. If you haven’t saved the capture, you
will be asked to do so first (this can be disabled by a preference setting).

Ctrl+S

This menu item saves the current capture. If you have not set a default capture
file name (perhaps with the -w <capfile> option), Wireshark pops up the
Save Capture File As dialog box (which is discussed further in Section 5.3.1, “The “Save Capture File As” Dialog Box”).

If you have already saved the current capture, this menu item will be greyed
out.

You cannot save a live capture while the capture is in progress. You must
stop the capture in order to save.

Shift+Ctrl+S

This menu item allows you to save the current capture file to whatever file you
would like. It pops up the Save Capture File As dialog box (which is discussed
further in Section 5.3.1, “The “Save Capture File As” Dialog Box”).

 

This menu item allows you to show a list of files in a file set. It pops up the
Wireshark List File Set dialog box (which is discussed further in
Section 5.6, “File Sets”).

 

If the currently loaded file is part of a file set, jump to the next file in the
set. If it isn’t part of a file set or just the last file in that set, this item
is greyed out.

 

If the currently loaded file is part of a file set, jump to the previous file in
the set. If it isn’t part of a file set or just the first file in that set, this
item is greyed out.

 

This menu item allows you to export all (or some) of the packets in the capture
file to file. It pops up the Wireshark Export dialog box (which is discussed
further in Section 5.7, “Exporting Data”).

Ctrl+H

These menu items allow you to export the currently selected bytes in the packet
bytes pane to a text file in a number of formats including plain, CSV,
and XML. It is discussed further in Section 5.7.3, “The “Export Selected Packet Bytes” Dialog Box”.

 

These menu items allow you to export captured DICOM, HTTP, IMF, SMB, or
TFTP objects into local files. It pops up a corresponding object list
(which is discussed further in Section 5.7.7, “The “Export Objects” Dialog Box”)

Ctrl+P

This menu item allows you to print all (or some) of the packets in the capture
file. It pops up the Wireshark Print dialog box (which is discussed further in
Section 5.8, “Printing Packets”).

Ctrl+Q

This menu item allows you to quit from Wireshark. Wireshark will ask to save
your capture file if you haven’t previously saved it (this can be disabled by a
preference setting).

3.6. The “Edit” Menu

The Wireshark Edit menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.3, “Edit menu items”.

Figure 3.4. The “Edit” Menu

Table 3.3. Edit menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

These menu items will copy the packet list, packet detail, or properties of
the currently selected packet to the clipboard.

Ctrl+F

This menu item brings up a toolbar that allows you to find a packet by many
criteria. There is further information on finding packets in
Section 6.8, “Finding Packets”.

Ctrl+N

This menu item tries to find the next packet matching the settings from “Find
Packet…​”.

Ctrl+B

This menu item tries to find the previous packet matching the settings from
“Find Packet…​”.

Ctrl+M

This menu item marks the currently selected packet. See
Section 6.10, “Marking Packets” for details.

Ctrl+Shift+M

This menu item marks all displayed packets.

Ctrl+Alt+M

This menu item unmarks all displayed packets.

Ctrl+Shift+N

Find the next marked packet.

Ctrl+Shift+B

Find the previous marked packet.

Ctrl+D

This menu item marks the currently selected packet as ignored. See
Section 6.11, “Ignoring Packets” for details.

Ctrl+Shift+D

This menu item marks all displayed packets as ignored.

Ctrl+Alt+D

This menu item unmarks all ignored packets.

Ctrl+T

This menu item set a time reference on the currently selected packet. See
Section 6.12.1, “Packet Time Referencing” for more information about the time
referenced packets.

Ctrl+Alt+T

This menu item removes all time references on the packets.

Ctrl+Alt+N

This menu item tries to find the next time referenced packet.

Ctrl+Alt+B

This menu item tries to find the previous time referenced packet.

Ctrl+Shift+T

Opens the “Time Shift” dialog, which allows you to adjust the timestamps
of some or all packets.

Ctrl+Alt+C

Opens the “Packet Comment” dialog, which lets you add a comment to a
single packet. Note that the ability to save packet comments depends on
your file format. E.g., pcapng supports comments, pcap does not.

 

This will delete all comments from all packets. Note that the ability to save
capture comments depends on your file format. E.g., pcapng supports
comments, pcap does not.

Ctrl+Shift+A

This menu item brings up a dialog box for handling configuration profiles. More
detail is provided in Section 11.6, “Configuration Profiles”.

Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+, (macOS)

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to set preferences for
many parameters that control Wireshark. You can also save your preferences so
Wireshark will use them the next time you start it. More detail is provided in
Section 11.5, “Preferences”.

3.7. The “View” Menu

The Wireshark View menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.4, “View menu items”.

Figure 3.5. The “View” Menu

Table 3.4. View menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

This menu item hides or shows the main toolbar, see Section 3.16, “The “Main” Toolbar”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the filter toolbar, see Section 3.17, “The “Filter” Toolbar”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the wireless toolbar. May not be present on some platforms.

 

This menu item hides or shows the statusbar, see Section 3.22, “The Statusbar”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet list pane, see Section 3.18, “The “Packet List” Pane”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet details pane, see Section 3.19, “The “Packet Details” Pane”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet bytes pane, see Section 3.20, “The “Packet Bytes” Pane”.

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet diagram pane. See Section 3.21, “The “Packet Diagram” Pane”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display the time stamps in date and time of day format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

The fields “Time of Day”, “Date and Time of Day”, “Seconds Since First
Captured Packet”, “Seconds Since Previous Captured Packet” and “Seconds
Since Previous Displayed Packet” are mutually exclusive.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in time of day format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since first captured packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since previous captured packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since previous displayed packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with the precision given by the capture file format used, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

The fields “Automatic”, “Seconds” and “…​seconds” are mutually exclusive.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a precision of one second, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a precision of one second, decisecond, centisecond, millisecond, microsecond or nanosecond, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds, with hours and minutes.

 

This item allows you to trigger a name resolve of the current packet only, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates MAC addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates network addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates transport addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark should colorize the packet list.

Enabling colorization will slow down the display of new packets while
capturing or loading capture files.

 

This item allows you to specify that Wireshark should scroll the packet list pane as new packets come in, so you are always looking at the last packet. If you do not specify this, Wireshark simply adds new packets onto the end of the list, but does not scroll the packet list pane.

Ctrl++

Zoom into the packet data (increase the font size).

Ctrl+

Zoom out of the packet data (decrease the font size).

Ctrl+=

Set zoom level back to 100% (set font size back to normal).

Shift+Ctrl+R

Resize all column widths so the content will fit into it.

Resizing may take a significant amount of time, especially if a large capture file is loaded.

 

This menu items folds out with a list of all configured columns. These columns can now be shown or hidden in the packet list.

Shift+

This menu item expands the currently selected subtree in the packet details tree.

Shift+

This menu item collapses the currently selected subtree in the packet details tree.

Ctrl+

Wireshark keeps a list of all the protocol subtrees that are expanded, and uses it to ensure that the correct subtrees are expanded when you display a packet. This menu item expands all subtrees in all packets in the capture.

Ctrl+

This menu item collapses the tree view of all packets in the capture list.

 

This menu item brings up a submenu that allows you to color packets in the packet list pane based on the addresses of the currently selected packet. This makes it easy to distinguish packets belonging to different conversations. Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”.

 

These menu items enable one of the ten temporary color filters based on the currently selected conversation.

 

This menu item clears all temporary coloring rules.

 

This menu item opens a dialog window in which a new permanent coloring rule can be created based on the currently selected conversation.

 

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to color packets in the packet list pane according to filter expressions you choose. It can be very useful for spotting certain types of packets, see Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”.

 

Information about various internal data structures. See Table 3.5, “Internals menu items” below for more information.

 

Shows the selected packet in a separate window. The separate window
shows only the packet details and bytes. See Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window” for
details.

Ctrl+R

This menu item allows you to reload the current capture file.

Table 3.5. Internals menu items

Menu Item Description

Shows the tuples (address and port combinations) used to identify each conversation.

Shows tables of subdissector relationships.

Displays supported protocols and protocol fields.

3.8. The “Go” Menu

The Wireshark Go menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.6, “Go menu items”.

Figure 3.6. The “Go” Menu

Table 3.6. Go menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description

Alt+

Jump to the recently visited packet in the packet history, much like the page history in a web browser.

Alt+

Jump to the next visited packet in the packet history, much like the page history in a web browser.

Ctrl+G

Bring up a window frame that allows you to specify a packet number, and then goes to that packet. See Section 6.9, “Go To A Specific Packet” for details.

 

Go to the corresponding packet of the currently selected protocol field. If the selected field doesn’t correspond to a packet, this item is greyed out.

Ctrl+

Move to the previous packet in the list. This can be used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn’t have keyboard focus.

Ctrl+

Move to the next packet in the list. This can be used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn’t have keyboard focus.

Ctrl+Home

Jump to the first packet of the capture file.

Ctrl+End

Jump to the last packet of the capture file.

Ctrl+,

Move to the previous packet in the current conversation. This can be used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn’t have keyboard focus.

Ctrl+.

Move to the next packet in the current conversation. This can be used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn’t have keyboard focus.

3.9. The “Capture” Menu

The Wireshark Capture menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.7, “Capture menu items”.

Figure 3.7. The “Capture” Menu

Table 3.7. Capture menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description

Ctrl+K

Shows the Capture Options dialog box, which allows you to configure
interfaces and capture options.
See Section 4.5, “The “Capture Options” Dialog Box”.

Ctrl+E

Immediately starts capturing packets with the same settings as the last
time.

Ctrl+E

Stops the currently running capture. See Section 4.11.1, “Stop the running capture”.

Ctrl+R

Stops the currently running capture and starts it again with the same
options.

 

Shows a dialog box that allows you to create and edit capture filters.
You can name filters and save them for future use.
See Section 6.6, “Defining And Saving Filters”.

F5

Clear and recreate the interface list.

3.10. The “Analyze” Menu

The Wireshark Analyze menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.8, “Analyze menu items”.

Figure 3.8. The “Analyze” Menu

Table 3.8. Analyze menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

Displays a dialog box that allows you to create and edit display
filters. You can name filters, and you can save them for future use.
See Section 6.6, “Defining And Saving Filters”.

 

Shows a dialog box that allows you to create and edit display filter
macros. You can name filter macros, and you can save them for future
use.
See Section 6.7, “Defining And Saving Filter Macros”.

Shift+Ctrl+I

Adds the selected protocol item in the packet details pane as a column
to the packet list.

 

Change the current display filter and apply it immediately. Depending on
the chosen menu item, the current display filter string will be replaced
or appended to by the selected protocol field in the packet details
pane.

 

Change the current display filter but won’t apply it. Depending on the
chosen menu item, the current display filter string will be replaced or
appended to by the selected protocol field in the packet details pane.

 

Apply a conversation filter for various protocols.

Shift+Ctrl+E

Enable or disable various protocol dissectors. See Section 11.4.1, “The “Enabled Protocols” dialog box”.

 

Decode certain packets as a particular protocol. See Section 11.4.2, “User Specified Decodes”.

 

Open a window that displays all the TCP segments captured that are on
the same TCP connection as a selected packet.
See Section 7.2, “Following Protocol Streams”.

 

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for UDP “streams”.

 

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for TLS or SSL streams.
See the wiki page on TLS for instructions
on providing TLS keys.

 

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for HTTP streams.

 

Open a window showing expert information found in the capture.
Some protocol dissectors add packet detail items for notable or unusual
behavior, such as invalid checksums or retransmissions.
Those items are shown here.
See Section 7.4, “Expert Information” for more information.

The amount of information will vary depend on the protocol

3.11. The “Statistics” Menu

The Wireshark Statistics menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.9, “Statistics menu items”.

Figure 3.9. The “Statistics” Menu

Each menu item brings up a new window showing specific statistics.

Table 3.9. Statistics menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

Show information about the capture file, see Section 8.2, “The “Capture File Properties” Dialog”.

 

See Section 8.3, “Resolved Addresses”

 

Display a hierarchical tree of protocol statistics, see Section 8.4, “The “Protocol Hierarchy” Window”.

 

Display a list of conversations (traffic between two endpoints), see Section 8.5.1, “The “Conversations” Window”.

 

Display a list of endpoints (traffic to/from an address), see Section 8.6.1, “The “Endpoints” Window”.

 

See Section 8.7, “Packet Lengths”

 

Display user specified graphs (e.g., the number of packets in the course of time), see Section 8.8, “The “I/O Graphs” Window”.

 

Display the time between a request and the corresponding response, see Section 8.9, “Service Response Time”.

 

See Section 8.10, “DHCP (BOOTP) Statistics”

 

See Section 8.11, “NetPerfMeter Statistics”

 

See Section 8.12, “ONC-RPC Programs”

 

See Section 8.13, “29West”

 

See Section 8.14, “ANCP”

 

See Section 8.15, “BACnet”

 

See Section 8.16, “Collectd”

 

See Section 8.17, “DNS”

 

See Section 8.18, “Flow Graph”

 

See Section 8.19, “HART-IP”

 

See Section 8.20, “HPFEEDS”

 

HTTP request/response statistics, see Section 8.21, “HTTP Statistics”

 

See Section 8.22, “HTTP2”

 

See Section 8.23, “Sametime”

 

See Section 8.24, “TCP Stream Graphs”

 

See Section 8.25, “UDP Multicast Streams”

 

See Section 8.26, “Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool)”

 

See Section 8.27, “F5”

 

See Section 8.28, “IPv4 Statistics”

 

See Section 8.29, “IPv6 Statistics”

3.12. The “Telephony” Menu

The Wireshark Telephony menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.10, “Telephony menu items”.

Figure 3.10. The “Telephony” Menu

Each menu item shows specific telephony related statistics.

Table 3.10. Telephony menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

See Section 9.3, “VoIP Calls Window”

 

See Section 9.4, “ANSI”

 

See Section 9.5, “GSM Windows”

 

See Section 9.6, “IAX2 Stream Analysis Window”

 

See Section 9.7, “ISUP Messages Window”

 

See Section 9.8, “LTE”

 

See Section 9.9, “MTP3 Windows”

 

See Section 9.10, “Osmux Windows”

 

See Section 9.11.1, “RTP Streams Window” and Section 9.11.2, “RTP Stream Analysis Window”

 

See Section 9.12, “RTSP Window”

 

See Section 9.13, “SCTP Windows”

 

See Section 9.14, “SMPP Operations Window”

 

See Section 9.15, “UCP Messages Window”

 

See Section 9.16, “H.225 Window”

 

See Section 9.17, “SIP Flows Window”

 

See Section 9.18, “SIP Statistics Window”

 

See Section 9.19, “WAP-WSP Packet Counter Window”

3.13. The “Wireless” Menu

The Wireless menu lets you analyze Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN activity as shown in Figure 3.11, “The “Wireless” Menu”.

Figure 3.11. The “Wireless” Menu

Each menu item shows specific Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11 statistics.

Table 3.11. Wireless menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

See Section 10.2, “Bluetooth ATT Server Attributes”

 

See Section 10.3, “Bluetooth Devices”

 

See Section 10.4, “Bluetooth HCI Summary”

 

See Section 10.5, “WLAN Traffic”

3.14. The “Tools” Menu

The Wireshark Tools menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.12, “Tools menu items”.

Figure 3.12. The “Tools” Menu

Table 3.12. Tools menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description
 

This allows you to create command-line ACL rules for many different firewall products, including Cisco IOS, Linux Netfilter (iptables), OpenBSD pf and Windows Firewall (via netsh). Rules for MAC addresses, IPv4 addresses, TCP and UDP ports, and IPv4+port combinations are supported.

It is assumed that the rules will be applied to an outside interface.

Menu item is greyed out unless one (and only one) frame is selected in the packet list.

 

This allows you to extract credentials from the current capture file. Some of the dissectors (ftp, http, imap, pop, smtp) have been instrumented to provide the module with usernames and passwords and more will be instrumented in the future. The window dialog provides you the packet number where the credentials have been found, the protocol that provided them, the username and protocol specific information.

 

These options allow you to work with the Lua interpreter optionally built into Wireshark.
See “Lua Support in Wireshark” in the Wireshark Developer’s Guide.

The Lua menu structure is set by console.lua in the Wireshark install directory.

3.15. The “Help” Menu

The Wireshark Help menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.13, “Help menu items”.

Figure 3.13. The “Help” Menu

Table 3.13. Help menu items

Menu Item Accelerator Description

F1

This menu item brings up a basic help system.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing one of the locally installed html manual pages.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the webpage from: https://www.wireshark.org/.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing various FAQs.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the downloads from: https://www.wireshark.org/download.html.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the front page from: https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/.

 

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the sample captures from: https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/SampleCaptures.

 

This menu item brings up an information window that provides various detailed information items on Wireshark, such as how it’s built, the plugins loaded, the used folders, …​

[Note] Note

Opening a Web browser might be unsupported in your version of Wireshark. If this
is the case the corresponding menu items will be hidden.

If calling a Web browser fails on your machine, nothing happens, or the browser
starts but no page is shown, have a look at the web browser setting in the
preferences dialog.

3.16. The “Main” Toolbar

The main toolbar provides quick access to frequently used items
from the menu. This toolbar cannot be customized by the user, but it can
be hidden using the View menu if the space on the screen is needed to
show more packet data.

Items in the toolbar will be enabled or disabled (greyed out) similar to
their corresponding menu items. For example, in the image below shows
the main window toolbar after a file has been opened. Various
file-related buttons are enabled, but the stop capture button is
disabled because a capture is not in progress.

Figure 3.14. The “Main” toolbar

Table 3.14. Main toolbar items

Toolbar Icon Toolbar Item Menu Item Description

x capture start

Start

Starts capturing packets with the same options as the last capture or the default options if none were set (Section 4.3, “Start Capturing”).

x capture stop

Stop

Stops the currently running capture (Section 4.3, “Start Capturing”).

x capture restart

Restart

Restarts the current capture session.

x capture options

Options…​

Opens the “Capture Options” dialog box. See Section 4.3, “Start Capturing” for details.

document open

Open…​

Opens the file open dialog box, which allows you to load a capture file for viewing. It is discussed in more detail in Section 5.2.1, “The “Open Capture File” Dialog Box”.

x capture file save

Save As…​

Save the current capture file to whatever file you would like. See Section 5.3.1, “The “Save Capture File As” Dialog Box” for details. If you currently have a temporary capture file open the “Save” icon will be shown instead.

x capture file close

Close

Closes the current capture. If you have not saved the capture, you will be asked to save it first.

x capture file reload

Reload

Reloads the current capture file.

edit find

Find Packet…​

Find a packet based on different criteria. See Section 6.8, “Finding Packets” for details.

go previous

Go Back

Jump back in the packet history. Hold down the Alt key (Option on macOS) to go back in the selection history.

go next

Go Forward

Jump forward in the packet history. Hold down the Alt key (Option on macOS) to go forward in the selection history.

go jump

Go to Packet…​

Go to a specific packet.

go first

Go To First Packet

Jump to the first packet of the capture file.

go last

Go To Last Packet

Jump to the last packet of the capture file.

x stay last

Auto Scroll in Live Capture

Auto scroll packet list while doing a live capture (or not).

x colorize packets

Colorize

Colorize the packet list (or not).

zoom in

Zoom In

Zoom into the packet data (increase the font size).

zoom out

Zoom Out

Zoom out of the packet data (decrease the font size).

zoom original

Normal Size

Set zoom level back to 100%.

x resize columns

Resize Columns

Resize columns, so the content fits into them.

3.17. The “Filter” Toolbar

The filter toolbar lets you quickly edit and apply display filters. More
information on display filters is available in Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”.

Figure 3.15. The “Filter” toolbar

Table 3.15. Filter toolbar items

Toolbar Icon Name Description

filter toolbar bookmark

Bookmarks

Manage or select saved filters.

filter toolbar input

Filter Input

The area to enter or edit a display filter string, see Section 6.4, “Building Display Filter Expressions”. A syntax check of your filter string is done while you are typing. The background will turn red if you enter an incomplete or invalid string, and will become green when you enter a valid string.

After you’ve changed something in this field, don’t forget to press the Apply
button (or the Enter/Return key), to apply this filter string to the display.

This field is also where the current applied filter is displayed.

filter toolbar clear

Clear

Reset the current display filter and clear the edit area.

filter toolbar apply

Apply

Apply the current value in the edit area as the new display filter.

Applying a display filter on large capture files might take quite a long time.

filter toolbar recent

Recent

Select from a list of recently applied filters.

filter toolbar add

Add Button

Add a new filter button.

Squirrels

Filter Button

Filter buttons are handy shortcuts that apply a display filter as soon as you press them.
You can create filter buttons by pressing the + button, right-clicking in the filter button area, or opening the Filter Button section of the Preferences Dialog.
The example shows a filter button with the label “Squirrels”.
If you have lots of buttons you can arrange them into groups by using “//” as a label separator.
For example, if you create buttons named “Not Squirrels // Rabbits” and “Not Squirrels // Capybaras” they will show up in the toolbar under a single button named “Not Squirrels”.

3.18. The “Packet List” Pane

The packet list pane displays all the packets in the current capture file.

Figure 3.16. The “Packet List” pane

Each line in the packet list corresponds to one packet in the capture file. If
you select a line in this pane, more details will be displayed in the “Packet
Details” and “Packet Bytes” panes.

While dissecting a packet, Wireshark will place information from the protocol
dissectors into the columns. As higher-level protocols might overwrite
information from lower levels, you will typically see the information from the
highest possible level only.

For example, let’s look at a packet containing TCP inside IP inside an Ethernet
packet. The Ethernet dissector will write its data (such as the Ethernet
addresses), the IP dissector will overwrite this by its own (such as the IP
addresses), the TCP dissector will overwrite the IP information, and so on.

There are many different columns available. You can choose which columns are
displayed in the preferences. See Section 11.5, “Preferences”.

The default columns will show:

  • No. The number of the packet in the capture file. This number won’t
    change, even if a display filter is used.
  • Time The timestamp of the packet. The presentation format of this
    timestamp can be changed, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.
  • Source The address where this packet is coming from.
  • Destination The address where this packet is going to.
  • Protocol The protocol name in a short (perhaps abbreviated) version.
  • Length The length of each packet.
  • Info Additional information about the packet content.

The first column shows how each packet is related to the selected packet. For
example, in the image above the first packet is selected, which is a DNS
request. Wireshark shows a rightward arrow for the request itself, followed by a
leftward arrow for the response in packet 2. Why is there a dashed line? There
are more DNS packets further down that use the same port numbers. Wireshark
treats them as belonging to the same conversation and draws a line connecting
them.

Table 3.16. Related packet symbols

related first

First packet in a conversation.

related current

Part of the selected conversation.

related other

Not part of the selected conversation.

related last

Last packet in a conversation.

related request

Request.

related response

Response.

related ack

The selected packet acknowledges this packet.

related dup ack

The selected packet is a duplicate acknowledgement of this packet.

related segment

The selected packet is related to this packet in some other way, e.g., as part
of reassembly.

The packet list has an Intelligent Scrollbar which shows a miniature map of
nearby packets. Each raster line
of the scrollbar corresponds to a single packet, so the number of packets shown
in the map depends on your physical display and the height of the packet list. A
tall packet list on a high-resolution (“Retina”) display will show you quite a
few packets. In the image above the scrollbar shows the status of more than 500
packets along with the 15 shown in the packet list itself.

Right clicking will show a context menu, described in
Figure 6.4, “Pop-up menu of the “Packet List” pane”.

3.19. The “Packet Details” Pane

The packet details pane shows the current packet (selected in the “Packet List”
pane) in a more detailed form.

Figure 3.17. The “Packet Details” pane

This pane shows the protocols and protocol fields of the packet selected in the
“Packet List” pane. The protocol summary lines (subtree labels) and fields of the
packet are shown in a tree which can be expanded and collapsed.

There is a context menu (right mouse click) available. See details in
Figure 6.5, “Pop-up menu of the “Packet Details” pane”.

Some protocol fields have special meanings.

  • Generated fields. Wireshark itself will generate additional protocol
    information which isn’t present in the captured data. This information
    is enclosed in square brackets (“[” and “]”). Generated information
    includes response times, TCP analysis, IP geolocation information, and
    checksum validation.
  • Links. If Wireshark detects a relationship to another packet in the capture
    file it will generate a link to that packet. Links are underlined and
    displayed in blue. If you double-clicked on a link Wireshark will jump to the
    corresponding packet.

3.20. The “Packet Bytes” Pane

The packet bytes pane shows the data of the current packet (selected in the
“Packet List” pane) in a hexdump style.

Figure 3.18. The “Packet Bytes” pane

The “Packet Bytes” pane shows a canonical
hex dump of the packet data. Each line
contains the data offset, sixteen hexadecimal bytes, and sixteen ASCII bytes.
Non-printable bytes are replaced with a period (“.”).

Depending on the packet data, sometimes more than one page is available, e.g.
when Wireshark has reassembled some packets into a single chunk of data. (See
Section 7.8, “Packet Reassembly” for details). In this case you can see each data
source by clicking its corresponding tab at the bottom of the pane.

The default mode for viewing will highlight the bytes for a field where the
mouse pointer is hovering above. The highlight will follow the mouse cursor
as it moves. If this highlighting is not required or wanted, there are two
methods for deactivating the functionality:

  • Temporary By holding down the Ctrl button while moving the mouse, the
    highlighted field will not change
  • Permanently Using the context menu (right mouse click) the hover highlighting
    may be activated/deactivated. This setting is stored in the selected profile
    recent file.

Figure 3.19. The “Packet Bytes” pane with tabs

Additional tabs typically contain data reassembled from multiple packets or
decrypted data.

3.21. The “Packet Diagram” Pane

The packet diagram pane shows the current packet (selected in the “Packet List”
pane) as a diagram, similar to ones used in textbooks and IETF RFCs.

Figure 3.20. The “Packet Diagram” pane

This pane shows the protocols and top-level protocol fields of the packet selected in the “Packet List” pane as a series of diagrams.

There is a context menu (right mouse click) available.
For details see Figure 6.7, “Pop-up menu of the “Packet Diagram” pane”.

3.22. The Statusbar

The statusbar displays informational messages.

In general, the left side will show context related information, the middle part
will show information about the current capture file, and the right side will
show the selected configuration profile. Drag the handles between the text areas
to change the size.

Figure 3.21. The initial Statusbar

This statusbar is shown while no capture file is loaded, e.g., when Wireshark is started.

Figure 3.22. The Statusbar with a loaded capture file

The colorized bullet…​
on the left shows the highest expert information level found in the currently loaded capture file.
Hovering the mouse over this icon will show a description of the expert info level, and clicking the icon will bring up the Expert Information dialog box.
For a detailed description of this dialog and each expert level, see Section 7.4, “Expert Information”.
The edit icon…​
on the left side lets you add a comment to the capture file using the Capture File Properties dialog.
The left side…​
shows the capture file name by default.
It also shows field information when hovering over and selecting items in the packet detail and packet bytes panes, as well as general notifications.
The middle…​

shows the current number of packets in the capture file.
The following values are displayed:

Packets
The number of captured packets.
Displayed
The number of packets currently being displayed.
Marked
The number of marked packets. Only displayed if you marked any packets.
Dropped
The number of dropped packets Only displayed if Wireshark was unable to capture all packets.
Ignored
The number of ignored packets Only displayed if you ignored any packets.
The right side…​
shows the selected configuration profile.
Clicking on this part of the statusbar will bring up a menu with all available configuration profiles, and selecting from this list will change the configuration profile.

Figure 3.23. The Statusbar with a configuration profile menu

For a detailed description of configuration profiles, see Section 11.6, “Configuration Profiles”.

Figure 3.24. The Statusbar with a selected protocol field

This is displayed if you have selected a protocol field in the “Packet Details” pane.

[Tip] Tip

The value between the parentheses (in this example “ipv6.src”) is the display filter field for the selected item.
You can become more familiar with display filter fields by selecting different packet detail items.

Figure 3.25. The Statusbar with a display filter message

This is displayed if you are trying to use a display filter which may have unexpected results.

Chapter 4. Capturing Live Network Data

4.1. Introduction

Capturing live network data is one of the major features of Wireshark.

The Wireshark capture engine provides the following features:

  • Capture from different kinds of network hardware such as Ethernet or 802.11.
  • Simultaneously capture from multiple network interfaces.
  • Stop the capture on different triggers such as the amount of captured data,
    elapsed time, or the number of packets.
  • Simultaneously show decoded packets while Wireshark is capturing.
  • Filter packets, reducing the amount of data to be captured. See
    Section 4.10, “Filtering while capturing”.
  • Save packets in multiple files while doing a long-term capture, optionally
    rotating through a fixed number of files (a “ringbuffer”). See
    Section 4.8, “Capture files and file modes”.

The capture engine still lacks the following features:

  • Stop capturing (or perform some other action) depending on the captured data.

4.2. Prerequisites

Setting up Wireshark to capture packets for the first time can be
tricky. A comprehensive guide “How To setup a Capture” is available at
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/CaptureSetup.

Here are some common pitfalls:

  • You may need special privileges to start a live capture.
  • You need to choose the right network interface to capture packet data from.
  • You need to capture at the right place in the network to see the traffic you
    want to see.

If you have any problems setting up your capture environment, you should have a
look at the guide mentioned above.

4.3. Start Capturing

The following methods can be used to start capturing packets with Wireshark:

  • You can double-click on an interface in the welcome screen.
  • You can select an interface in the welcome screen, then select → or click the first toolbar button.
  • You can get more detailed information about available interfaces using Section 4.5, “The “Capture Options” Dialog Box” ( → ).
  • If you already know the name of the capture interface you can start Wireshark from the command line:
$ wireshark -i eth0 -k

This will start Wireshark capturing on interface eth0. More details can be found at Section 11.2, “Start Wireshark from the command line”.

4.4. The “Capture” Section Of The Welcome Screen

When you open Wireshark without starting a capture or opening a capture file it will display the “Welcome Screen,” which lists any recently opened capture files and available capture interfaces.
Network activity for each interface will be shown in a sparkline next to the interface name.
It is possible to select more than one interface and capture from them simultaneously.

Figure 4.1. Capture interfaces on Microsoft Windows

Figure 4.2. Capture interfaces on macOS

Some interfaces allow or require configuration prior to capture.
This will be indicated by a configuration icon
(x capture options)
to the left of the interface name.
Clicking on the icon will show the configuration dialog for that interface.

Hovering over an interface will show any associated IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and its capture filter.

Wireshark isn’t limited to just network interfaces — on most systems you can also capture USB, Bluetooth, and other types of packets.
Note also that an interface might be hidden if it’s inaccessible to Wireshark or if it has been hidden as described in Section 4.6, “The “Manage Interfaces” Dialog Box”.

4.5. The “Capture Options” Dialog Box

When you select → (or use the corresponding item in the
main toolbar), Wireshark pops up the “Capture Options” dialog box as shown in
Figure 4.3, “The “Capture Options” input tab”.
If you are unsure which options to choose in this dialog box, leaving the defaults settings as they are should work well in many cases.

Figure 4.3. The “Capture Options” input tab

The “Input” tab contains the “Interface” table, which shows the following columns:

Interface

The interface name.

Some interfaces allow or require configuration prior to capture.
This will be indicated by a configuration icon
(x capture options)
to the left of the interface name.
Clicking on the icon will show the configuration dialog for that interface.

Traffic
A sparkline showing network activity over time.
Link-layer Header
The type of packet captured by this interface.
In some cases it is possible to change this.
See Section 4.9, “Link-layer header type” for more details.
Promiscuous
Lets you put this interface in promiscuous mode while capturing.
Note that another application might override this setting.
Snaplen
The snapshot length, or the number of bytes to capture for each packet.
You can set an explicit length if needed, e.g., for performance or privacy reasons.
Buffer
The size of the kernel buffer that is reserved for capturing packets.
You can increase or decrease this as needed, but the default is usually sufficient.
Monitor Mode
Lets you capture full, raw 802.11 headers.
Support depends on the interface type, hardware, driver, and OS.
Note that enabling this might disconnect you from your wireless network.
Capture Filter
The capture filter applied to this interface.
You can edit the filter by double-clicking on it.
See Section 4.10, “Filtering while capturing” for more details about capture filters.

Hovering over an interface or expanding it will show any associated IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

If “Enable promiscuous mode on all interfaces” is enabled, the individual promiscuous mode settings above will be overridden.

“Capture filter for selected interfaces” can be used to set a filter for more than one interface at the same time.

Manage Interfaces opens the Figure 4.6, “The “Manage Interfaces” dialog box” where pipes can be defined, local interfaces scanned or hidden, or remote interfaces added.

Compile Selected BPFs opens Figure 4.7, “The “Compiled Filter Output” dialog box”, which shows you the compiled bytecode for your capture filter.
This can help to better understand the capture filter you created.

[Tip] Linux power user tip

The execution of BPFs can be sped up on Linux by turning on BPF Just In Time compilation by executing

$ echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable

if it is not enabled already. To make the change persistent you can use
sysfsutils.

Figure 4.4. The “Capture Options” output tab

The “Output” tab shows the following information:

Capture to a permanent file
File
This field allows you to specify the file name that will be used for the capture file.
It is left blank by default.
If left blank, the capture data will be stored in a temporary file.
See Section 4.8, “Capture files and file modes” for details.
You can also click on the button to the right of this field to browse through the filesystem.
Output format
Allows you to set the format of the capture file.
pcapng is the default and is more flexible than pcap.
pcapng might be required, e.g., if more than one interface is chosen for capturing.
See https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Development/PcapNg for more details on pcapng.
Create a new file automatically…​

Sets the conditions for switching a new capture file.
A new capture file can be created based on the following conditions:

  • The number of packets in the capture file.
  • The size of the capture file.
  • The duration of the capture file.
  • The wall clock time.
Use a ring buffer with
Multiple files only.
Form a ring buffer of the capture files with the given number of files.

More details about capture files can be found in Section 4.8, “Capture files and file modes”.

Figure 4.5. The “Capture Options” options tab

The “Options” tab shows the following information:

Display Options
Update list of packets in real-time
Updates the packet list pane in real time during capture.
If you do not enable this, Wireshark will not display any packets until you stop the capture.
When you check this, Wireshark captures in a separate process and feeds the captures to the display process.
Automatically scroll during live capture
Scroll the packet list pane as new packets come in, so you are always looking at the most recent packet.
If you do not specify this Wireshark adds new packets to the packet list but does not scroll the packet list pane.
This option is greyed out if “Update list of packets in real-time” is disabled.
Show capture information during capture
If this option is enabled, the capture information dialog described in Section 4.11, “While a Capture is running …​” will be shown while packets are captured.
Name Resolution
Resolve MAC addresses
Translate MAC addresses into names.
Resolve network names
Translate network addresses into names.
Resolve transport names
Translate transport names (port numbers).

See Section 7.9, “Name Resolution” for more details on each of these options.

Stop capture automatically after…​

Capturing can be stopped based on the following conditions:

  • The number of packets in the capture file.
  • The number of capture files.
  • The capture file size.
  • The capture file duration.

You can double click on an interface row in the “Input“ tab or click Start from any tab to commence the capture. You can click Cancel to apply your changes and close the dialog.

4.6. The “Manage Interfaces” Dialog Box

Figure 4.6. The “Manage Interfaces” dialog box

The “Manage Interfaces” dialog box initially shows the “Local Interfaces” tab, which lets you manage the following:

Show
Whether or not to show or hide this interface in the welcome screen and the “Capture Options” dialog.
Friendly Name
A name for the interface that is human readable.
Interface Name
The device name of the interface.
Comment
Can be used to add a descriptive comment for the interface.

The “Pipes” tab lets you capture from a named pipe.
To successfully add a pipe, its associated named pipe must have already been created.
Click + and type the name of the pipe including its path.
Alternatively, Browse can be used to locate the pipe.

To remove a pipe from the list of interfaces, select it and press .

On Microsoft Windows, the “Remote Interfaces” tab lets you capture from an interface on a different machine.
The Remote Packet Capture Protocol service must first be running on the target platform before Wireshark can connect to it.

On Linux or Unix you can capture (and do so more securely) through an SSH tunnel.

To add a new remote capture interface, click + and specify the following:

Host
The IP address or host name of the target platform where the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service is listening.
The drop-down list contains the hosts that have previously been successfully contacted.
The list can be emptied by choosing “Clear list” from the drop-down list.
Port
Set the port number where the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service is listening on.
Leave blank to use the default port (2002).
Null authentication
Select this if you don’t need authentication to take place for a remote capture to be started.
This depends on the target platform.
This is exactly as secure as it appears, i.e., it is not secure at all.
Password authentication
Lets you specify the username and password required to connect to the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service.

Each interface can optionally be hidden.
In contrast to the local interfaces, they are not saved in the preferences file.

[Note] Note

Make sure you have outside access to port 2002 on the target platform.
This is the default port used by the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service.

To remove a host including all its interfaces from the list, select it and click the button.

4.7. The “Compiled Filter Output” Dialog Box

This figure shows the results of compiling the BPF filter for the selected interfaces.

Figure 4.7. The “Compiled Filter Output” dialog box

In the list on the left the interface names are listed.
The results of compiling a filter for the selected interface are shown on the right.

4.8. Capture files and file modes

While capturing, the underlying libpcap capturing engine will grab the packets
from the network card and keep the packet data in a (relatively) small kernel
buffer. This data is read by Wireshark and saved into a capture file.

By default, Wireshark saves packets to a temporary file. You can also tell
Wireshark to save to a specific (“permanent”) file and switch to a
different file after a given time has elapsed or a given number of packets
have been captured. These options are controlled in the
“Capture Options” dialog’s “Output” tab.

Figure 4.8. Capture output options

[Tip] Tip

Working with large files (several hundred MB) can be quite slow. If you plan to do
a long-term capture or capturing from a high traffic network, think about using
one of the “Multiple files” options. This will spread the captured packets over
several smaller files which can be much more pleasant to work with.

Using the “Multiple files” option may cut context related information. Wireshark keeps
context information of the loaded packet data, so it can report context related
problems (like a stream error) and keeps information about context related
protocols (e.g., where data is exchanged at the establishing phase and only
referred to in later packets). As it keeps this information only for the loaded
file, using one of the multiple file modes may cut these contexts. If the
establishing phase is saved in one file and the things you would like to see is
in another, you might not see some of the valuable context related information.

Information about the folders used for capture files can be found in
Appendix B, Files and Folders.

Table 4.1. Capture file mode selected by capture options

File Name “Create a new file…​” “Use a ring buffer…​” Mode Resulting filename(s) used

Single temporary file

wiresharkXXXXXX (where XXXXXX is a unique number)

foo.cap

Single named file

foo.cap

foo.cap

x

Multiple files, continuous

foo_00001_20230714110102.cap, foo_00002_20230714110318.cap, …​

foo.cap

x

x

Multiple files, ring buffer

foo_00001_20230714110102.cap, foo_00002_20230714110318.cap, …​

Single temporary file
A temporary file will be created and used (this is the default).
After capturing is stopped this file can be saved later under a user specified name.
Single named file
A single capture file will be used.
Choose this mode if you want to place the new capture file in a specific folder.
Multiple files, continuous
Like the “Single named file” mode, but a new file is created and used after reaching one of the multiple file switch conditions (one of the “Next file every…​” values).
Multiple files, ring buffer

Much like “Multiple files continuous”, reaching one of the multiple files switch
conditions (one of the “Next file every …​” values) will switch to the next
file. This will be a newly created file if value of “Ring buffer with n files”
is not reached, otherwise it will replace the oldest of the formerly used files
(thus forming a “ring”).

This mode will limit the maximum disk usage, even for an unlimited amount of
capture input data, only keeping the latest captured data.

4.9. Link-layer header type

In most cases you won’t have to modify link-layer header type. Some exceptions
are as follows:

If you are capturing on an Ethernet device you might be offered a choice of
“Ethernet” or “DOCSIS”. If you are capturing traffic from a Cisco Cable
Modem Termination System that is putting DOCSIS traffic onto the Ethernet to be
captured, select “DOCSIS”, otherwise select “Ethernet”.

If you are capturing on an 802.11 device on some versions of BSD you might be
offered a choice of “Ethernet” or “802.11”. “Ethernet” will cause the
captured packets to have fake (“cooked”) Ethernet headers. “802.11” will
cause them to have full IEEE 802.11 headers. Unless the capture needs to be read
by an application that doesn’t support 802.11 headers you should select
“802.11”.

If you are capturing on an Endace DAG card connected to a synchronous serial
line you might be offered a choice of “PPP over serial” or “Cisco HDLC”. If
the protocol on the serial line is PPP, select “PPP over serial” and if the
protocol on the serial line is Cisco HDLC, select “Cisco HDLC”.

If you are capturing on an Endace DAG card connected to an ATM network you might
be offered a choice of “RFC 1483 IP-over-ATM” or “Sun raw ATM”. If the only
traffic being captured is RFC 1483 LLC-encapsulated IP, or if the capture needs
to be read by an application that doesn’t support SunATM headers, select “RFC
1483 IP-over-ATM”, otherwise select “Sun raw ATM”.

4.10. Filtering while capturing

Wireshark supports limiting the packet capture to packets that match a
capture filter. Wireshark capture filters are written in
libpcap filter language. Below is a brief overview of the libpcap filter
language’s syntax. Complete documentation can be found at
the pcap-filter man page. You can find
many Capture Filter examples at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/CaptureFilters.

You enter the capture filter into the “Filter” field of the Wireshark
“Capture Options” dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.3, “The “Capture Options” input tab”.

A capture filter takes the form of a series of primitive expressions connected
by conjunctions (and/or) and optionally preceded by not:

[not] primitive [and|or [not] primitive ...]

An example is shown in Example 4.1, “A capture filter for telnet that captures traffic to and from a particular host”.

Example 4.1. A capture filter for telnet that captures traffic to and from a particular host

tcp port 23 and host 10.0.0.5

This example captures telnet traffic to and from the host 10.0.0.5, and shows
how to use two primitives and the and conjunction. Another example is shown
in Example 4.2, “Capturing all telnet traffic not from 10.0.0.5”, and shows how to capture all telnet traffic except that
from 10.0.0.5.

Example 4.2. Capturing all telnet traffic not from 10.0.0.5

tcp port 23 and not src host 10.0.0.5

A primitive is simply one of the following: [src|dst] host <host>
This primitive allows you to filter on a host IP address or name. You can
optionally precede the primitive with the keyword src|dst to specify that you
are only interested in source or destination addresses. If these are not
present, packets where the specified address appears as either the source or the
destination address will be selected.
ether [src|dst] host <ehost>
This primitive allows you to filter on Ethernet host addresses. You can
optionally include the keyword src|dst between the keywords ether and host
to specify that you are only interested in source or destination addresses. If
these are not present, packets where the specified address appears in either the
source or destination address will be selected.
gateway host <host>
This primitive allows you to filter on packets that used host as a gateway.
That is, where the Ethernet source or destination was host but neither the
source nor destination IP address was host.
[src|dst] net <net> [{mask <mask>}|{len <len>}]
This primitive allows you to filter on network numbers. You can optionally
precede this primitive with the keyword src|dst to specify that you are only
interested in a source or destination network. If neither of these are present,
packets will be selected that have the specified network in either the source or
destination address. In addition, you can specify either the netmask or the CIDR
prefix for the network if they are different from your own.
[tcp|udp] [src|dst] port <port>

This primitive allows you to filter on TCP and UDP port numbers. You can
optionally precede this primitive with the keywords src|dst and tcp|udp
which allow you to specify that you are only interested in source or destination
ports and TCP or UDP packets respectively. The keywords tcp|udp must appear
before src|dst.

If these are not specified, packets will be selected for both the TCP and UDP
protocols and when the specified address appears in either the source or
destination port field.

less|greater <length>
This primitive allows you to filter on packets whose length was less than or
equal to the specified length, or greater than or equal to the specified length,
respectively.
ip|ether proto <protocol>
This primitive allows you to filter on the specified protocol at either the
Ethernet layer or the IP layer.
ether|ip broadcast|multicast
This primitive allows you to filter on either Ethernet or IP broadcasts or
multicasts.
<expr> relop <expr>
This primitive allows you to create complex filter expressions that select bytes or ranges of bytes in packets.
Please see the pcap-filter man page at https://www.tcpdump.org/manpages/pcap-filter.7.html for more details.

4.10.1. Automatic Remote Traffic Filtering

If Wireshark is running remotely (using e.g., SSH, an exported X11 window, a
terminal server, …​), the remote content has to be transported over the
network, adding a lot of (usually unimportant) packets to the actually
interesting traffic.

To avoid this, Wireshark tries to figure out if it’s remotely connected (by
looking at some specific environment variables) and automatically creates a
capture filter that matches aspects of the connection.

The following environment variables are analyzed:

SSH_CONNECTION (ssh)
<remote IP> <remote port> <local IP> <local port>
SSH_CLIENT (ssh)
<remote IP> <remote port> <local port>
REMOTEHOST (tcsh, others?)
<remote name>
DISPLAY (x11)
[remote name]:<display num>
SESSIONNAME (terminal server)
<remote name>

On Windows it asks the operating system if it’s running in a Remote Desktop Services environment.

4.11. While a Capture is running …​

You might see the following dialog box while a capture is running:

Figure 4.9. The “Capture Information” dialog box

This dialog box shows a list of protocols and their activity over time.
It can be enabled via the “capture.show_info” setting in the “Advanced”
preferences.

4.11.1. Stop the running capture

A running capture session will be stopped in one of the following ways:

  1. The Stop Capture button in the “Capture Information” dialog box.
  2. The → menu item.
  3. The Stop toolbar button.
  4. Pressing Ctrl+E.
  5. The capture will be automatically stopped if one of the Stop Conditions is
    met, e.g., the maximum amount of data was captured.

4.11.2. Restart a running capture

A running capture session can be restarted with the same capture options as the
last time, this will remove all packets previously captured. This can be useful,
if some uninteresting packets are captured and there’s no need to keep them.

Restart is a convenience function and equivalent to a capture stop following by
an immediate capture start. A restart can be triggered in one of the following
ways:

  1. Using the → menu item.
  2. Using the Restart toolbar button.

Chapter 5. File Input, Output, And Printing

5.1. Introduction

This chapter will describe input and output of capture data.

  • Open capture files in various capture file formats
  • Save and export capture files in various formats
  • Merge capture files together
  • Import text files containing hex dumps of packets
  • Print packets

5.2. Open Capture Files

Wireshark can read in previously saved capture files. To read them, simply
select the → menu or toolbar item. Wireshark will then pop up
the “File Open” dialog box, which is discussed in more detail in Section 5.2.1, “The “Open Capture File” Dialog Box”.

[Tip] You can use drag and drop to open files

On most systems you can open a file by simply dragging it in your file manager and dropping it onto Wireshark’s main window.

If you haven’t previously saved the current capture file you will be asked to
do so to prevent data loss. This warning can be disabled in the preferences.

In addition to its native file format (pcapng), Wireshark can read and write
capture files from a large number of other packet capture programs as well. See
Section 5.2.2, “Input File Formats” for the list of capture formats Wireshark
understands.

5.2.1. The “Open Capture File” Dialog Box

The “Open Capture File” dialog box allows you to search for a capture file
containing previously captured packets for display in Wireshark. The following
sections show some examples of the Wireshark “Open File” dialog box. The
appearance of this dialog depends on the system. However, the functionality
should be the same across systems.

Common dialog behavior on all systems:

  • Select files and directories.
  • Click the Open button to accept your selected file and open it.
  • Click the Cancel button to go back to Wireshark and not load a capture file.
  • The Help button will take you to this section of the “User’s Guide”.

Wireshark adds the following controls:

  • View file preview information such as the size and the number of packets in a selected a capture file.
  • Specify a read filter with the “Read filter” field.
    This filter will be used when opening the new file.
    The text field background will turn green for a valid filter string and red for an invalid one.
    Read filters can be used to exclude various types of traffic, which can be useful for large capture files.
    They use the same syntax as display filters, which are discussed in detail in Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”.
  • Optionally force Wireshark to read a file as a particular type using the “Automatically detect file type” drop-down.

Figure 5.1. “Open” on Microsoft Windows

This is the common Windows file open dialog along with some Wireshark extensions.

Figure 5.2. “Open” — Linux and UNIX

This is the common Qt file open dialog along with some Wireshark extensions.

5.2.2. Input File Formats

The native capture file formats used by Wireshark are:

  • pcap. The default format used by the libpcap packet capture library. Used
    by tcpdump, _Snort, Nmap, Ntop, and many other tools.
  • pcapng. A flexible, extensible successor to the pcap format.
    Wireshark 1.8 and later save files as pcapng by default. Versions
    prior to 1.8 used pcap. Used by Wireshark and by tcpdump in newer
    versions of macOS.

The following file formats from other capture tools can be opened by Wireshark:

  • Oracle (previously Sun) snoop and atmsnoop captures
  • Finisar (previously Shomiti) Surveyor captures
  • Microsoft Network Monitor captures
  • Novell LANalyzer captures
  • AIX iptrace captures
  • Cinco Networks NetXray captures
  • NETSCOUT (previously Network Associates/Network General) Windows-based
    Sniffer and Sniffer Pro captures
  • Network General/Network Associates DOS-based Sniffer captures
    (compressed or uncompressed) captures
  • LiveAction (previously WildPackets/Savvius)
    *Peek/EtherHelp/PacketGrabber captures
  • RADCOM’s WAN/LAN Analyzer captures
  • Viavi (previously Network Instruments) Observer captures
  • Lucent/Ascend router debug output
  • captures from HP-UX nettl
  • Toshiba’s ISDN routers dump output
  • output from i4btrace from the ISDN4BSD project
  • traces from the EyeSDN USB S0
  • the IPLog format output from the Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System
  • pppd logs (pppdump format)
  • the output from VMS’s TCPIPtrace/TCPtrace/UCX$TRACE utilities
  • the text output from the DBS Etherwatch VMS utility
  • Visual Networks’ Visual UpTime traffic capture
  • the output from CoSine L2 debug
  • the output from InfoVista (previously Accellent) 5Views LAN agents
  • Endace Measurement Systems’ ERF format captures
  • Linux Bluez Bluetooth stack hcidump -w traces
  • Catapult (now Ixia/Keysight) DCT2000 .out files
  • Gammu generated text output from Nokia DCT3 phones in Netmonitor mode
  • IBM Series (OS/400) Comm traces (ASCII & UNICODE)
  • Juniper Netscreen snoop captures
  • Symbian OS btsnoop captures
  • Tamosoft CommView captures
  • Tektronix K12xx 32bit .rf5 format captures
  • Tektronix K12 text file format captures
  • Apple PacketLogger captures
  • Captures from Aethra Telecommunications’ PC108 software for their test instruments
  • Citrix NetScaler Trace files
  • Android Logcat binary and text format logs
  • Colasoft Capsa and PacketBuilder captures
  • Micropross mplog files
  • Unigraf DPA-400 DisplayPort AUX channel monitor traces
  • 802.15.4 traces from Daintree’s Sensor Network Analyzer
  • MPEG-2 Transport Streams as defined in ISO/IEC 13818-1
  • Log files from the candump utility
  • Logs from the BUSMASTER tool
  • Ixia IxVeriWave raw captures
  • Rabbit Labs CAM Inspector files
  • systemd journal files
  • 3GPP TS 32.423 trace files

New file formats are added from time to time.

It may not be possible to read some formats dependent on the packet types
captured. Ethernet captures are usually supported for most file formats but it
may not be possible to read other packet types such as PPP or IEEE 802.11 from
all file formats.

5.3. Saving Captured Packets

You can save captured packets by using the → or → menu items.
You can choose which packets to save and which file format to be used.

Not all information will be saved in a capture file. For example, most file
formats don’t record the number of dropped packets. See
Section B.1, “Capture Files” for details.

5.3.1. The “Save Capture File As” Dialog Box

The “Save Capture File As” dialog box allows you to save the current capture to a file.
The exact appearance of this dialog depends on your system.
However, the functionality is the same across systems.
Examples are shown below.

Figure 5.3. “Save” on Microsoft Windows

This is the common Windows file save dialog with some additional Wireshark extensions.

Figure 5.4. “Save” on Linux and UNIX

This is the common Qt file save dialog with additional Wireshark extensions.

You can perform the following actions:

  • Type in the name of the file in which you wish to save the captured packets.
  • Select the directory to save the file into.
  • Specify the format of the saved capture file by clicking on the “Save as” drop-down box.
    You can choose from the types described in Section 5.3.2, “Output File Formats”.
    Some capture formats may not be available depending on the packet types captured.
  • The Help button will take you to this section of the “User’s Guide”.
  • “Compress with gzip” will compress the capture file as it is being written to disk.
  • Click the Save button to accept your selected file and save it.
  • Click on the Cancel button to go back to Wireshark without saving any packets.

If you don’t provide a file extension to the filename (e.g., .pcap) Wireshark will append the standard file extension for that file format.

[Tip] Wireshark can convert file formats

You can convert capture files from one format to another by opening a capture and saving it as a different format.

If you wish to save some of the packets in your capture file you can do so via Section 5.7.1, “The “Export Specified Packets” Dialog Box”.

5.3.2. Output File Formats

Wireshark can save the packet data in its native file format (pcapng) and in the
file formats of other protocol analyzers so other tools can read the capture
data.

[Note] Saving in a different format might lose data

Saving your file in a different format might lose information such as comments, name resolution, and time stamp resolution.
See Section 7.6, “Time Stamps” for more information on time stamps.

The following file formats can be saved by Wireshark (with the known file extensions):

  • pcapng (*.pcapng). A flexible, extensible successor to the
    libpcap format. Wireshark 1.8 and later save files as pcapng by
    default. Versions prior to 1.8 used libpcap.
  • pcap (*.pcap). The default format used by the libpcap
    packet capture library. Used by tcpdump, _Snort, Nmap, Ntop,
    and many other tools.
  • Accellent 5Views (*.5vw)
  • captures from HP-UX nettl ({asterisktrc0,*.trc1)
  • Microsoft Network Monitor — NetMon (*.cap)
  • Network Associates Sniffer — DOS
    (*.cap,*.enc,*.trc,*.fdc,*.syc)
  • Cinco Networks NetXray captures (*.cap)
  • Network Associates Sniffer — Windows (*.cap)
  • Network Instruments/Viavi Observer (*.bfr)
  • Novell LANalyzer (*.tr1)
  • Oracle (previously Sun) snoop (*.snoop,*.cap)
  • Visual Networks Visual UpTime traffic (*.*)
  • Symbian OS btsnoop captures (*.log)
  • Tamosoft CommView captures (*.ncf)
  • Catapult (now Ixia/Keysight) DCT2000 .out files (*.out)
  • Endace Measurement Systems’ ERF format capture(*.erf)
  • EyeSDN USB S0 traces (*.trc)
  • Tektronix K12 text file format captures (*.txt)
  • Tektronix K12xx 32bit .rf5 format captures (*.rf5)
  • Android Logcat binary logs (*.logcat)
  • Android Logcat text logs (*.*)
  • Citrix NetScaler Trace files (*.cap)

New file formats are added from time to time.

Whether or not the above tools will be more helpful than Wireshark is a different question ;-)

[Note] Third party protocol analyzers may require specific file extensions

Wireshark examines a file’s contents to determine its type. Some other protocol
analyzers only look at a file’s extension. For example, you might need to use
the .cap extension in order to open a file using the Windows version
of Sniffer.

5.4. Merging Capture Files

Sometimes you need to merge several capture files into one. For example, this can
be useful if you have captured simultaneously from multiple interfaces at once
(e.g., using multiple instances of Wireshark).

There are three ways to merge capture files using Wireshark:

  • Use the → menu to open the “Merge” dialog.
    See Section 5.4.1, “The “Merge With Capture File” Dialog Box” for details.
    This menu item will be disabled unless you have loaded a capture file.
  • Use drag and drop to drop multiple files on the main window.
    Wireshark will try to merge the packets in chronological order from the dropped files into a newly created temporary file.
    If you drop a single file, it will simply replace the existing capture.
  • Use the mergecap tool from the command line to merge capture files.
    This tool provides the most options to merge capture files.
    See Section D.8, “mergecap: Merging multiple capture files into one” for details.

5.4.1. The “Merge With Capture File” Dialog Box

This lets you select a file to be merged into the currently loaded file.
If your current data has not been saved you will be asked to save it first.

Most controls of this dialog will work the same way as described in the “Open Capture File” dialog box.
See Section 5.2.1, “The “Open Capture File” Dialog Box” for details.

Specific controls of this merge dialog are:

Prepend packets
Prepend the packets from the selected file before the currently loaded packets.
Merge chronologically
Merge both the packets from the selected and currently loaded file in chronological order.
Append packets
Append the packets from the selected file after the currently loaded packets.

Figure 5.5. “Merge” on Microsoft Windows

This is the common Windows file open dialog with additional Wireshark extensions.

Figure 5.6. “Merge” on Linux and UNIX

This is the Qt file open dialog with additional Wireshark extensions.

5.5. Import Hex Dump

Wireshark can read in a hex dump and write the data described into a
temporary libpcap capture file. It can read hex dumps with multiple packets in
them, and build a capture file of multiple packets. It is also capable of
generating dummy Ethernet, IP and UDP, TCP, or SCTP headers, in order to build
fully processable packet dumps from hexdumps of application-level data only.
Alternatively, a Dummy PDU header can be added to specify a dissector the data
should be passed to initially.

Two methods for converting the input are supported:

5.5.1. Standard ASCII Hexdumps

Wireshark understands a hexdump of the form generated by od -Ax -tx1 -v.
In other words, each byte is individually displayed, with spaces separating
the bytes from each other. Hex digits can be upper or lowercase.

In normal operation, each line must begin with an offset describing the
position in the packet, followed a colon, space, or tab separating it from
the bytes. There is no limit on the width or number of bytes per line, but
lines with only hex bytes without a leading offset are ignored (i.e.,
line breaks should not be inserted in long lines that wrap.) Offsets are more
than two digits; they are in hex by default, but can also be in octal or
decimal. Each packet must begin with offset zero, and an offset
zero indicates the beginning of a new packet. Offset values must be correct;
an unexpected value causes the current packet to be aborted and the next
packet start awaited. There is also a single packet mode with no offsets.

Packets may be preceded by a direction indicator (‘I’ or ‘O’) and/or a
timestamp if indicated. If both are present, the direction indicator precedes
the timestamp. The format of the timestamps must be specified. If no timestamp
is parsed, in the case of the first packet the current system time is used,
while subsequent packets are written with timestamps one microsecond later than
that of the previous packet.

Other text in the input data is ignored. Any text before the offset is
ignored, including email forwarding characters ‘>’. Any text on a line
after the bytes is ignored, e.g., an ASCII character dump (but see -a to
ensure that hex digits in the character dump are ignored). Any line where
the first non-whitespace character is a ‘#’ will be ignored as a comment.
Any lines of text between the bytestring lines are considered preamble;
the beginning of the preamble is scanned for the direction indicator and
timestamp as mentioned above and otherwise ignored.

Any line beginning with #TEXT2PCAP is a directive and options
can be inserted after this command to be processed by Wireshark.
Currently there are no directives implemented; in the future, these may
be used to give more fine-grained control on the dump and the way it
should be processed e.g., timestamps, encapsulation type etc.

In general, short of these restrictions, Wireshark is pretty liberal
about reading in hexdumps and has been tested with a variety of
mangled outputs (including being forwarded through email multiple
times, with limited line wrap etc.)

Here is a sample dump that can be imported, including optional
directional indicator and timestamp:

I 2019-05-14T19:04:57Z
000000 00 e0 1e a7 05 6f 00 10 ........
000008 5a a0 b9 12 08 00 46 00 ........
000010 03 68 00 00 00 00 0a 2e ........
000018 ee 33 0f 19 08 7f 0f 19 ........
000020 03 80 94 04 00 00 10 01 ........
000028 16 a2 0a 00 03 50 00 0c ........
000030 01 01 0f 19 03 80 11 01 ........

5.5.2. Regular Text Dumps

Wireshark is also capable of scanning the input using a custom Perl regular
expression as specified by GLib’s GRegex here.
Using a regex capturing a single packet in the given file
Wireshark will search the given file from start to the second to last character
(the last character has to be n and is ignored)
for non-overlapping (and non-empty) strings matching the given regex and then
identify the fields to import using named capturing subgroups. Using provided
format information for each field they are then decoded and translated into a
standard libpcap file retaining packet order.

Note that each named capturing subgroup has to match exactly once a packet,
but they may be present multiple times in the regex.

For example, the following dump:

> 0:00:00.265620 a130368b000000080060
> 0:00:00.280836 a1216c8b00000000000089086b0b82020407
< 0:00:00.295459 a2010800000000000000000800000000
> 0:00:00.296982 a1303c8b00000008007088286b0bc1ffcbf0f9ff
> 0:00:00.305644 a121718b0000000000008ba86a0b8008
< 0:00:00.319061 a2010900000000000000001000600000
> 0:00:00.330937 a130428b00000008007589186b0bb9ffd9f0fdfa3eb4295e99f3aaffd2f005
> 0:00:00.356037 a121788b0000000000008a18

could be imported using these settings:

regex: ^(?<dir>[<>])s(?<time>d+:dd:dd.d+)s(?<data>[0-9a-fA-F]+)$
timestamp: %H:%M:%S.%f
dir: in: <   out: >
encoding: HEX

Caution has to be applied when discarding the anchors ^ and $, as the input
is searched, not parsed, meaning even most incorrect regexes will produce valid
looking results when not anchored (however, anchors are not guaranteed to prevent
this). It is generally recommended to sanity check any files created using
this conversion.

Supported fields:

  • data: Actual captured frame data

    The only mandatory field. This should match the encoded binary data captured and
    is used as the actual frame data to import.

  • time: timestamp for the packet

    The captured field will be parsed according to the given timestamp format into a
    timestamp.

    If no timestamp is present an arbitrary counter will count up seconds and
    nanoseconds by one each packet.

  • dir: the direction the packet was sent over the wire

    The captured field is expected to be one character in length, any remaining
    characters are ignored (e.g., given «Input» only the ‘I’ is looked at). This
    character is compared to lists of characters corresponding to inbound and
    outbound and the packet is assigned the corresponding direction.
    If neither list yields a match, the direction is set to unknown.

    If this field is not specified the entire file has no directional information.

  • seqno: an ID for this packet

    Each packet can be assigned an arbitrary ID that can used as field by Wireshark.
    This field is assumed to be a positive integer base 10. This field can e.g.
    be used to reorder out of order captures after the import.

    If this field is not given, no IDs will be present in the resulting file.

5.5.3. The “Import From Hex Dump” Dialog Box

This dialog box lets you select a text file, containing a hex dump of packet
data, to be imported and set import parameters.

Figure 5.7. The “Import from Hex Dump” dialog in Hex Dump mode

Specific controls of this import dialog are split in three sections:

File Source
Determine which input file has to be imported
Input Format
Determine how the input file has to be interpreted.
Encapsulation
Determine how the data is to be encapsulated.

5.5.4. File source

Filename / Browse
Enter the name of the text file to import. You can use Browse to browse for a
file.

5.5.5. Input Format

This section is split in the two alternatives for input conversion, accessible in
the two Tabs «Hex Dump» and «Regular Expression»

In addition to the conversion mode specific inputs, there are also common
parameters, currently only the timestamp format.

5.5.5.1. The Hex Dump tab

Offsets
Select the radix of the offsets given in the text file to import. This is
usually hexadecimal, but decimal and octal are also supported. Select None
when only the bytes are present. These will be imported as a single packet.
Direction indication
Tick this box if the text file to import has direction indicators before each
frame. These are on a separate line before each frame and start with either
I or i for input and O or o for output.

5.5.5.2. The Regular Expression tab

Figure 5.8. The «Regular Expression» tab inside the «Import from Hex Dump” dialog.

Packet format regular expression
This is the regex used for searching packets and metadata inside the input file.
Named capturing subgroups are used to find the individual fields. Anchors ^ and
$ are set to match directly before and after newlines n or rn. See
GRegex for a full
documentation.
Data encoding

The Encoding used for the binary data. Supported encodings are plain-hexadecimal,
-octal, -binary and base64. Plain here means no additional
characters are present in the data field beyond whitespaces, which are ignored.
Any unexpected characters abort the import process.

Ignored whitespaces are r, n, t, v, ` ` and only for hex :, only
for base64 =.

Any incomplete bytes at the field’s end are assumed to be padding to fill the
last complete byte. These bits should be zero, however, this is not checked.

Direction indication
The lists of characters indicating incoming vs. outgoing packets. These fields
are only available when the regex contains a (?<dir>…​) group.

5.5.5.3. Common items

Timestamp Format

This is the format specifier used to parse the timestamps in the text file to
import. It uses the same format as strptime(3) with the addition of %f for
zero padded fractions of seconds. The precision of %f is determined from its
length. The most common fields are %H, %M and %S for hours, minutes and
seconds. The straightforward HH:MM:SS format is covered by %T. For a full
definition of the syntax look for strptime(3),

In Regex mode this field is only available when a (?<time>…​) group is present.

In Hex Dump mode if there are no timestamps in the text file to import, leave this
field empty and timestamps will be generated based on the time of import.

5.5.6. Encapsulation

Encapsulation type
Here you can select which type of frames you are importing. This all depends on
from what type of medium the dump to import was taken. It lists all types that
Wireshark understands, so as to pass the capture file contents to the right
dissector.
Dummy header
When Ethernet encapsulation is selected you have to option to prepend dummy
headers to the frames to import. These headers can provide artificial Ethernet,
IP, UDP, TCP or SCTP headers or SCTP data chunks. When selecting a type of
dummy header, the applicable entries are enabled, others are greyed out and
default values are used.
When the Wireshark Upper PDU export encapsulation is selected the option
ExportPDU becomes available. This allows you to select the name of the
dissector these frames are to be directed to.
Maximum frame length
You may not be interested in the full frames from the text file, just the first
part. Here you can define how much data from the start of the frame you want to
import. If you leave this open the maximum is set to 256kiB.

Once all input and import parameters are setup click Import to start the
import. If your current data wasn’t saved before you will be asked to save it
first.

If the import button doesn’t unlock, make sure all encapsulation parameters are
in the expected range and all unlocked fields are populated when using regex mode
(the placeholder text is not used as default).

When completed there will be a new capture file loaded with the frames imported
from the text file.

5.6. File Sets

When using the “Multiple Files” option while doing a capture (see:
Section 4.8, “Capture files and file modes”), the capture data is spread over several capture files,
called a file set.

As it can become tedious to work with a file set by hand, Wireshark provides
some features to handle these file sets in a convenient way.

The following features in the → submenu are available to work
with file sets in a convenient way:

  • The “List Files” dialog box will list the files Wireshark has recognized as
    being part of the current file set.
  • Next File closes the current and opens the next file in the file
    set.
  • Previous File closes the current and opens the previous file in the
    file set.

5.6.1. The “List Files” Dialog Box

Figure 5.9. The “List Files” dialog box

Each line contains information about a file of the file set:

Filename
The name of the file. If you click on the filename (or the radio
button left to it), the current file will be closed and the corresponding
capture file will be opened.
Created
The creation time of the file.
Last Modified
The last time the file was modified.
Size
The size of the file.

The last line will contain info about the currently used directory where all of
the files in the file set can be found.

The content of this dialog box is updated each time a capture file is
opened/closed.

The Close button will, well, close the dialog box.

5.7. Exporting Data

Wireshark provides a variety of options for exporting packet data.
This section describes general ways to export data from the main Wireshark application.
There are many other ways to export or extract data from capture files, including processing tshark output and customizing Wireshark and TShark using Lua scripts.

5.7.1. The “Export Specified Packets” Dialog Box

Figure 5.10. The “Export Specified Packets” dialog box

This is similar to the “Save” dialog box, but it lets you save specific packets.
This can be useful for trimming irrelevant or unwanted packets from a capture file.
See Packet Range for details on the range controls.

5.7.2. The “Export Packet Dissections” Dialog Box

This lets you save the packet list, packet details, and packet bytes as plain text, CSV, JSON, and other formats.

Figure 5.11. The “Export Packet Dissections” dialog box

The format can be selected from the “Export As” drop-down and further customized using the “Packet Range” and “Packet Format” controls.
Some controls are unavailable for some formats, notably CSV and JSON.
The following formats are supported:

  • Plain text as shown in the main window
  • Comma-separated values (CSV)
  • C-compatible byte arrays
  • PSML (summary XML)
  • PDML (detailed XML)
  • JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

Here are some examples of exported data:

Plain text. 

No.     Time           Source                Destination           Protocol Length SSID       Info
      1 0.000000       200.121.1.131         172.16.0.122          TCP      1454              10554 → 80 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=1400 [TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]

Frame 1: 1454 bytes on wire (11632 bits), 1454 bytes captured (11632 bits)
Ethernet II, Src: 00:50:56:c0:00:01, Dst: 00:0c:29:42:12:13
Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: 200.121.1.131 (200.121.1.131), Dst: 172.16.0.122 (172.16.0.122)
    0100 .... = Version: 4
    .... 0101 = Header Length: 20 bytes (5)
    Differentiated Services Field: 0x00 (DSCP: CS0, ECN: Not-ECT)
    Total Length: 1440
    Identification: 0x0141 (321)
    Flags: 0x0000
    ...0 0000 0000 0000 = Fragment offset: 0
    Time to live: 106
    Protocol: TCP (6)
    Header checksum: 0xd390 [validation disabled]
    [Header checksum status: Unverified]
    Source: 200.121.1.131 (200.121.1.131)
    Destination: 172.16.0.122 (172.16.0.122)
    [Source GeoIP: PE, ASN 6147, Telefonica del Peru S.A.A.]
Transmission Control Protocol, Src Port: 10554, Dst Port: 80, Seq: 1, Ack: 1, Len: 1400
[Tip] Tip

If you would like to be able to import any previously exported packets from a plain text file it is recommended that you do the following:

  • Add the “Absolute date and time” column.
  • Temporarily hide all other columns.
  • Disable the → → → “Show not dissected data
    on new Packet Bytes pane” preference. More details are provided in
    Section 11.5, “Preferences”
  • Include the packet summary line.
  • Exclude column headings.
  • Exclude packet details.
  • Include the packet bytes.

CSV. 

"No.","Time","Source","Destination","Protocol","Length","SSID","Info","Win Size"
"1","0.000000","200.121.1.131","172.16.0.122","TCP","1454","","10554  >  80 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=1400 [TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]","65535"
"2","0.000011","172.16.0.122","200.121.1.131","TCP","54","","[TCP ACKed unseen segment] 80  >  10554 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=11201 Win=53200 Len=0","53200"
"3","0.025738","200.121.1.131","172.16.0.122","TCP","1454","","[TCP Spurious Retransmission] 10554  >  80 [ACK] Seq=1401 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=1400 [TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]","65535"
"4","0.025749","172.16.0.122","200.121.1.131","TCP","54","","[TCP Window Update] [TCP ACKed unseen segment] 80  >  10554 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=11201 Win=63000 Len=0","63000"
"5","0.076967","200.121.1.131","172.16.0.122","TCP","1454","","[TCP Previous segment not captured] [TCP Spurious Retransmission] 10554  >  80 [ACK] Seq=4201 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=1400 [TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]","65535"

JSON. 

{
    "_index": "packets-2014-06-22",
    "_type": "doc",
    "_score": null,
    "_source": {
      "layers": {
        "frame": {
          "frame.encap_type": "1",
          "frame.time": "Jun 22, 2014 13:29:41.834477000 PDT",
          "frame.offset_shift": "0.000000000",
          "frame.time_epoch": "1403468981.834477000",
          "frame.time_delta": "0.450535000",
          "frame.time_delta_displayed": "0.450535000",
          "frame.time_relative": "0.450535000",
          "frame.number": "2",
          "frame.len": "86",
          "frame.cap_len": "86",
          "frame.marked": "0",
          "frame.ignored": "0",
          "frame.protocols": "eth:ethertype:ipv6:icmpv6",
          "frame.coloring_rule.name": "ICMP",
          "frame.coloring_rule.string": "icmp || icmpv6"
        },
        "eth": {
          "eth.dst": "33:33:ff:9e:e3:8e",
          "eth.dst_tree": {
            "eth.dst_resolved": "33:33:ff:9e:e3:8e",
            "eth.dst.oui": "3355647",
            "eth.addr": "33:33:ff:9e:e3:8e",
            "eth.addr_resolved": "33:33:ff:9e:e3:8e",
            "eth.addr.oui": "3355647",
            "eth.dst.lg": "1",
            "eth.lg": "1",
            "eth.dst.ig": "1",
            "eth.ig": "1"
          },
          "eth.src": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46",
          "eth.src_tree": {
            "eth.src_resolved": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46",
            "eth.src.oui": "348",
            "eth.src.oui_resolved": "Cadant Inc.",
            "eth.addr": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46",
            "eth.addr_resolved": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46",
            "eth.addr.oui": "348",
            "eth.addr.oui_resolved": "Cadant Inc.",
            "eth.src.lg": "0",
            "eth.lg": "0",
            "eth.src.ig": "0",
            "eth.ig": "0"
          },
          "eth.type": "0x000086dd"
        },
        "ipv6": {
          "ipv6.version": "6",
          "ip.version": "6",
          "ipv6.tclass": "0x00000000",
          "ipv6.tclass_tree": {
            "ipv6.tclass.dscp": "0",
            "ipv6.tclass.ecn": "0"
          },
          "ipv6.flow": "0x00000000",
          "ipv6.plen": "32",
          "ipv6.nxt": "58",
          "ipv6.hlim": "255",
          "ipv6.src": "2001:558:4080:16::1",
          "ipv6.addr": "2001:558:4080:16::1",
          "ipv6.src_host": "2001:558:4080:16::1",
          "ipv6.host": "2001:558:4080:16::1",
          "ipv6.dst": "ff02::1:ff9e:e38e",
          "ipv6.addr": "ff02::1:ff9e:e38e",
          "ipv6.dst_host": "ff02::1:ff9e:e38e",
          "ipv6.host": "ff02::1:ff9e:e38e",
          "ipv6.geoip.src_summary": "US, ASN 7922, Comcast Cable Communications, LLC",
          "ipv6.geoip.src_summary_tree": {
            "ipv6.geoip.src_country": "United States",
            "ipv6.geoip.country": "United States",
            "ipv6.geoip.src_country_iso": "US",
            "ipv6.geoip.country_iso": "US",
            "ipv6.geoip.src_asnum": "7922",
            "ipv6.geoip.asnum": "7922",
            "ipv6.geoip.src_org": "Comcast Cable Communications, LLC",
            "ipv6.geoip.org": "Comcast Cable Communications, LLC",
            "ipv6.geoip.src_lat": "37.751",
            "ipv6.geoip.lat": "37.751",
            "ipv6.geoip.src_lon": "-97.822",
            "ipv6.geoip.lon": "-97.822"
          }
        },
        "icmpv6": {
          "icmpv6.type": "135",
          "icmpv6.code": "0",
          "icmpv6.checksum": "0x00005b84",
          "icmpv6.checksum.status": "1",
          "icmpv6.reserved": "00:00:00:00",
          "icmpv6.nd.ns.target_address": "2001:558:4080:16:be36:e4ff:fe9e:e38e",
          "icmpv6.opt": {
            "icmpv6.opt.type": "1",
            "icmpv6.opt.length": "1",
            "icmpv6.opt.linkaddr": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46",
            "icmpv6.opt.src_linkaddr": "00:01:5c:62:8c:46"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
]

5.7.3. The “Export Selected Packet Bytes” Dialog Box

Export the bytes selected in the “Packet Bytes” pane into a raw binary file.

Figure 5.12. The “Export Selected Packet Bytes” dialog box

File name
The file name to export the packet data to.
Save as type
The file extension.

5.7.4. The “Export PDUs to File…​” Dialog Box

The “Export PDUs to File…​” dialog box allows you to filter the captured Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and export them into the file. It allows you to export reassembled PDUs avoiding lower layers such as HTTP without TCP, and decrypted PDUs without the lower protocols such as HTTP without TLS and TCP.

  1. In the main menu select → . Wireshark will open a corresponding dialog Figure 5.13, “Export PDUs to File window”.

    Figure 5.13. Export PDUs to File window

  2. To select the data according to your needs, optionally type a filter value into the Display Filter field. For more information about filter syntax, see the Wireshark Filters man page.
  3. In the field below the Display Filter field you can choose the level from which you want to export the PDUs to the file. There are seven levels:

    1. DLT User. You can export a protocol, which is framed in the user data link type table without the need to reconfigure the DLT user table. For more information, see the How to Dissect Anything page.
    2. DVB-CI. You can use it for the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) protocol.
    3. Logcat and Logcat Text. You can use them for the Android logs.
    4. OSI layer 3. You can use it to export PDUs encapsulated in the IPSec or SCTP protocols.
    5. OSI layer 4. You can use it to export PDUs encapsulated in the TCP or UDP protocols.
    6. OSI layer 7. You can use it to export the following protocols: CredSSP over TLS, Diameter, protocols encapsulated in TLS and DTLS, H.248, Megaco, RELOAD framing, SIP, SMPP.

      [Note] Note

      As a developer you can add any dissector to the existing list or define a new entry in the list by using the functions in epan/exported_pdu.h.

  4. To finish exporting PDUs to file, click the OK button in the bottom-right corner. This will close the originally captured file and open the exported results instead as a temporary file in the main Wireshark window.
  5. You may save the temporary file just like any captured file. See Section 5.3, “Saving Captured Packets” for details.

    [Note] Note

    The file produced has a Wireshark Upper PDU encapsulation type that has somewhat limited support outside of Wireshark, but is very flexible and can contain PDUs for any protocol for which there is a Wireshark dissector.

5.7.5. The “Strip Headers…​” Dialog Box

The “Strip Headers…​” dialog box allows you to filter known encapsulation types on whatever protocol layer they appear and export them into a new capture file, removing lower-level protocols. It allows you to export reassembled packets and frames without lower layers such as GPF, GRE, GSE, GTP-U, MPLS, MPE, PPP, and more. If Wireshark has performed decryption, then you can export decrypted IP from protocols like IEEE 802.11 or IPSec without having to save encryption keys.

The procedure is similar to that of Section 5.7.4, “The “Export PDUs to File…​” Dialog Box”:

  1. In the main menu select → . Wireshark will open a corresponding dialog.
  2. To select the data according to your needs, optionally type a filter value into the Display Filter field. For more information about filter syntax, see the Wireshark Filters man page.
  3. In the field below the Display Filter field you can choose the encapsulation type you want to find and export to the file. There are two encapsulations supported:

    1. Ethernet. You can use it to export Ethernet encapsulated in other protocols.
    2. IP. You can use it to export IPv4 and IPv6 encapsulated in other protocols.

      [Note] Note

      As a developer you can add encapsulations to the list by using the functions in epan/exported_pdu.h.

  4. To finish exporting to file, click the OK button in the bottom-right corner. This will close the originally captured file and open the exported results instead as a temporary file in the main Wireshark window.
  5. You may save the temporary file just like any captured file. See Section 5.3, “Saving Captured Packets” for details.

    [Note] Note

    The new capture files produced have standard encapsulation types and can be read in nearly any tool.

5.7.6. The “Export TLS Session Keys…​” Dialog Box

Transport Layer Security (TLS) encrypts the communication between a client and a server. The most common use for it is web browsing via HTTPS.

Decryption of TLS traffic requires TLS secrets. You can get them in the form of stored session keys in a «key log file», or by using an RSA private key file. For more details, see the TLS wiki page.

The → menu option generates a new «key log file» which contains TLS session secrets known by Wireshark. This feature is useful if you typically decrypt TLS sessions using the RSA private key file. The RSA private key is very sensitive because it can be used to decrypt other TLS sessions and impersonate the server. Session keys can be used only to decrypt sessions from the packet capture file. However, session keys are the preferred mechanism for sharing data over the Internet.

To export captured TLS session keys, follow the steps below:

  1. In the main menu select → . Wireshark will open a corresponding dialog Figure 5.14, “Export TLS Session Keys window”.

    Figure 5.14. Export TLS Session Keys window

  2. Type the desired file name in the Save As field.
  3. Choose the destination folder for your file in the Where field.
  4. Press the Save button to complete the export file procedure.

5.7.7. The “Export Objects” Dialog Box

This feature scans through the selected protocol’s streams in the currently
open capture file or running capture and allows the user to export reassembled
objects to the disk. For example, if you select HTTP, you can export HTML
documents, images, executables, and any other files transferred over HTTP
to the disk. If you have a capture running, this list is automatically
updated every few seconds with any new objects seen. The saved objects can then
be opened or examined independently of Wireshark.

Figure 5.15. The “Export Objects” dialog box

Columns:

Packet
The packet number in which this object was found. In some
cases, there can be multiple objects in the same packet.
Hostname
The hostname of the server that sent this object.
Content Type
The content type of this object.
Size
The size of this object in bytes.

Filename:
The filename for this object. Each protocol generates
the filename differently. For example, HTTP uses the
final part of the URI and IMF uses the subject of the email.

Inputs:

Text Filter
Only displays objects containing the specified text string.
Help
Opens this section of the “User’s Guide”.
Save All
Saves all objects (including those not displayed) using the filename from the
filename column. You will be asked what directory or folder to save them in.
Close
Closes the dialog without exporting.
Save
Saves the currently selected object as a filename you specify. The
default filename to save as is taken from the filename column of the objects
list.

5.8. Printing Packets

To print packets, select the → menu item.
Wireshark will display the “Print” dialog box as shown below.

[Warning] It’s easy to waste paper doing this

Printed output can contain lots of text, particularly if you print packet details and bytes.

5.8.1. The “Print” Dialog Box

Figure 5.16. The “Print” dialog box

The “Print” dialog box shows a preview area which shows the result of changing the packet format settings.
You can zoom in and out using the + and keys and reset the zoom level using the 0 key.
The following settings are available in the Print dialog box:

Packet Format

Lets you specify what gets printed. See Figure 5.18, “The “Packet Format” frame” for details.

Summary line
Include a summary line for each packet.
The line will contain the same fields as the packet list.
Details
Print details for each packet.
Bytes
Print a hex dump of each packet.
Packet Range
Select the packets to be printed. See Section 5.9, “The “Packet Range” Frame” for details.

Page Setup…​ lets you select the page size and orientation.

Print…​ prints to your default printer.

Cancel will close the dialog without printing.

Help will display this section of the “User’s Guide”.

5.9. The “Packet Range” Frame

The packet range frame is a part of the “Export Specified Packets,” “Export Packet Dissections,” and “Print” dialog boxes.
You can use it to specify which packets will be exported or printed.

Figure 5.17. The “Packet Range” frame

By default, the Displayed button is set, which only exports or prints the packets that match the current display filter.
Selecting Captured will export or print all packets.
You can further limit what you export or print to the following:

All packets
All captured or displayed packets depending on the primary selection above.
Selected packet
Only the selected packet.
Marked packets
Only marked packets. See Section 6.10, “Marking Packets”.
First to last marked
Lets you mark an inclusive range of packets.
Range
Lets you manually specify a range of packets, e.g., 5,10-15,20- will process the packet number five, the packets from packet number ten to fifteen (inclusive) and every packet from number twenty to the end of the capture.
Remove ignored packets
Don’t export or print ignored packets.
See Section 6.11, “Ignoring Packets”.

5.10. The Packet Format Frame

The packet format frame is also a part of the “Export Packet Dissections” and “Print” dialog boxes.
You can use it to specify which parts of dissection are exported or printed.

Figure 5.18. The “Packet Format” frame

Each of the settings below correspond to the packet list, packet detail, and packet bytes in the main window.

Packet summary line
Export or print each summary line as shown in the “Packet List” pane.
Packet details

Export or print the contents of the “Packet Details” tree.

All collapsed
Export or print as if the “Packet Details” tree is in the “all collapsed” state.
As displayed
Export or print as if the “Packet Details” tree is in the “as displayed” state.
All expanded
Export or print as if the “Packet Details” tree is in the “all expanded” state.
Packet Bytes
Export or print the contents of the “Packet Bytes” pane.
Each packet on a new page
For printing and some export formats, put each packet on a separate page.
For example, when exporting to a text file this will put a form feed character between each packet.
Capture information header
Add a header to each page with capture filename and the number of total packets and shown packets.

Chapter 6. Working With Captured Packets

6.1. Viewing Packets You Have Captured

Once you have captured some packets or you have opened a previously saved
capture file, you can view the packets that are displayed in the packet list
pane by simply clicking on a packet in the packet list pane, which will bring up
the selected packet in the tree view and byte view panes.

You can then expand any part of the tree to view detailed information about each
protocol in each packet. Clicking on an item in the tree will highlight the
corresponding bytes in the byte view. An example with a TCP packet selected is
shown in Figure 6.1, “Wireshark with a TCP packet selected for viewing”. It also has the Acknowledgment number in the TCP
header selected, which shows up in the byte view as the selected bytes.

Figure 6.1. Wireshark with a TCP packet selected for viewing

You can also select and view packets the same way while Wireshark is capturing
if you selected “Update list of packets in real time” in the “Capture
Preferences” dialog box.

In addition you can view individual packets in a separate window as shown in
Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window”. You can do this by double-clicking on an item in the
packet list or by selecting the packet in which you are interested in the packet
list pane and selecting → . This allows you to
easily compare two or more packets, even across multiple files.

Figure 6.2. Viewing a packet in a separate window

Along with double-clicking the packet list and using the main menu there are a
number of other ways to open a new packet window:

  • Hold down the shift key and double-click on a frame link in the packet
    details.
  • From Table 6.2, “The menu items of the “Packet List” pop-up menu”.
  • From Table 6.3, “The menu items of the “Packet Details” pop-up menu”.

6.2. Pop-up Menus

You can open a pop-up menu over the “Packet List”, its column heading,
“Packet Details”, or “Packet Bytes” by clicking your right mouse button
on the corresponding item.

6.2.1. Pop-up Menu Of The “Packet List” Column Header

Figure 6.3. Pop-up menu of the “Packet List” column header

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available
in this header, where to find the corresponding function in the main
menu, and a description of each item.

Table 6.1. The menu items of the “Packet List” column header pop-up menu

Item Description

Left-align values in this column.

Center-align values in this column.

Right-align values in this column.

Open the “Preferences” dialog for this column.

Open the column editor toolbar for this column.

Resize the column to fit its values.

If this column contains addresses, resolve them.

No., Time, Source, et al.

Show or hide a column by selecting its item.

Remove this column, similar to deleting it in the “Preferences” dialog.

6.2.2. Pop-up Menu Of The “Packet List” Pane

Figure 6.4. Pop-up menu of the “Packet List” pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available
in this pane, where to find the corresponding function in the main menu,
and a short description of each item.

Table 6.2. The menu items of the “Packet List” pop-up menu

Item Corresponding main menu item Description

Mark or unmark a packet.

Ignore or inspect this packet while dissecting the capture file.

Set or reset a time reference.

Opens the “Time Shift” dialog, which allows you to adjust the timestamps
of some or all packets.

Opens the “Packet Comment” dialog, which lets you add a comment to a
single packet. Note that the ability to save packet comments depends on
your file format. E.g., pcapng supports comments, pcap does not.

 

Allows you to enter a name to resolve for the selected address.

Immediately replace or append the current display filter based on the most recent packet list or packet details item selected.
The first submenu item shows the filter and subsequent items show the different ways that the filter can be applied.

Change the current display filter based on the most recent packet list or packet details item selected, but don’t apply it.
The first submenu item shows the filter and subsequent items show the different ways that the filter can be changed.

 

Apply a display filter with the address information from the selected packet.
For example, the IP menu entry will set a filter to show the traffic between the two IP addresses of the current packet.

 

Create a new colorizing rule based on address information from the selected packet.

 

Allows you to analyze and prepare a filter for this SCTP association.

Open a window that displays all the TCP segments captured that are on the same TCP connection as a selected packet.
See Section 7.2, “Following Protocol Streams”.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for UDP “streams”.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for DCCP streams.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for TLS or SSL streams.
See the wiki page on SSL for instructions
on providing TLS keys.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for HTTP streams.

 

Copy the summary fields as displayed to the clipboard as tab-separated
text.

 

Copy the summary fields as displayed to the clipboard as comma-separated
text.

 

Copy the summary fields as displayed to the clipboard as YAML data.

 

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item and copy
that filter to the clipboard.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in full “hexdump” format.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in “hexdump” format without the
ASCII portion.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as ASCII text, excluding
non-printable characters.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as an unpunctuated list of hex
digits.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as raw binary. The data is stored
in the clipboard using the MIME type “application/octet-stream”.

 

Adjust the preferences for the selected protocol.

Change or apply a new relation between two dissectors.

Shows the selected packet in a separate window. The separate window
shows only the packet details and bytes. See Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window” for
details.

6.2.3. Pop-up Menu Of The “Packet Details” Pane

Figure 6.5. Pop-up menu of the “Packet Details” pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available in this
pane, where to find the corresponding function in the main menu, and a short
description of each item.

Table 6.3. The menu items of the “Packet Details” pop-up menu

Item Corresponding main menu item Description

Expand the currently selected subtree.

Collapse the currently selected subtree.

Expand all subtrees in all packets in the capture.

Wireshark keeps a list of all the protocol subtrees that are expanded, and uses it to ensure that the correct subtrees are expanded when you display a packet. This menu item collapses the tree view of all packets in the capture list.

 

Use the selected protocol item to create a new column in the packet list.

Immediately replace or append the current display filter based on the most recent packet list or packet details item selected.
The first submenu item shows the filter and subsequent items show the different ways that the filter can be applied.

Change the current display filter based on the most recent packet list or packet details item selected, but don’t apply it.
The first submenu item shows the filter and subsequent items show the different ways that the filter can be changed.

 

This menu item uses a display filter with the information from the selected protocol item to build a new colorizing rule.

Open a window that displays all the TCP segments captured that are on the same TCP connection as a selected packet.
See Section 7.2, “Following Protocol Streams”.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for UDP “streams”.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for TLS or SSL streams.
See the wiki page on SSL for instructions
on providing TLS keys.

Same functionality as “Follow TCP Stream” but for HTTP streams.

Copy the packet details as displayed.

Copy the selected packet detail and its children as displayed.

Copy the displayed text of the selected field to the system clipboard.

Copy the name of the selected field to the system clipboard.

Copy the value of the selected field to the system clipboard.

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item and copy
it to the clipboard.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in full “hexdump” format.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in “hexdump” format without the
ASCII portion.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as ASCII text, excluding
non-printable characters.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as an unpunctuated list of hex
digits.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as raw binary. The data is stored
in the clipboard using the MIME type “application/octet-stream”.

 

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as C-style escape sequences.

This menu item is the same as the File menu item of the same name. It
allows you to export raw packet bytes to a binary file.

 

Open the wiki page for the selected protocol in your web browser.

 

Open the filter field reference web page for the selected protocol in your web browser.

 

Adjust the preferences for the selected protocol.

Change or apply a new relation between two dissectors.

If the selected field has a corresponding packet such as the matching
request for a DNS response, go to it.

If the selected field has a corresponding packet such as the matching
request for a DNS response, show the selected packet in a separate
window. See Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window” for details.

6.2.4. Pop-up Menu Of The “Packet Bytes” Pane

Figure 6.6. Pop-up menu of the “Packet Bytes” pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available
in this pane along with a short description of each item.

Table 6.4. The menu items of the “Packet Bytes” pop-up menu

Item Description

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in full “hexdump” format.

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in “hexdump” format without the
ASCII portion.

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as ASCII text, excluding
non-printable characters.

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as an unpunctuated list of hex
digits.

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as raw binary. The data is stored
in the clipboard using the MIME type “application/octet-stream”.

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as C-style escape sequences.

Display the byte data as hexadecimal digits.

Display the byte data as binary digits.

Show the “hexdump” data with text.

Use ASCII encoding when displaying “hexdump” text.

Use EBCDIC encoding when displaying “hexdump” text.

6.2.5. Pop-up Menu Of The “Packet Diagram” Pane

Figure 6.7. Pop-up menu of the “Packet Diagram” pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available
in this pane along with a short description of each item.

Table 6.5. The menu items of the “Packet Diagram” pop-up menu

Item Description

Display current value for each field on the packet diagram.

Save the packet diagram to an image file (PNG, BMP, JPEG).

Copy the packet diagram to the clipboard in raster (ARGB32) format.

6.3. Filtering Packets While Viewing

Wireshark has two filtering languages: capture filters and display filters.
Capture filters are used for filtering
when capturing packets and are discussed in Section 4.10, “Filtering while capturing”.
Display filters are used for filtering
which packets are displayed and are discussed below.
For more information about display filter syntax, see the
wireshark-filter(4) man page.

Display filters allow you to concentrate on the packets you are interested in
while hiding the currently uninteresting ones. They allow you to only display packets
based on:

  • Protocol
  • The presence of a field
  • The values of fields
  • A comparison between fields
  • …​ and a lot more!

To only display packets containing a particular protocol, type the protocol name
in the display filter toolbar of the Wireshark
window and press enter to apply the filter. Figure 6.8, “Filtering on the TCP protocol” shows an
example of what happens when you type tcp in the display filter toolbar.

[Note] Note

Protocol and field names are usually in lowercase.

[Note] Note

Don’t forget to press enter or click on the apply display filter button after entering the filter
expression.

Figure 6.8. Filtering on the TCP protocol

As you may have noticed, only packets containing the TCP protocol are now displayed,
so packets 1-10 are hidden and packet number 11
is the first packet displayed.

[Note] Note

When using a display filter, all packets remain in the capture file. The display
filter only changes the display of the capture file but not its content!

To remove the filter, click on the Clear button to the right of the
display filter field. All packets will become visible again.

Display filters can be very powerful and are discussed in further detail in
Section 6.4, “Building Display Filter Expressions”

It’s also possible to create display filters with the
Display Filter Expression dialog box. More information about
the Display Filter Expression dialog box is available in
Section 6.5, “The “Display Filter Expression” Dialog Box”.

6.4. Building Display Filter Expressions

Wireshark provides a display filter language that enables you
to precisely control which packets are displayed. They can be used
to check for the presence of a protocol or field, the value of a field, or
even compare two fields to each other. These comparisons can be combined
with logical operators, like «and» and «or», and parentheses
into complex expressions.

The following sections will go into the display filter functionality in
more detail.

6.4.1. Display Filter Fields

The simplest display filter is one that displays a single protocol.
To only display packets containing a particular protocol, type the protocol
into Wireshark’s display filter toolbar. For example, to only
display TCP packets, type tcp into Wireshark’s display filter toolbar.
Similarly, to only display
packets containing a particular field, type the field
into Wireshark’s display filter toolbar. For example, to only display
HTTP requests, type http.request into Wireshark’s display filter toolbar.

You can filter on any protocol that Wireshark supports. You can
also filter on any field that a dissector adds to the tree view, if the dissector
has added an abbreviation for that field. A full list of the available protocols
and fields is available through the menu item
→ → .

6.4.2. Comparing Values

You can build display filters that compare values using a number of different
comparison operators. For example, to only display packets to or
from the IP address 192.168.0.1, use ip.addr==192.168.0.1.

A complete list of available comparison operators is shown in Table 6.6, “Display Filter comparison operators”.

[Tip] Tip

English and C-like operators are interchangeable and can be mixed within a filter string.

Table 6.6. Display Filter comparison operators

English Alias C-like Description Example

eq

any_eq

==

Equal (any if more than one)

ip.src == 10.0.0.5

ne

all_ne

!=

Not equal (all if more than one)

ip.src != 10.0.0.5

 

all_eq

===

Equal (all if more than one)

ip.src === 10.0.0.5

 

any_ne

!==

Not equal (any if more than one)

ip.src !== 10.0.0.5

gt

 

>

Greater than

frame.len > 10

lt

 

<

Less than

frame.len < 128

ge

 

>=

Greater than or equal to

frame.len ge 0x100

le

 

<=

Less than or equal to

frame.len <= 0x20

contains

   

Protocol, field or slice contains a value

sip.To contains "a1762"

matches

 

~

Protocol or text field matches a Perl-compatible regular expression

http.host matches "acme\.(org|com|net)"

[Note] Note

The meaning of != (all not equal) was changed in Wireshark 3.6.
Before it used to mean «any not equal».

All protocol fields have a type. Section 6.4.2.1, “Display Filter Field Types” provides a list
of the types with examples of how to use them in display filters.

6.4.2.1. Display Filter Field Types

Unsigned integer

Can be 8, 16, 24, 32, or 64 bits. You can express integers in decimal, octal,
hexadecimal or binary. The following display filters are equivalent:

ip.len le 1500

ip.len le 02734

ip.len le 0x5dc

ip.len le 0b10111011100

Signed integer
Can be 8, 16, 24, 32, or 64 bits. As with unsigned integers you can use
decimal, octal, hexadecimal or binary.
Boolean

Can be 1 or «True» or «TRUE», 0 or «False» or «FALSE» (without quotes).

A Boolean field is present regardless if its value is true or false. For example,
tcp.flags.syn is present in all TCP packets containing the flag, whether
the SYN flag is 0 or 1. To only match TCP packets with the SYN flag set, you need
to use tcp.flags.syn == 1 or tcp.flags.syn == True.

Ethernet address

6 bytes separated by a colon (:), dot (.), or dash (-) with one or two bytes between separators:

eth.dst == ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

eth.dst == ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff

eth.dst == ffff.ffff.ffff

IPv4 address

ip.addr == 192.168.0.1

Classless InterDomain Routing (CIDR) notation can be used to test if
an IPv4 address is in a certain subnet. For example, this display
filter will find all packets in the 129.111 Class-B network:

ip.addr == 129.111.0.0/16

IPv6 address

ipv6.addr == ::1

As with IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses can match a subnet.

Text string

http.request.uri == "https://www.wireshark.org/"

Strings are a sequence of bytes. Functions like lower() use ASCII, otherwise
no particular encoding is assumed. String literals are specified with double
quotes. Characters can also be specified using a byte escape sequence using
hex xhh or octal ddd, where h and d are hex and octal
numerical digits respectively:

dns.qry.name contains "www.x77x69x72x65x73x68x61x72x6b.org"

Alternatively, a raw string syntax can be used. Such strings are prefixed with r or R and treat
backslash as a literal character.

http.user_agent matches r"(X11;"

Date and time

frame.time == "Sep 26, 2004 23:18:04.954975"

ntp.xmt ge "2020-07-04 12:34:56"

The value of an absolute time field is expressed as a string, using one of the
two formats above. Fractional seconds can be omitted or specified up to
nanosecond precision; extra trailing zeros are allowed but not other digits.
The string cannot take a time zone suffix, and is always parsed as in the local
time zone, even for fields that are displayed in UTC.

In the first format, the abbreviated month names must be in English regardless
of locale. In the second format, any number of time fields may be omitted, in
the order from least significant (seconds) to most, but at least the entire
date must be specified:

frame.time < "2022-01-01"

In the second format, a T may appear between the date and time as in
ISO 8601, but not when less significant times are dropped.

6.4.2.2. Some Examples

udp contains 81:60:03

The display filter above matches packets that contains the 3-byte sequence 0x81, 0x60,
0x03 anywhere in the UDP header or payload.

sip.To contains "a1762"

The display filter above matches packets where the SIP To-header contains the string «a1762»
anywhere in the header.

http.host matches "acme\.(org|com|net)"

The display filter above matches HTTP packets where the HOST header contains
acme.org, acme.com, or acme.net.
Comparisons are case-insensitive.

tcp.flags & 0x02

That display filter will match all packets that contain the “tcp.flags” field with the 0x02 bit,
i.e., the SYN bit, set.

6.4.2.3. Possible Pitfalls Using Regular Expressions

String literals containing regular expressions are parsed twice. Once by Wireshark’s display
filter engine and again by the PCRE2 library. It’s important to keep this in mind when using
the «matches» operator with regex escape sequences and special characters.

For example, the filter expression frame matches "ABx43" uses the string "ABC" as input
pattern to PCRE. However, the expression frame matches "AB\x43" uses the string "ABx43"
as the pattern. In this case both expressions give the same result because Wireshark and PCRE
both support the same byte escape sequence (0x43 is the ASCII hex code for C).

An example where this fails badly is foo matches "barx28". Because 0x28 is the ASCII
code for ( the pattern input to PCRE is "bar(". This regular expression is syntactically
invalid (missing closing parenthesis). To match a literal parenthesis in a display filter regular
expression it must be escaped (twice) with backslashes.

[Tip] Tip

Using raw strings avoids most problem with the «matches» operator and double escape requirements.

6.4.3. Combining Expressions

You can combine filter expressions in Wireshark using the logical operators shown in Table 6.7, “Display Filter Logical Operations”

Table 6.7. Display Filter Logical Operations

English C-like Description Example

and

&&

Logical AND

ip.src==10.0.0.5 and tcp.flags.fin

or

||

Logical OR

ip.src==10.0.0.5 or ip.src==192.1.1.1

xor

^^

Logical XOR

tr.dst[0:3] == 0.6.29 xor tr.src[0:3] == 0.6.29

not

!

Logical NOT

not llc

[…​]

 

Subsequence

See “Slice Operator” below.

in

 

Set Membership

http.request.method in {«HEAD», «GET»}. See “Membership Operator” below.

6.4.4. Slice Operator

Wireshark allows you to select a subsequence of a sequence in rather elaborate
ways. After a label you can place a pair of brackets [] containing a comma
separated list of range specifiers.

eth.src[0:3] == 00:00:83

The example above uses the n:m format to specify a single range. In this case n
is the beginning offset and m is the length of the range being specified.

eth.src[1-2] == 00:83

The example above uses the n-m format to specify a single range. In this case n
is the beginning offset and m is the ending offset.

eth.src[:4] == 00:00:83:00

The example above uses the :m format, which takes everything from the beginning
of a sequence to offset m. It is equivalent to 0:m

eth.src[4:] == 20:20

The example above uses the n: format, which takes everything from offset n to
the end of the sequence.

eth.src[2] == 83

The example above uses the n format to specify a single range. In this case the
element in the sequence at offset n is selected. This is equivalent to n:1.

eth.src[0:3,1-2,:4,4:,2] ==
00:00:83:00:83:00:00:83:00:20:20:83

Wireshark allows you to string together single ranges in a comma separated list
to form compound ranges as shown above.

6.4.5. The Layer Operator

A field can be restricted to a certain layer in the protocol stack using the
layer operator (#), followed by a decimal number:

ip.addr#2 == 192.168.30.40

matches only the inner (second) layer in the packet.
Layers use simple stacking semantics and protocol layers are counted sequentially starting from 1.
For example, in a packet that contains two IPv4 headers, the outer (first) source address can be matched with «ip.src#1» and the inner (second) source address can be matched with «ip.src#2».

For more complicated ranges the same syntax used with slices is valid:

tcp.port#[2-4]

means layers number 2, 3 or 4 inclusive. The hash symbol is required to
distinguish a layer range from a slice.

6.4.6. Membership Operator

Wireshark allows you to test a field for membership in a set of values or
fields. After the field name, use the in operator followed by the set items
surrounded by braces {}. For example, to display packets with a TCP source or
destination port of 80, 443, or 8080, you can use tcp.port in {80, 443, 8080}.
Set elements must be separated by commas.
The set of values can also contain ranges: tcp.port in {443,4430..4434}.

[Note] Note

The display filter

tcp.port in {80, 443, 8080}

is equivalent to

tcp.port == 80 || tcp.port == 443 || tcp.port == 8080

However, the display filter

tcp.port in {443, 4430..4434}

is not equivalent to

tcp.port == 443 || (tcp.port >= 4430 && tcp.port <= 4434)

This is because comparison operators are satisfied when any field
matches the filter, so a packet with a source port of 56789 and
destination port of port 80 would also match the second filter
since 56789 >= 4430 && 80 <= 4434 is true. In contrast, the
membership operator tests a single field against the range condition.

Sets are not just limited to numbers, other types can be used as well:

http.request.method in {"HEAD", "GET"}
ip.addr in {10.0.0.5 .. 10.0.0.9, 192.168.1.1..192.168.1.9}
frame.time_delta in {10 .. 10.5}

6.4.7. Arithmetic operators

You can perform the arithmetic operations on numeric fields shown in Table 6.8, “Display Filter Arithmetic Operations”

Table 6.8. Display Filter Arithmetic Operations

Name Syntax Description

Unary minus

-A

Negation of A

Addition

A + B

Add B to A

Subtraction

A — B

Subtract B from A

Multiplication

A * B

Multiply A times B

Division

A / B

Divide A by B

Modulo

A % B

Remainder of A divided by B

Bitwise AND

A & B

Bitwise AND of A and B

Arithmetic expressions can be grouped using curly braces.

6.4.8. Functions

The display filter language has a number of functions to convert fields, see
Table 6.9, “Display Filter Functions”.

Table 6.9. Display Filter Functions

Function Description

upper

Converts a string field to uppercase.

lower

Converts a string field to lowercase.

len

Returns the byte length of a string or bytes field.

count

Returns the number of field occurrences in a frame.

string

Converts a non-string field to a string.

max

Return the maximum value for the arguments.

min

Return the minimum value for the arguments.

abs

Return the absolute value for the argument.

The upper and lower functions can used to force case-insensitive matches:
lower(http.server) contains "apache".

To find HTTP requests with long request URIs: len(http.request.uri) > 100.
Note that the len function yields the string length in bytes rather than
(multi-byte) characters.

Usually an IP frame has only two addresses (source and destination), but in case
of ICMP errors or tunneling, a single packet might contain even more addresses.
These packets can be found with count(ip.addr) > 2.

The string function converts a field value to a string, suitable for use with operators
like «matches» or «contains». Integer fields are converted to their decimal representation.
It can be used with IP/Ethernet addresses (as well as others), but not with string or
byte fields.

For example, to match odd frame numbers:

string(frame.number) matches "[13579]$"

To match IP addresses ending in 255 in a block of subnets (172.16 to 172.31):

string(ip.dst) matches r"^172.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1]).[0-9]{1,3}.255"

The functions max() and min() take any number of arguments of the same type
and returns the largest/smallest respectively of the set.

max(tcp.srcport, tcp.dstport) <= 1024

6.4.9. Sometimes Fields Change Names

As protocols evolve they sometimes change names or are superseded by
newer standards. For example, DHCP extends and has largely replaced
BOOTP and TLS has replaced SSL. If a protocol dissector originally used
the older names and fields for a protocol the Wireshark development team
might update it to use the newer names and fields. In such cases they
will add an alias from the old protocol name to the new one in order to
make the transition easier.

For example, the DHCP dissector was originally developed for the BOOTP
protocol but as of Wireshark 3.0 all of the “bootp” display filter
fields have been renamed to their “dhcp” equivalents. You can still use
the old filter names for the time being, e.g., “bootp.type” is equivalent
to “dhcp.type” but Wireshark will show the warning “»bootp» is deprecated”
when you use it. Support for the deprecated fields may be removed in the future.

6.4.10. Some protocol names can be ambiguous

In some particular cases relational expressions (equal, less than, etc.)
can be ambiguous. The filter name of a protocol or protocol field can contain
any letter and digit in any order, possibly separated by dots. That can be
indistinguishable from a literal value (usually numerical values in hexadecimal).
For example the semantic value of fc can be the protocol Fibre Channel or the
number 0xFC in hexadecimal because the 0x prefix is optional for hexadecimal numbers.

Any value that matches a registered protocol or protocol field filter name is
interpreted semantically as such. If it doesn’t match a protocol name the normal
rules for parsing literal values apply.

So in the case of ‘fc’ the lexical token is interpreted as «Fibre Channel» and
not 0xFC. In the case of ‘fd’ it would be interpreted as 0xFD because it is a
well-formed hexadecimal literal value (according to the rules of display filter
language syntax) and there is no protocol registered with the filter name ‘fd’.

How ambiguous values are interpreted may change in the future. To avoid this
problem and resolve the ambiguity there is additional syntax available.
Values prefixed with a dot are always treated as a protocol name. The
dot stands for the root of the protocol namespace and is optional). Values
prefixed with a colon are always interpreted as a byte array.

frame[10:] contains .fc or frame[10] == :fc

If you are writing a script, or you think your expression may not be giving the
expected results because of the syntactical ambiguity of some filter expression
it is advisable to use the explicit syntax to indicate the correct meaning for
that expression.

6.5. The “Display Filter Expression” Dialog Box

When you are accustomed to Wireshark’s filtering system and know what labels you
wish to use in your filters it can be very quick to simply type a filter string.
However, if you are new to Wireshark or are working with a slightly unfamiliar
protocol it can be very confusing to try to figure out what to type. The
“Display Filter Expression” dialog box helps with this.

[Tip] Tip

The “Display Filter Expression” dialog box is an excellent way to learn how to write
Wireshark display filter strings.

Figure 6.9. The “Display Filter Expression” dialog box

When you first bring up the Display Filter Expression dialog box you are shown a tree
of field names, organized by protocol, and a box for selecting a relation.

Field Name
Select a protocol field from the protocol field tree. Every protocol with
filterable fields is listed at the top level. You can search for a particular
protocol entry by entering the first few letters of the protocol name. By
expanding a protocol name you can get a list of the field names available for
filtering for that protocol.
Relation

Select a relation from the list of available relation. The is present is a
unary relation which is true if the selected field is present in a packet. All
other listed relations are binary relations which require additional data (e.g.
a Value to match) to complete.

When you select a field from the field name list and select a binary relation
(such as the equality relation ==) you will be given the opportunity to enter a
value, and possibly some range information.

Value
You may enter an appropriate value in the Value text box. The Value will
also indicate the type of value for the Field Name you have selected (like
character string).
Predefined Values
Some of the protocol fields have predefined values available, much like enumerations
in C. If the selected protocol field has such values defined, you can choose one
of them here.
Search
Lets you search for a full or partial field name or description.
Regular expressions are supported.
For example, searching for “tcp.*flag” shows the TCP flags fields supported by a wide variety of dissectors, while “^tcp.flag” shows only the TCP flags fields supported by the TCP dissector.
Range
A range of integers or a group of ranges, such as 1-12 or 39-42,98-2000.
Help
Opens this section of the User’s Guide.
OK
When you have built a satisfactory expression click OK and a filter string
will be built for you.
Cancel
You can leave the “Add Expression…​” dialog box without any effect by
clicking the Cancel button.

6.6. Defining And Saving Filters

You create pre-defined filters that appear in the capture and display filter bookmark menus (filter toolbar bookmark).
This can save time in remembering and retyping some of the more complex filters you use.

To create or edit capture filters, select from the capture filter bookmark menu or → from the main menu.
Display filters can be created or edited by selecting from the display filter bookmark menu or → from the main menu.
Wireshark will open the corresponding dialog as shown in Figure 6.10, “The “Capture Filters” and “Display Filters” dialog boxes”.
The two dialogs look and work similar to one another.
Both are described here, and the differences are noted as needed.

Figure 6.10. The “Capture Filters” and “Display Filters” dialog boxes

+

Adds a new filter to the list.
You can edit the filter name or expression by double-clicking on it.

The filter name is used in this dialog to identify the filter for your convenience and is not used elsewhere.
You can create multiple filters with the same name, but this is not very useful.

When typing in a filter string, the background color will change depending on the validity of the filter similar to the main capture and display filter toolbars.

Delete the selected filter.
This will be greyed out if no filter is selected.
Copy
Copy the selected filter.
This will be greyed out if no filter is selected.
OK
Saves the filter settings and closes the dialog.
Cancel
Closes the dialog without saving any changes.

6.7. Defining And Saving Filter Macros

You can define a filter macro with Wireshark and label it for later use.
This can save time in remembering and retyping some of the more complex filters
you use.

To define and save your own filter macros, follow the steps below:

  1. In the main menu select → . Wireshark will open a corresponding dialog Figure 6.11, “Display Filter Macros window”.

    Figure 6.11. Display Filter Macros window

  2. To add a new filter macro, click the + button in the bottom-left corner. A new row will appear in the Display Filter Macros table above.
  3. Enter the name of your macro in the Name column. Enter your filter macro in the Text column.
  4. To save your modifications, click the OK button in the bottom-right corner of the Figure 6.11, “Display Filter Macros window”.

To learn more about display filter macro syntax, see Section 11.8, “Display Filter Macros”.

6.8. Finding Packets

You can easily find packets once you have captured some packets or have
read in a previously saved capture file. Simply select → in the main menu. Wireshark will open a toolbar between the
main toolbar and the packet list shown in Figure 6.12, “The “Find Packet” toolbar”.

6.8.1. The “Find Packet” Toolbar

Figure 6.12. The “Find Packet” toolbar

You can search using the following criteria:

Display filter

Enter a display filter string into the text entry field and click the Find button.
+
For example, to find the three-way handshake for a connection from host 192.168.0.1, use the following filter string:

ip.src==192.168.0.1 and tcp.flags.syn==1

The value to be found will be syntax checked while you type it in. If
the syntax check of your value succeeds, the background of the entry
field will turn green, if it fails, it will turn red. For more details
see Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”

Hexadecimal Value

Search for a specific byte sequence in the packet data.

For example, use “ef:bb:bf” to find the next packet that contains the
UTF-8 byte order mark.

String
Find a string in the packet data, with various options.
Regular Expression
Search the packet data using Perl-compatible
regular expressions. PCRE patterns are beyond the scope of this
document, but typing “pcre test” into your favorite search engine
should return a number of sites that will help you test and explore
your expressions.

6.9. Go To A Specific Packet

You can easily jump to specific packets with one of the menu items in
the menu.

6.9.1. The “Go Back” Command

Go back in the packet history, works much like the page history in most
web browsers.

6.9.2. The “Go Forward” Command

Go forward in the packet history, works much like the page history in
most web browsers.

6.9.3. The “Go to Packet” Toolbar

Figure 6.13. The “Go To Packet” toolbar

This toolbar can be opened by selecting → from
the main menu. It appears between the main toolbar and the packet list,
similar to the ”Find Packet” toolbar.

When you enter a packet number and press Go to packet
Wireshark will jump to that packet.

6.9.4. The “Go to Corresponding Packet” Command

If a protocol field is selected which points to another packet in the capture
file, this command will jump to that packet.

As these protocol fields now work like links (just as in your Web browser), it’s
easier to simply double-click on the field to jump to the corresponding field.

6.9.5. The “Go to First Packet” Command

This command will jump to the first packet displayed.

6.9.6. The “Go to Last Packet” Command

This command will jump to the last packet displayed.

6.10. Marking Packets

You can mark packets in the “Packet List” pane. A marked packet will be shown
with black background, regardless of the coloring rules set. Marking a packet
can be useful to find it later while analyzing in a large capture file.

Marked packet information is not stored in the capture file or anywhere
else. It will be lost when the capture file is closed.

You can use packet marking to control the output of packets when saving,
exporting, or printing. To do so, an option in the packet range is available,
see Section 5.9, “The “Packet Range” Frame”.

There are several ways to mark and unmark packets. From the menu
you can select from the following:

  • toggles the marked state of a single packet.
    This option is also available in the packet list context menu.
  • set the mark state of all displayed packets.
  • reset the mark state of all packets.

You can also mark and unmark a packet by clicking on it in the packet list
with the middle mouse button.

6.11. Ignoring Packets

You can ignore packets in the “Packet List” pane. Wireshark will then
pretend that they not exist in the capture file. An ignored packet will
be shown with white background and grey foreground, regardless of the
coloring rules set.

Ignored packet information is not stored in the capture file or anywhere
else. It will be lost when the capture file is closed.

There are several ways to ignore and unignore packets. From the
menu you can select from the following:

  • toggles the ignored state of a single
    packet. This option is also available in the packet list context menu.
  • set the ignored state of all displayed packets.
  • reset the ignored state of all packets.

6.12. Time Display Formats And Time References

While packets are captured, each packet is timestamped. These timestamps will be
saved to the capture file, so they will be available for later analysis.

A detailed description of timestamps, timezones and alike can be found at:
Section 7.6, “Time Stamps”.

The timestamp presentation format and the precision in the packet list can be
chosen using the View menu, see Figure 3.5, “The “View” Menu”.

The available presentation formats are:

  • The absolute date and time
    of the day when the packet was captured.
  • The absolute time of the day when the packet
    was captured.
  • The time relative to the
    start of the capture file or the first “Time Reference” before this packet
    (see Section 6.12.1, “Packet Time Referencing”).
  • The time relative to the
    previous captured packet.
  • The time relative to the
    previous displayed packet.
  • The time relative to
    epoch (midnight UTC of January 1, 1970).

The available precisions (aka. the number of displayed decimal places) are:

  • The timestamp precision of the loaded capture file format will be
    used (the default).
  • , , ,
    , or The
    timestamp precision will be forced to the given setting. If the
    actually available precision is smaller, zeros will be appended. If
    the precision is larger, the remaining decimal places will be cut off.

Precision example: If you have a timestamp and it’s displayed using, “Seconds
Since Previous Packet” the value might be 1.123456. This will be displayed
using the “Automatic” setting for libpcap files (which is microseconds). If
you use Seconds it would show simply 1 and if you use Nanoseconds it shows
1.123456000.

6.12.1. Packet Time Referencing

The user can set time references to packets. A time reference is the starting
point for all subsequent packet time calculations. It will be useful, if you
want to see the time values relative to a special packet, e.g., the start of a
new request. It’s possible to set multiple time references in the capture file.

The time references will not be saved permanently and will be lost when you
close the capture file.

Time referencing will only be useful if the time display format is set to
“Seconds Since First Captured Packet”. If one of the other time display formats
are used, time referencing will have no effect (and will make no sense either).

To work with time references, choose one of the items in
the menu:[Edit] menu or from the pop-up menu of the “Packet List” pane. See
Section 3.6, “The “Edit” Menu”.

  • Toggles the time reference state of the
    currently selected packet to on or off.
  • Find the next time referenced packet in the “Packet List” pane.
  • Find the previous time referenced packet in the “Packet
    List” pane.

Figure 6.14. Wireshark showing a time referenced packet

A time referenced packet will be marked with the string *REF* in the Time
column (see packet number 10). All subsequent packets will show the time since
the last time reference.

Chapter 7. Advanced Topics

7.1. Introduction

This chapter will describe some of Wireshark’s advanced features.

7.2. Following Protocol Streams

It can be very helpful to see a protocol in the way that the application
layer sees it. Perhaps you are looking for passwords in a Telnet stream,
or you are trying to make sense of a data stream. Maybe you just need a
display filter to show only the packets in a TLS or SSL stream. If so,
Wireshark’s ability to follow protocol streams will be useful to you.

To filter to a particular stream,
select a TCP, UDP, DCCP, TLS, HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC or SIP packet in the packet list of the stream/connection you are
interested in and then select the menu item → →
(or use the context menu in the packet list). Wireshark will set an
appropriate display filter and display a dialog box with the data from the
stream laid out, as shown in Figure 7.1, “The “Follow TCP Stream” dialog box”.

[Tip] Tip

Following a protocol stream applies a display filter which selects all
the packets in the current stream. Some people open the “Follow TCP
Stream” dialog and immediately close it as a quick way to isolate a
particular stream. Closing the dialog with the “Back” button will reset
the display filter if this behavior is not desired.

Figure 7.1. The “Follow TCP Stream” dialog box

The stream content is displayed in the same sequence as it appeared on the
network. Non-printable characters are replaced by dots.
Traffic from the client to the server is colored red, while traffic
from the server to the client is
colored blue. These colors can be changed by opening → and
under → , selecting different colors for the
Sample «Follow Stream» client text and Sample «Follow Stream» server text
options.

The stream content won’t be updated while doing a live capture. To get the
latest content you’ll have to reopen the dialog.

You can choose from the following actions:

Help
Show this help.
Filter out this stream
Apply a display filter removing the current
stream data from the display.
Print
Print the stream data in the currently selected format.
Save as…​
Save the stream data in the currently selected format.
Back
Close this dialog box and restore the previous display filter.
Close
Close this dialog box, leaving the current display filter in
effect.

By default, Wireshark displays both client and server data. You can select the
to switch between both, client to server, or
server to client data.

You can choose to view the data in one of the following formats:

In this view you see the data from each direction in ASCII.
Obviously best for ASCII based protocols, e.g., HTTP.
This allows you to import the stream data into your own C
program.
For the big-iron freaks out there.
This allows you to see all the data. This will require a lot of
screen space and is best used with binary protocols.
Like ASCII, but decode the data as UTF-8.
Like ASCII, but decode the data as UTF-16.
This allows you to load the stream as YAML.

The YAML output is divided into 2 main sections:

  • The peers section where for each peer you found the peer index, the host address and the port number.
  • The packets section where for each packet you found the packet number in the original capture, the peer index,
    the packet index for this peer, the timestamp in seconds and the data in base64 encoding.

Example 7.1. Follow Stream YAML output

peers:
  - peer: 0
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 54048
  - peer: 1
    host: 127.0.10.1
    port: 5000
packets:
  - packet: 1
    peer: 0
    index: 0
    timestamp: 1599485409.693955274
    data: !!binary |
      aGVsbG8K
  - packet: 3
    peer: 1
    index: 0
    timestamp: 1599485423.885866692
    data: !!binary |
      Ym9uam91cgo=

The same example but in old YAML format (before version 3.5):

# Packet 1
peer0_0: !!binary |
  aGVsbG8K
# Packet 3
peer1_0: !!binary |
  Ym9uam91cgo=

How the old format data can be found in the new format:

New YAML format Old YAML format  
...
packets:
  - packet: AAA
    peer: BBB
    index: CCC
    data: !!binary |
      DDD
# Packet AAA
peerBBB_CCC !!binary |
  DDD
AAA: packet number in the original capture
BBB: peer index
CCC: packet index for this peer
DDD: data in base64 encoding
This allows you to load the unaltered stream data into a different
program for further examination. The display will look the same as the ASCII
setting, but “Save As” will result in a binary file.

You can switch between streams using the “Stream” selector.

You can search for text by entering it in the “Find” entry box and
pressing Find Next.

Figure 7.2. The “Follow HTTP/2 Stream” dialog box

The HTTP/2 Stream dialog is similar to the «Follow TCP Stream» dialog, except
for an additional «Substream» dialog field. HTTP/2 Streams are identified by
a HTTP/2 Stream Index (field name http2.streamid) which are unique within a
TCP connection. The “Stream” selector determines the TCP connection whereas the
“Substream” selector is used to pick the HTTP/2 Stream ID.

The QUIC protocol is similar, the first number selects the QUIC connection number
while the «Substream» field selects the QUIC Stream ID.

Figure 7.3. The “Follow SIP Call” dialog box

The SIP call is shown with same dialog, just filter is based on sip.Call-ID
field. Count of streams is fixed to 0 and the field is disabled.

7.3. Show Packet Bytes

If a selected packet field does not show all the bytes (i.e., they are truncated
when displayed) or if they are shown as bytes rather than string or if they require
more formatting because they contain an image or HTML then this dialog can be used.

This dialog can also be used to decode field bytes from base64, zlib compressed
or quoted-printable and show the decoded bytes as configurable output.
It’s also possible to select a subset of bytes setting the start byte and end byte.

You can choose from the following actions:

Help
Show this help.
Print
Print the bytes in the currently selected format.
Copy
Copy the bytes to the clipboard in the currently selected format.
Save As
Save the bytes in the currently selected format.
Close
Close this dialog box.

You can choose to decode the data from one of the following formats:

This is the default which does not decode anything.
This will decode from Base64.
This will decompress the buffer using zlib.
This will decode from a string of hex digits. Non-hex characters are skipped.
This will decode from a Quoted-Printable string.
This will decode ROT-13 encoded text.

You can choose to view the data in one of the following formats:

In this view you see the bytes as ASCII.
All control characters and non-ASCII bytes are replaced by dot.
In this view all control characters are shown using a
UTF-8 symbol and all non-ASCII bytes are replaced by dot.
This allows you to import the field data into your own C program.
For the big-iron freaks out there.
This allows you to see all the data. This will require a lot of
screen space and is best used with binary protocols.
This allows you to see all the data formatted as a HTML document.
The HTML supported is what’s supported by the Qt QTextEdit class.
This will try to convert the bytes into an image.
Most popular formats are supported including PNG, JPEG, GIF, and BMP.
In this view you see the bytes as ISO 8859-1.
This allows you to load the unaltered stream data into a different
program for further examination. The display will show HEX data, but
“Save As” will result in a binary file.
In this view you see the bytes as UTF-8.
In this view you see the bytes as UTF-16.
This will show the bytes as a YAML binary dump.

You can search for text by entering it in the “Find” entry box and
pressing Find Next.

7.4. Expert Information

Wireshark keeps track of any anomalies and other items of interest it finds in a capture file and shows them in the Expert Information dialog.
The goal is to give you a better idea of uncommon or notable network behavior and to let novice and expert users find network problems faster than manually scanning through the packet list.

[Warning] Expert information is only a hint

Expert information is the starting point for investigation, not the stopping point.
Every network is different, and it’s up to you to verify that Wireshark’s expert information applies to your particular situation.
The presence of expert information doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem and absence of expert information doesn’t necessarily mean everything is OK.

The amount of expert information largely depends on the protocol being used.
While dissectors for some common protocols like TCP and IP will show detailed information, other dissectors will show little or none.

The following describes the components of a single expert information entry along with the expert user interface.

7.4.1. Expert Information Entries

Expert information entries are grouped by severity level (described below) and contain the following:

Table 7.1. Example expert information items

Packet # Summary Group Protocol

592

TCP: [TCP Out-Of-Order] …​

Malformed

TCP

1202

DNS: Standard query response …​

Protocol

DNS

443

TCP: 80 → 59322 [RST] Seq=12761 Win=0 Len=0

Sequence

TCP

7.4.1.1. Severity

Every expert information item has a severity level.
The following levels are used, from lowest to highest.
Wireshark marks them using different colors, which are shown in parentheses:

Chat (blue)
Information about usual workflow, e.g., a TCP packet with the SYN flag set.
Note (cyan)
Notable events, e.g., an application returned a common error code such as HTTP 404.
Warn (yellow)
Warnings, e.g., application returned an unusual error code like a connection problem.
Error (red)
Serious problems, such as malformed packets.

7.4.1.2. Summary

Short explanatory text for each expert information item.

7.4.1.3. Group

Along with severity levels, expert information items are categorized by group.
The following groups are currently implemented:

Assumption
The protocol field has incomplete data and was dissected based on assumed value.
Checksum
A checksum was invalid.
Comment
Packet comment.
Debug
Debugging information.
You shouldn’t see this group in release versions of Wireshark.
Decryption
A decryption issue.
Deprecated
The protocol field has been deprecated.
Malformed
Malformed packet or dissector has a bug.
Dissection of this packet aborted.
Protocol
Violation of a protocol’s specification (e.g., invalid field values or illegal lengths).
Dissection of this packet probably continued.
Reassemble
Problems while reassembling, e.g., not all fragments were available or an exception happened during reassembly.
Request Code
An application request (e.g., File Handle == x). Usually assigned the Chat severity level.
Response Code
An application response code indicates a potential problem, e.g., HTTP 404 page not found.
Security
A security problem, e.g., an insecure implementation.
Sequence
A protocol sequence number was suspicious, e.g., it wasn’t continuous or a retransmission was detected.
Undecoded
Dissection incomplete or data can’t be decoded for other reasons.

It’s possible that more groups will be added in the future.

7.4.1.4. Protocol

The protocol dissector that created the expert information item.

7.4.2. The “Expert Information” Dialog

You can open the expert info dialog by selecting → or by clicking the expert level indicator in the main status bar.

Right-clicking on an item will allow you to apply or prepare a filter based on the item, copy its summary text, and other tasks.

Figure 7.4. The “Expert Information” dialog box

You can choose from the following actions:

Limit to display filter
Only show expert information items present in packets that match the current display filter.
Group by summary
Group items by their summary instead of the groups described above.
Search
Only show items that match the search string, such as “dns”.
Regular expressions are supported.
Lets you show or hide each severity level.
For example, you can deselect Chat and Note severities if desired.
Help
Takes you to this section of the User’s Guide.
Close
Closes the dialog

7.4.3. “Colorized” Protocol Details Tree

Figure 7.5. The “Colorized” protocol details tree

The packet detail tree marks fields with expert information based on their severity level color, e.g., “Warning” severities have a yellow background.
This color is propagated to the top-level protocol item in the tree in order to make it easy to find the field that created the expert information.

For the example screenshot above, the IP “Time to live” value is very low (only 1), so the corresponding protocol field is marked with a cyan background.
To make it easier find that item in the packet tree, the IP protocol toplevel item is marked cyan as well.

7.4.4. “Expert” Packet List Column (Optional)

Figure 7.6. The “Expert” packet list column

An optional “Expert Info Severity” packet list column is available that
displays the most significant severity of a packet or stays empty if everything
seems OK. This column is not displayed by default but can be easily added using
the Preferences Columns page described in Section 11.5, “Preferences”.

7.5. TCP Analysis

By default, Wireshark’s TCP dissector tracks the state of each TCP
session and provides additional information when problems or potential
problems are detected. Analysis is done once for each TCP packet when a
capture file is first opened. Packets are processed in the order in
which they appear in the packet list. You can enable or disable this
feature via the “Analyze TCP sequence numbers” TCP dissector preference.

For analysis of data or protocols layered on top of TCP (such as HTTP), see
Section 7.8.3, “TCP Reassembly”.

Figure 7.7. “TCP Analysis” packet detail items

TCP Analysis flags are added to the TCP protocol tree under “SEQ/ACK
analysis”. Each flag is described below. Terms such as “next expected
sequence number” and “next expected acknowledgment number” refer to
the following”:

Next expected sequence number
The last-seen sequence number plus
segment length. Set when there are no analysis flags and for zero
window probes. This is initially zero and calculated based on the
previous packet in the same TCP flow. Note that this may not be the same
as the tcp.nxtseq protocol field.
Next expected acknowledgment number
The last-seen sequence number for
segments. Set when there are no analysis flags and for zero window probes.
Last-seen acknowledgment number
Always set. Note that this is not the
same as the next expected acknowledgment number.
Last-seen acknowledgment number
Always updated for each packet. Note
that this is not the same as the next expected acknowledgment number.

TCP ACKed unseen segment

Set when the expected next acknowledgment number is set for the reverse
direction and it’s less than the current acknowledgment number.

TCP Dup ACK <frame>#<acknowledgment number>

Set when all of the following are true:

  • The segment size is zero.
  • The window size is non-zero and hasn’t changed.
  • The next expected sequence number and last-seen acknowledgment number are non-zero (i.e., the connection has been established).
  • SYN, FIN, and RST are not set.

TCP Fast Retransmission

Set when all of the following are true:

  • This is not a keepalive packet.
  • In the forward direction, the segment size is greater than zero or the SYN or FIN is set.
  • The next expected sequence number is greater than the current sequence number.
  • We have more than two duplicate ACKs in the reverse direction.
  • The current sequence number equals the next expected acknowledgment number.
  • We saw the last acknowledgment less than 20ms ago.

Supersedes “Out-Of-Order” and “Retransmission”.

TCP Keep-Alive

Set when the segment size is zero or one, the current sequence number
is one byte less than the next expected sequence number, and none of SYN,
FIN, or RST are set.

Supersedes “Fast Retransmission”, “Out-Of-Order”, “Spurious
Retransmission”, and “Retransmission”.

TCP Keep-Alive ACK

Set when all of the following are true:

  • The segment size is zero.
  • The window size is non-zero and hasn’t changed.
  • The current sequence number is the same as the next expected sequence number.
  • The current acknowledgment number is the same as the last-seen acknowledgment number.
  • The most recently seen packet in the reverse direction was a keepalive.
  • The packet is not a SYN, FIN, or RST.

Supersedes “Dup ACK” and “ZeroWindowProbeAck”.

TCP Out-Of-Order

Set when all of the following are true:

  • This is not a keepalive packet.
  • In the forward direction, the segment length is greater than zero or the SYN or FIN is set.
  • The next expected sequence number is greater than the current sequence number.
  • The next expected sequence number and the next sequence number differ.
  • The last segment arrived within the Out-Of-Order RTT threshold.
    The threshold is either the value shown in the “iRTT” (tcp.analysis.initial_rtt) field under “SEQ/ACK analysis” if it is present, or the default value of 3ms if it is not.

Supersedes “Retransmission”.

TCP Port numbers reused

Set when the SYN flag is set (not SYN+ACK), we have an existing conversation using the same addresses and ports, and the sequence number is different than the existing conversation’s initial sequence number.

TCP Previous segment not captured

Set when the current sequence number is greater than the next expected sequence number.

TCP Spurious Retransmission

Checks for a retransmission based on analysis data in the reverse
direction. Set when all of the following are true:

  • The SYN or FIN flag is set.
  • This is not a keepalive packet.
  • The segment length is greater than zero.
  • Data for this flow has been acknowledged. That is, the last-seen acknowledgment number has been set.
  • The next sequence number is less than or equal to the last-seen acknowledgment number.

Supersedes “Fast Retransmission”, “Out-Of-Order”, and “Retransmission”.

TCP Retransmission

Set when all of the following are true:

  • This is not a keepalive packet.
  • In the forward direction, the segment length is greater than zero or the SYN or FIN flag is set.
  • The next expected sequence number is greater than the current sequence number.

TCP Window Full

Set when the segment size is non-zero, we know the window size in the
reverse direction, and our segment size exceeds the window size in the
reverse direction.

TCP Window Update

Set when the all of the following are true:

  • The segment size is zero.
  • The window size is non-zero and not equal to the last-seen window size.
  • The sequence number is equal to the next expected sequence number.
  • The acknowledgment number is equal to the last-seen acknowledgment number.
  • None of SYN, FIN, or RST are set.

TCP ZeroWindow

Set when the receive window size is zero and none of SYN, FIN, or RST are set.

The window field in each TCP header advertises the amount of data a receiver can accept.
If the receiver can’t accept any more data it will set the window value to zero, which tells the sender to pause its transmission.
In some specific cases this is normal — for example, a printer might use a zero window to pause the transmission of a print job while it loads or reverses a sheet of paper.
However, in most cases this indicates a performance or capacity problem on the receiving end.
It might take a long time (sometimes several minutes) to resume a paused connection, even if the underlying condition that caused the zero window clears up quickly.

TCP ZeroWindowProbe

Set when the sequence number is equal to the next expected sequence
number, the segment size is one, and last-seen window size in the
reverse direction was zero.

If the single data byte from a Zero Window Probe is dropped by the receiver (not
ACKed), then a subsequent segment should not be flagged as retransmission if all
of the following conditions are true for that segment:
* The segment size is larger than one.
* The next expected sequence number is one less than the current sequence number.

This affects “Fast Retransmission”, “Out-Of-Order”, or “Retransmission”.

TCP ZeroWindowProbeAck

Set when the all of the following are true:

  • The segment size is zero.
  • The window size is zero.
  • The sequence number is equal to the next expected sequence number.
  • The acknowledgment number is equal to the last-seen acknowledgment number.
  • The last-seen packet in the reverse direction was a zero window probe.

Supersedes “TCP Dup ACK”.

TCP Ambiguous Interpretations

Some captures are quite difficult to analyze automatically, particularly when the
time frame may cover both Fast Retransmission and Out-Of-Order packets. A TCP
preference allows to switch the precedence of these two interpretations at the
protocol level.

TCP Conversation Completeness

TCP conversations are said to be complete when they have both opening and closing
handshakes, independently of any data transfer. However, we might be interested in
identifying complete conversations with some data sent, and we are using the
following bit values to build a filter value on the tcp.completeness field :

  • 1 : SYN
  • 2 : SYN-ACK
  • 4 : ACK
  • 8 : DATA
  • 16 : FIN
  • 32 : RST

For example, a conversation containing only a three-way handshake will be found
with the filter ‘tcp.completeness==7’ (1+2+4) while a complete conversation with
data transfer will be found with a longer filter as closing a connection can be
associated with FIN or RST packets, or even both :
‘tcp.completeness==31 or tcp.completeness==47 or tcp.completeness==63’

7.6. Time Stamps

Time stamps, their precisions and all that can be quite confusing. This section
will provide you with information about what’s going on while Wireshark
processes time stamps.

While packets are captured, each packet is time stamped as it comes in. These
time stamps will be saved to the capture file, so they also will be available
for (later) analysis.

So where do these time stamps come from? While capturing, Wireshark gets the
time stamps from the libpcap (Npcap) library, which in turn gets them from the
operating system kernel. If the capture data is loaded from a capture file,
Wireshark obviously gets the data from that file.

7.6.1. Wireshark Internals

The internal format that Wireshark uses to keep a packet time stamp consists of
the date (in days since 1.1.1970) and the time of day (in nanoseconds since
midnight). You can adjust the way Wireshark displays the time stamp data in the
packet list, see the “Time Display Format” item in the
Section 3.7, “The “View” Menu” for details.

While reading or writing capture files, Wireshark converts the time stamp data
between the capture file format and the internal format as required.

While capturing, Wireshark uses the libpcap (Npcap) capture library which
supports microsecond resolution. Unless you are working with specialized
capturing hardware, this resolution should be adequate.

7.6.2. Capture File Formats

Every capture file format that Wireshark knows supports time stamps. The time
stamp precision supported by a specific capture file format differs widely and
varies from one second “0” to one nanosecond “0.123456789”. Most file
formats store the time stamps with a fixed precision (e.g., microseconds), while
some file formats are even capable of storing the time stamp precision itself
(whatever the benefit may be).

The common libpcap capture file format that is used by Wireshark (and a lot of
other tools) supports a fixed microsecond resolution “0.123456” only.

Writing data into a capture file format that doesn’t provide the capability to
store the actual precision will lead to loss of information. For example, if you
load a capture file with nanosecond resolution and store the capture data in a
libpcap file (with microsecond resolution) Wireshark obviously must reduce the
precision from nanosecond to microsecond.

7.6.3. Accuracy

People often ask “Which time stamp accuracy is provided by Wireshark?”. Well,
Wireshark doesn’t create any time stamps itself but simply gets them from
“somewhere else” and displays them. So accuracy will depend on the capture
system (operating system, performance, etc.) that you use. Because of this, the
above question is difficult to answer in a general way.

[Note] Note

USB connected network adapters often provide a very bad time stamp accuracy. The
incoming packets have to take “a long and winding road” to travel through the
USB cable until they actually reach the kernel. As the incoming packets are time
stamped when they are processed by the kernel, this time stamping mechanism
becomes very inaccurate.

Don’t use USB connected NICs when you need precise time stamp
accuracy.

7.7. Time Zones

If you travel across the planet, time zones can be confusing. If you get a
capture file from somewhere around the world time zones can even be a lot more
confusing ;-)

First of all, there are two reasons why you may not need to think about time
zones at all:

  • You are only interested in the time differences between the packet time stamps
    and don’t need to know the exact date and time of the captured packets (which
    is often the case).
  • You don’t get capture files from different time zones than your own, so there
    are simply no time zone problems. For example, everyone in your team is
    working in the same time zone as yourself.

Further time zone and DST information can be found at
https://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/ and https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/.

Set your computer’s time correctly!

If you work with people around the world it’s very helpful to set your
computer’s time and time zone right.

You should set your computers time and time zone in the correct sequence:

  1. Set your time zone to your current location
  2. Set your computer’s clock to the local time

This way you will tell your computer both the local time and also the time
offset to UTC. Many organizations simply set the time zone on their servers and
networking gear to UTC in order to make coordination and troubleshooting easier.

[Tip] Tip

If you travel around the world, it’s an often-made mistake to adjust the hours
of your computer clock to the local time. Don’t adjust the hours but your time
zone setting instead! For your computer, the time is essentially the same as
before, you are simply in a different time zone with a different local time.

You can use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to automatically adjust your
computer to the correct time, by synchronizing it to Internet NTP clock servers.
NTP clients are available for all operating systems that Wireshark supports (and
for a lot more), for examples see http://www.ntp.org/.

7.7.1. Wireshark and Time Zones

So what’s the relationship between Wireshark and time zones anyway?

Wireshark’s native capture file format (libpcap format), and some
other capture file formats, such as the Windows Sniffer, *Peek, Sun
snoop formats, and newer versions of the Microsoft Network Monitor and
Network Instruments/Viavi Observer formats, save the arrival time of
packets as UTC values. UN*X systems, and “Windows NT based” systems
represent time internally as UTC. When Wireshark is capturing, no
conversion is necessary. However, if the system time zone is not set
correctly, the system’s UTC time might not be correctly set even if
the system clock appears to display correct local time. When capturing,
Npcap has to convert the time to UTC before supplying it to Wireshark.
If the system’s time zone is not set correctly, that conversion will
not be done correctly.

Other capture file formats, such as the OOS-based Sniffer format and
older versions of the Microsoft Network Monitor and Network
Instruments/Viavi Observer formats, save the arrival time of packets as
local time values.

Internally to Wireshark, time stamps are represented in UTC. This means that
when reading capture files that save the arrival time of packets as local time
values, Wireshark must convert those local time values to UTC values.

Wireshark in turn will display the time stamps always in local time. The
displaying computer will convert them from UTC to local time and displays this
(local) time. For capture files saving the arrival time of packets as UTC
values, this means that the arrival time will be displayed as the local time in
your time zone, which might not be the same as the arrival time in the time zone
in which the packet was captured. For capture files saving the arrival time of
packets as local time values, the conversion to UTC will be done using your time
zone’s offset from UTC and DST rules, which means the conversion will not be
done correctly; the conversion back to local time for display might undo this
correctly, in which case the arrival time will be displayed as the arrival time
in which the packet was captured.

Table 7.2. Time zone examples for UTC arrival times (without DST)

  Los Angeles New York Madrid London Berlin Tokyo

Capture File (UTC)

10:00

10:00

10:00

10:00

10:00

10:00

Local Offset to UTC

-8

-5

-1

0

+1

+9

Displayed Time (Local Time)

02:00

05:00

09:00

10:00

11:00

19:00

For example, let’s assume that someone in Los Angeles captured a packet with
Wireshark at exactly 2 o’clock local time and sends you this capture file. The
capture file’s time stamp will be represented in UTC as 10 o’clock. You are
located in Berlin and will see 11 o’clock on your Wireshark display.

Now you have a phone call, video conference or Internet meeting with that one to
talk about that capture file. As you are both looking at the displayed time on
your local computers, the one in Los Angeles still sees 2 o’clock but you in
Berlin will see 11 o’clock. The time displays are different as both Wireshark
displays will show the (different) local times at the same point in time.

Conclusion: You may not bother about the date/time of the time stamp you
currently look at unless you must make sure that the date/time is as expected.
So, if you get a capture file from a different time zone and/or DST, you’ll have
to find out the time zone/DST difference between the two local times and
“mentally adjust” the time stamps accordingly. In any case, make sure that
every computer in question has the correct time and time zone setting.

7.8. Packet Reassembly

7.8.1. What Is It?

Network protocols often need to transport large chunks of data which are
complete in themselves, e.g., when transferring a file. The underlying protocol
might not be able to handle that chunk size (e.g., limitation of the network
packet size), or is stream-based like TCP, which doesn’t know data chunks at
all.

In that case the network protocol has to handle the chunk boundaries itself and
(if required) spread the data over multiple packets. It obviously also needs a
mechanism to determine the chunk boundaries on the receiving side.

Wireshark calls this mechanism reassembly, although a specific protocol
specification might use a different term for this (e.g., desegmentation,
defragmentation, etc.).

7.8.2. How Wireshark Handles It

For some of the network protocols Wireshark knows of, a mechanism is implemented
to find, decode and display these chunks of data. Wireshark will try to find the
corresponding packets of this chunk, and will show the combined data as
additional tabs in the “Packet Bytes” pane (for information about this pane.
See Section 3.20, “The “Packet Bytes” Pane”).

Figure 7.8. The “Packet Bytes” pane with a reassembled tab

Reassembly might take place at several protocol layers, so it’s possible that
multiple tabs in the “Packet Bytes” pane appear.

[Note] Note

You will find the reassembled data in the last packet of the chunk.

For example, in a HTTP GET response, the requested data (e.g., an HTML page) is
returned. Wireshark will show the hex dump of the data in a new tab
“Uncompressed entity body” in the “Packet Bytes” pane.

Reassembly is enabled in the preferences by default but can be disabled in the
preferences for the protocol in question. Enabling or disabling reassembly
settings for a protocol typically requires two things:

  1. The lower-level protocol (e.g., TCP) must support reassembly. Often this
    reassembly can be enabled or disabled via the protocol preferences.
  2. The higher-level protocol (e.g., HTTP) must use the reassembly mechanism to
    reassemble fragmented protocol data. This too can often be enabled or disabled
    via the protocol preferences.

The tooltip of the higher-level protocol setting will notify you if and which
lower-level protocol setting also has to be considered.

7.8.3. TCP Reassembly

Protocols such as HTTP or TLS are likely to span multiple TCP segments. The
TCP protocol preference “Allow subdissector to reassemble TCP streams” (enabled
by default) makes it possible for Wireshark to collect a contiguous sequence of
TCP segments and hand them over to the higher-level protocol (for example, to
reconstruct a full HTTP message). All but the final segment will be marked with
“[TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]” in the packet list.

Disable this preference to reduce memory and processing overhead if you are only
interested in TCP sequence number analysis (Section 7.5, “TCP Analysis”). Keep in mind,
though, that higher-level protocols might be wrongly dissected. For example,
HTTP messages could be shown as “Continuation” and TLS records could be shown as
“Ignored Unknown Record”. Such results can also be observed if you start
capturing while a TCP connection was already started or when TCP segments
are lost or delivered out-of-order.

To reassemble of out-of-order TCP segments, the TCP protocol preference
“Reassemble out-of-order segments” (currently disabled by default) must be
enabled in addition to the previous preference.
If all packets are received in-order, this preference will not have any effect.
Otherwise (if missing segments are encountered while sequentially processing a
packet capture), it is assuming that the new and missing segments belong to the
same PDU. Caveats:

  • Lost packets are assumed to be received out-of-order or retransmitted later.
    Applications usually retransmit segments until these are acknowledged, but if
    the packet capture drops packets, then Wireshark will not be able to
    reconstruct the TCP stream. In such cases, you can try to disable this
    preference and hopefully have a partial dissection instead of seeing just
    “[TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]” for every TCP segment.
  • When doing a capture in monitor mode (IEEE 802.11), packets are more likely to
    get lost due to signal reception issues. In that case it is recommended to
    disable the option.
  • If the new and missing segments are in fact part of different PDUs,
    then processing is currently delayed until no more segments are missing, even
    if the begin of the missing segments completed a PDU. For example, assume six
    segments forming two PDUs ABC and DEF. When received as ABECDF, an
    application can start processing the first PDU after receiving ABEC.
    Wireshark however requires the missing segment D to be received as well.
    This issue will be addressed in the future.
  • In the GUI and during a two-pass dissection (tshark -2), the previous
    scenario will display both PDUs in the packet with last segment (F) rather
    than displaying it in the first packet that has the final missing segment of a
    PDU. This issue will be addressed in the future.
  • When enabled, fields such as the SMB “Time from request” (smb.time) might be
    smaller if the request follows other out-of-order segments (this reflects
    application behavior). If the previous scenario however occurs, then the time
    of the request is based on the frame where all missing segments are received.

Regardless of the setting of these two reassembly-related preferences, you can
always use the “Follow TCP Stream” option (Section 7.2, “Following Protocol Streams”) which
displays segments in the expected order.

7.9. Name Resolution

Name resolution tries to convert some of the numerical address values into a
human readable format. There are two possible ways to do these conversions,
depending on the resolution to be done: calling system/network services (like
the gethostname() function) and/or resolving from Wireshark specific
configuration files. For details about the configuration files Wireshark uses
for name resolution and alike, see Appendix B, Files and Folders.

The name resolution feature can be enabled individually for the protocol layers
listed in the following sections.

7.9.1. Name Resolution Drawbacks

Name resolution can be invaluable while working with Wireshark and may even save
you hours of work. Unfortunately, it also has its drawbacks.

  • Name resolution can often fail. The name to be resolved might simply be
    unknown by the name servers asked, or the servers are just not available and
    the name is also not found in Wireshark’s configuration files.
  • Resolved names might not be available.
    Wireshark obtains name resolution information from a variety of sources, including DNS servers, the capture file itself (e.g., for a pcapng file), and the hosts files on your system and in your profile directory.
    The resolved names might not be available if you open the capture file later or on a different machine. As a result, each time you or someone else opens a particular capture file it may look slightly different due to changing environments.
  • DNS may add additional packets to your capture file.
    You might run into the observer effect if the extra traffic from Wireshark’s DNS queries and responses affects the problem you’re trying to troubleshoot or any subsequent analysis.

    The same sort of thing can happen when capturing over a remote connection, e.g., SSH or RDP.

  • Resolved DNS names are cached by Wireshark. This is required for acceptable
    performance. However, if the name resolution information should change while
    Wireshark is running, Wireshark won’t notice a change in the name resolution
    information once it gets cached. If this information changes while Wireshark
    is running, e.g., a new DHCP lease takes effect, Wireshark won’t notice it.

Name resolution in the packet list is done while the list is filled. If a name
can be resolved after a packet is added to the list, its former entry won’t be
changed. As the name resolution results are cached, you can use
→ to rebuild the packet list with the correctly resolved names.
However, this isn’t possible while a capture is in progress.

7.9.2. Ethernet Name Resolution (MAC Layer)

Try to resolve an Ethernet MAC address (e.g., 00:09:5b:01:02:03) to a human readable name.

ARP name resolution (system service): Wireshark will ask the operating
system to convert an Ethernet address to the corresponding IP address (e.g.
00:09:5b:01:02:03 → 192.168.0.1).

Ethernet codes (ethers file): If the ARP name resolution failed, Wireshark
tries to convert the Ethernet address to a known device name, which has been
assigned by the user using an ethers file (e.g., 00:09:5b:01:02:03 →
homerouter).

Ethernet manufacturer codes (manuf file): If neither ARP or ethers returns a
result, Wireshark tries to convert the first 3 bytes of an ethernet address to
an abbreviated manufacturer name, which has been assigned by the IEEE (e.g.
00:09:5b:01:02:03 → Netgear_01:02:03).

7.9.3. IP Name Resolution (Network Layer)

Try to resolve an IP address (e.g., 216.239.37.99) to a human readable name.

DNS name resolution (system/library service): Wireshark will use a name
resolver to convert an IP address to the hostname associated with it
(e.g., 216.239.37.99 → www.1.google.com).

Most applications use synchronously DNS name resolution.
For example, your web browser must resolve the host name portion of a URL before it can connect to the server.
Capture file analysis is different.
A given file might have hundreds, thousands, or millions of IP addresses so for usability and performance reasons Wireshark uses asynchronous resolution.
Both mechanisms convert IP addresses to human readable (domain) names and typically use different sources such as the system hosts file (/etc/hosts) and any configured DNS servers.

Since Wireshark doesn’t wait for DNS responses, the host name for a given address might be missing from a given packet when you view it the first time but be present when you view it subsequent times.

You can adjust name resolution behavior in the Name Resolution section in the Preferences Dialog.
You can control resolution itself by adding a hosts file to your personal configuration directory.
You can also edit your system hosts file, but that isn’t generally recommended.

7.9.4. TCP/UDP Port Name Resolution (Transport Layer)

Try to resolve a TCP/UDP port (e.g., 80) to a human readable name.

TCP/UDP port conversion (system service): Wireshark will ask the operating
system to convert a TCP or UDP port to its well-known name (e.g., 80 → http).

7.9.5. VLAN ID Resolution

To get a descriptive name for a VLAN tag ID a vlans file can be used.

7.9.6. SS7 Point Code Resolution

To get a node name for a SS7 point code a ss7pcs file can be used.

7.10. Checksums

Several network protocols use checksums to ensure data integrity. Applying
checksums as described here is also known as redundancy checking.

7.10.1. Wireshark Checksum Validation

Wireshark will validate the checksums of many protocols, e.g., IP, TCP, UDP, etc.

It will do the same calculation as a “normal receiver” would do, and shows the
checksum fields in the packet details with a comment, e.g., [correct] or
[invalid, must be 0x12345678].

Checksum validation can be switched off for various protocols in the Wireshark
protocol preferences, e.g., to (very slightly) increase performance.

If the checksum validation is enabled and it detected an invalid checksum,
features like packet reassembly won’t be processed. This is avoided as
incorrect connection data could “confuse” the internal database.

7.10.2. Checksum Offloading

The checksum calculation might be done by the network driver, protocol driver or
even in hardware.

For example: The Ethernet transmitting hardware calculates the Ethernet CRC32
checksum and the receiving hardware validates this checksum. If the received
checksum is wrong Wireshark won’t even see the packet, as the Ethernet hardware
internally throws away the packet.

Higher-level checksums are “traditionally” calculated by the protocol
implementation and the completed packet is then handed over to the hardware.

Recent network hardware can perform advanced features such as IP checksum
calculation, also known as checksum offloading. The network driver won’t
calculate the checksum itself but will simply hand over an empty (zero or
garbage filled) checksum field to the hardware.

[Note] Note

Checksum offloading often causes confusion as the network packets to be
transmitted are handed over to Wireshark before the checksums are actually
calculated. Wireshark gets these “empty” checksums and displays them as
invalid, even though the packets will contain valid checksums when they leave
the network hardware later.

Checksum offloading can be confusing and having a lot of [invalid] messages on
the screen can be quite annoying. As mentioned above, invalid checksums may lead
to unreassembled packets, making the analysis of the packet data much harder.

You can do two things to avoid this checksum offloading problem:

  • Turn off the checksum offloading in the network driver, if this option is available.
  • Turn off checksum validation of the specific protocol in the Wireshark preferences.
    Recent releases of Wireshark disable checksum validation by default due to the
    prevalence of offloading in modern hardware and operating systems.

Chapter 8. Statistics

8.1. Introduction

Wireshark provides a wide range of network statistics which can be accessed via
the menu.

These statistics range from general information about the loaded capture file
(like the number of captured packets), to statistics about specific protocols
(e.g., statistics about the number of HTTP requests and responses captured).

General statistics

  • Capture File Properties about the capture file.
  • Protocol Hierarchy of the captured packets.
  • Conversations e.g., traffic between specific IP addresses.
  • Endpoints e.g., traffic to and from IP addresses.
  • I/O Graphs visualizing the number of packets (or similar) in time.

Protocol specific statistics

  • Service Response Time between request and response of some protocols.
  • Various other protocol specific statistics.
[Note] Note

The protocol specific statistics require detailed knowledge about the specific
protocol. Unless you are familiar with that protocol, statistics about it may
be difficult to understand.

Wireshark has many other statistics windows that display detailed
information about specific protocols and might be described in a later
version of this document.

Some of these statistics are described at
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Statistics.

8.2. The “Capture File Properties” Dialog

General information about the current capture file.

Figure 8.1. The “Capture File Properties” dialog

This dialog shows the following information:

Details

Notable information about the capture file.

File
General information about the capture file, including its full path, size, cryptographic hashes, file format, and encapsulation.
Time
The timestamps of the first and the last packet in the file along with their difference.
Capture
Information about the capture environment.
This will only be shown for live captures or if this information is present in a saved capture file.
The pcapng format supports this, while pcap doesn’t.
Interfaces
Information about the capture interface or interfaces.
Statistics
A statistical summary of the capture file.
If a display filter is set, you will see values in the Captured column, and if any packets are marked, you will see values in the Marked column.
The values in the Captured column will remain the same as before, while the values in the Displayed column will reflect the values corresponding to the packets shown in the display.
The values in the Marked column will reflect the values corresponding to the marked packages.
Capture file comments
Some capture file formats (notably pcapng) allow a text comment for the entire file.
You can view and edit this comment here.
Refresh
Updates the information in the dialog.
Save Comments
Saves the contents of the “Capture file comments” text entry.
Close
Closes the dialog
Copy To Clipboard
Copies the “Details” information to the clipboard.
Help
Opens this section of the User’s Guide.

8.3. Resolved Addresses

The Resolved Addresses window shows the list of resolved addresses and their host names. Users can choose the Hosts field to display IPv4 and IPv6 addresses only. In this case, the dialog displays host names for each IP address in a capture file with a known host. This host is typically taken from DNS answers in a capture file. In case of an unknown host name, users can populate it based on a reverse DNS lookup. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Enable Resolve Network Addresses in the → menu as this option is disabled by default.
  2. Select Use an external network name resolver in the → menu. This option is enabled by default.
[Note] Note

The resolved addresses are not updated automatically after a user changes the settings. To display newly available names, the user has to reopen the dialog.

The Ports tab shows the list of service names, ports and types.

Wireshark reads the entries for port mappings from the hosts service configuration files. See Section B.3, “Configuration Files” section for more information.

Figure 8.2. Resolved Addresses window

8.4. The “Protocol Hierarchy” Window

The protocol hierarchy of the captured packets.

Figure 8.3. The “Protocol Hierarchy” Window

This is a tree of all the protocols in the capture. Each row contains the
statistical values of one protocol. Two of the columns (Percent Packets and
Percent Bytes) serve double duty as bar graphs. If a display filter is set it
will be shown at the bottom.

The Copy button will let you copy the window contents as CSV or YAML.

Protocol hierarchy columns

Protocol
This protocol’s name.
Percent Packets
The percentage of protocol packets relative to all packets in the capture.
Packets
The total number of packets that contain this protocol.
Percent Bytes
The percentage of protocol bytes relative to the total bytes in the capture.
Bytes
The total number of bytes of this protocol.
Bits/s
The bandwidth of this protocol relative to the capture time.
End Packets
The absolute number of packets of this protocol where it was the highest protocol in the stack (last dissected).
End Bytes
The absolute number of bytes of this protocol where it was the highest protocol in the stack (last dissected).
End Bits/s
The bandwidth of this protocol relative to the capture time where was the highest protocol in the stack (last dissected).
PDUs
The total number of PDUs of this protocol.

Packets usually contain multiple protocols. As a result, more than one protocol
will be counted for each packet. Example: In the screenshot 100% of packets
are IP and 99.3% are TCP (which is together much more than 100%).

Protocol layers can consist of packets that won’t contain any higher layer
protocol, so the sum of all higher layer packets may not sum to the protocol’s
packet count. This can be caused by segments and fragments reassembled in other
frames, TCP protocol overhead, and other undissected data. Example: In the
screenshot 99.3% of the packets are TCP but the sum of the subprotocols
(TLS, HTTP, Git, etc.) is much less.

A single packet can contain the same protocol more than once. In this case, the
entry in the PDUs column will be greater than that of Packets. Example:
In the screenshot there are many more TLS and Git PDUs than there are packets.

8.5. Conversations

A network conversation is the traffic between two specific endpoints. For
example, an IP conversation is all the traffic between two IP addresses. The
description of the known endpoint types can be found in
Section 8.6, “Endpoints”.

8.5.1. The “Conversations” Window

The conversations window is similar to the endpoint Window. See
Section 8.6.1, “The “Endpoints” Window” for a description of their common features. Along with
addresses, packet counters, and byte counters the conversation window adds four
columns: the start time of the conversation (“Rel Start”) or (“Abs Start”),
the duration of the conversation in seconds, and the average bits (not bytes)
per second in each direction. A timeline graph is also drawn across the
“Rel Start” / “Abs Start” and “Duration” columns.

Figure 8.4. The “Conversations” window

Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one conversation.

Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is active for
the specific protocol layer (MAC layer for the selected Ethernet endpoints
page). Limit to display filter will only show conversations matching the
current display filter. Absolute start time switches the start time column
between relative (“Rel Start”) and absolute (“Abs Start”) times. Relative start
times match the “Seconds Since First Captured Packet” time display format in the
packet list and absolute start times match the “Time of Day” display format.

If a display filter had been applied before the dialog is opened, Limit to
display filter
will be set automatically. Additionally, after a display filter
had been applied, two columns («Total Packets») and («Percent Filtered») show
the number of unfiltered total packets and the percentage of packets in this filter
display.

The Copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV
(Comma Separated Values), YAML format or JSON format. The numbers are generally
exported without special formatting, but this can be enabled if needed.

The Follow Stream…​ button will show the stream contents as described
in Figure 7.1, “The “Follow TCP Stream” dialog box” dialog. The Graph…​ button will show a graph
as described in Section 8.8, “The “I/O Graphs” Window”.

Conversation Types lets you choose which traffic type tabs are shown.
See Section 8.6, “Endpoints” for a list of endpoint types. The enabled types
are saved in your profile settings.

[Tip] Tip

This window will be updated frequently so it will be useful even if you open
it before (or while) you are doing a live capture.

8.6. Endpoints

A network endpoint is the logical endpoint of separate protocol traffic of a
specific protocol layer. The endpoint statistics of Wireshark will take the
following endpoints into account:

[Tip] Tip

If you are looking for a feature other network tools call a hostlist, here is
the right place to look. The list of Ethernet or IP endpoints is usually what
you’re looking for.

Endpoint and Conversation types

Bluetooth
A MAC-48 address similar to Ethernet.
Ethernet
Identical to the Ethernet device’s MAC-48 identifier.
Fibre Channel
A MAC-48 address similar to Ethernet.
IEEE 802.11
A MAC-48 address similar to Ethernet.
FDDI
Identical to the FDDI MAC-48 address.
IPv4
Identical to the 32-bit IPv4 address.
IPv6
Identical to the 128-bit IPv6 address.
IPX
A concatenation of a 32-bit network number and 48-bit node address, by
default the Ethernet interface’s MAC-48 address.
JXTA
A 160-bit SHA-1 URN.
NCP
Similar to IPX.
RSVP
A combination of various RSVP session attributes and IPv4 addresses.
SCTP
A combination of the host IP addresses (plural) and
the SCTP port used. So different SCTP ports on the same IP address are different
SCTP endpoints, but the same SCTP port on different IP addresses of the same
host are still the same endpoint.
TCP
A combination of the IP address and the TCP port used.
Different TCP ports on the same IP address are different TCP endpoints.
Token Ring
Identical to the Token Ring MAC-48 address.
UDP
A combination of the IP address and the UDP port used, so different UDP
ports on the same IP address are different UDP endpoints.
USB
Identical to the 7-bit USB address.
[Note] Broadcast and multicast endpoints

Broadcast and multicast traffic will be shown separately as additional
endpoints. Of course, as these aren’t physical endpoints the real traffic
will be received by some or all of the listed unicast endpoints.

8.6.1. The “Endpoints” Window

This window shows statistics about the endpoints captured.

Figure 8.5. The “Endpoints” window

For each supported protocol, a tab is shown in this window. Each tab label shows
the number of endpoints captured (e.g., the tab label “Ethernet · 4” tells
you that four ethernet endpoints have been captured). If no endpoints of a
specific protocol were captured, the tab label will be greyed out (although the
related page can still be selected).

Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one endpoint.

Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is
active for the specific protocol layer (MAC layer for the selected
Ethernet endpoints page). Limit to display filter will only show
conversations matching the current display filter. Note that in this
example we have MaxMind DB configured which gives us extra geographic
columns. See Section 11.10, “MaxMind Database Paths” for more information.

If a display filter had been applied before the dialog is opened, Limit to
display filter
will be set automatically. Additionally, after a display filter
had been applied, two columns («Total Packets») and («Percent Filtered») show
the number of unfiltered total packets and the percentage of packets in this filter
display.

The Copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV
(Comma Separated Values), YAML format or JSON format. The numbers are generally
exported without special formatting, but this can be enabled if needed.
The Map button will show the endpoints mapped in your web browser.

Endpoint Types lets you choose which traffic type tabs are shown. See
Section 8.6, “Endpoints” above for a list of endpoint types. The enabled
types are saved in your profile settings.

[Tip] Tip

This window will be updated frequently, so it will be useful even if you open
it before (or while) you are doing a live capture.

8.7. Packet Lengths

Shows the distribution of packet lengths and related information.

Figure 8.6. The “Packet Lengths” window

Information is broken down by packet length ranges as shown above.

Packet Lengths

The range of packet lengths.

Ranges can be configured in the “Statistics → Stats Tree” section of the Preferences Dialog.

Count
The number of packets that fall into this range.
Average
The arithmetic mean of the packet lengths in this range.
Min Val, Max Val
The minimum and maximum lengths in this range.
Rate (ms)
The average packets per millisecond for the packets in this range.
Percent
The percentage of packets in this range, by count.
Burst Rate

Packet bursts are detected by counting the number of packets in a given time interval and comparing that count to the intervals across a window of time.
Statistics for the interval with the maximum number of packets are shown.
By default, bursts are detected across 5 millisecond intervals and intervals are compared across 100 millisecond windows.

These calculations can be adjusted in the “Statistics” section of the Preferences Dialog.

Burst Start
The start time, in seconds from the beginning of the capture, for the interval with the maximum number of packets.

You can show statistics for a portion of the capture by entering a display filter into the Display filter entry and pressing Apply.

Copy copies the statistics to the clipboard.
Save as…​ lets you save the data as text, CSV, YAML, or XML.

8.8. The “I/O Graphs” Window

Lets you plot packet and protocol data in a variety of ways.

Figure 8.7. The “I/O Graphs” window

As shown above, this window contains a chart drawing area along with a customizable list of graphs.
Graphs are saved in your current profile.
They are divided into time intervals, which can be set as described below.
Hovering over the graph shows the last packet in each interval except as noted below.
Clicking on the graph takes you to the associated packet in the packet list.
Individual graphs can be configured using the following options:

Enabled
Draw or don’t draw this graph.
Graph Name
The name of this graph.
Display Filter
Limits the graph to packets that match this filter.
Color
The color to use for plotting the graph’s lines, bars, or points.
Style
How to visually represent the graph’s data, e.g., by drawing a line, bar, circle, plus, etc.
Y Axis

The value to use for the graph’s Y axis. Can be one of:

Packets, Bytes, or Bits
The total number of packets, packet bytes, or packet bits that match the graph’s display filter per interval.
Zero values are omitted in some cases.
SUM(Y Field)
The sum of the values of the field specified in “Y Field” per interval.
COUNT FRAMES(Y Field)
The number of frames that contain the field specified in “Y Field” per interval.
Unlike the plain “Packets” graph, this always displays zero values.
COUNT FIELDS(Y Field)
The number of instances of the field specified in “Y Field” per interval.
Some fields, such as dns.resp.name, can show up multiple times in a packet.
MAX(Y Field), MIN(Y Field), AVG(Y Field)
The maximum, minimum, and arithmetic mean values of the specified “Y Field” per interval.
For MAX and MIN values, hovering and clicking the graph will show and take you to the packet with the MAX or MIN value in the interval instead of the most recent packet.
LOAD(Y Field)

If the “Y Field” is a relative time value, this is the sum of the “Y Field” values divided by the interval time.
This can be useful for tracking response times.

Y Field
The display filter field from which to extract values for the Y axis calculations listed above.
SMA Period
Show an average of values over a specified period of intervals.

The chart as a whole can be configured using the controls under the graph list:

+
Add a new graph.
Add a new graph.
Copy
Copy the selected graph.
Clear
Remove all graphs.
Mouse drags / zooms
When using the mouse inside the graph area, either drag the graph contents or select a zoom area.
Interval
Set the interval period for the graph.
Time of day
Switch between showing the absolute time of day or the time relative from the start of capture in the X axis.
Log scale
Switch between a logarithmic or linear Y axis.
Automatic updates
Redraw each graph automatically.
Enable legend
Show a legend for graphs with more than one type of Y axis.

The main dialog buttons along the bottom let you do the following:

The Help button will take you to this section of the User’s Guide.

The Copy button will copy values from selected graphs to the clipboard in CSV
(Comma Separated Values) format.

Copy from will let you copy graphs from another profile.

Close will close this dialog.

Save As…​ will save the currently displayed graph as an image or CSV data.

[Tip] Tip

You can see a list of useful keyboard shortcuts by right-clicking on the graph.

Missing Values Are Zero

Wireshark’s I/O Graph window doesn’t distinguish between missing and zero values.
For scatter plots it is assumed that zero values indicate missing data, and those values are omitted.
Zero values are shown in line graphs, and bar charts.

8.9. Service Response Time

The service response time is the time between a request and the corresponding response.
This information is available for many protocols, including the following:

  • AFP
  • CAMEL
  • DCE-RPC
  • Diameter
  • Fibre Channel
  • GTP
  • H.225 RAS
  • LDAP
  • MEGACO
  • MGCP
  • NCP
  • ONC-RPC
  • RADIUS
  • SCSI
  • SMB
  • SMB2
  • SNMP

As an example, the SMB2 service response time is described below in more detail.
The other Service Response Time windows will show statistics specific to their respective protocols, but will offer the same menu options.

8.9.1. The “SMB2 Service Response Time Statistics” Window

This window shows the number of transactions for each SMB2 opcode present in the capture file along with various response time statistics.
Right-clicking on a row will let you apply or prepare filters for, search for, or colorize a specific opcode.
You can also copy all of the response time information or save it in a variety of formats.

Figure 8.8. The “SMB2 Service Response Time Statistics” window

You can optionally apply a display filter in order to limit the statistics to a specific set of packets.

The main dialog buttons along the bottom let you do the following:

The Copy button will copy the response time information as text.

Save As…​ will save the response time information in various formats.

Close will close this dialog.

8.10. DHCP (BOOTP) Statistics

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an option of the Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP). It dynamically assigns IP addresses and other parameters to a DHCP client. The DHCP (BOOTP) Statistics window displays a table over the number of occurrences of a DHCP message type. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

8.11. NetPerfMeter Statistics

The NetPerfMeter Protocol (NPMP) is the control and data transfer protocol of NetPerfMeter, the transport protocol performance testing tool. It transmits data streams over TCP, SCTP, UDP and DCCP with given parameters, such as frame rate, frame size, saturated flows, etc.

With these statistics you can:

  • Observed number of messages and bytes per message type.
  • The share of messages and bytes for each message type.
  • See the first and last occurrence of each message type.
  • See the interval between first and last occurrence of each message type (if there are at least 2 messages of the corresponding type).
  • See the message and byte rate within the interval for each message type (if there are at least 2 messages of the corresponding type).

See NetPerfMeter – A TCP/MPTCP/UDP/SCTP/DCCP Network Performance Meter Tool and Section 6.3 of
Evaluation and Optimisation of Multi-Path Transport using the Stream Control Transmission Protocol for more details about NetPerfMeter and the NetPerfMeter Protocol.

Figure 8.9. NetPerfMeter Statistics window

8.12. ONC-RPC Programs

Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC) uses TCP or UDP protocols to map a program number to a specific port on a remote machine and call a required service at that port. The ONC-RPC Programs window shows the description for captured program calls, such as program name, its number, version, and other data.

8.13. 29West

The 29West technology now refers to Ultra-Low Latency Messaging (ULLM) technology. It allows sending and receiving a high number of messages per second with microsecond delivery times for zero-latency data delivery.

The → shows:

The Topics submenu shows counters for:

  • Advertisement by Topic
  • Advertisement by Source
  • Advertisement by Transport
  • Queries by Topic
  • Queries by Receiver
  • Wildcard Queries by Pattern
  • Wildcard Queries by Receiver

The Queues submenu shows counters for:

  • Advertisement by Queue
  • Advertisement by Source
  • Queries by Queue
  • Queries by Receiver

The UIM submenu shows Streams:

Each stream is provided by Endpoints, Messages, Bytes, and the First and Last Frame statistics.

The LBT-RM submenu

The LBT-RM Transport Statistics window shows the Sources and Receivers sequence numbers for transport and other data.

The LBT-RU submenu

The LBT-Ru Transport Statistics window shows the Sources and Receivers sequence numbers for transport and other data.

8.14. ANCP

The Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP) is an TCP based protocol, which operates between an Access Node and Network Access Server. The Wireshark ANCP dissector supports the listed below messages:

  • Adjacency Message
  • Topology Discovery Extensions, such as Port-Up and Port-Down Messages
  • Operation And Maintenance (OAM) Extension, such as Port Management Message.

The ANCP window shows the related statistical data. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

8.15. BACnet

Building Automation and Control Networks (BACnet) is a communication protocol which provides control for various building automated facilities, such as light control, fire alarm control, and others. Wireshark provides the BACnet statistics which is a packet counter. You can sort packets by instance ID, IP address, object type or service.

8.16. Collectd

Collectd is a system statistics collection daemon. It collects various statistics from your system and converts it for the network use. The Collectd statistics window shows counts for values, which split into type, plugin, and host as well as total packets counter. You can filter, copy or save the data to a file.

8.17. DNS

The Domain Name System (DNS) associates different information, such as IP addresses, with domain names. DNS returns different codes, request-response and counters for various aggregations. The DNS statistics window enlists a total count of DNS messages, which are divided into groups by request types (opcodes), response code (rcode), query type, and others.

Figure 8.10. DNS statistics window

You might find these statistics useful for quickly examining the health of a DNS service or other investigations. See the few possible scenarios below:

  • The DNS server might have issues if you see that DNS queries have a long request-response time or, if there are too many unanswered queries.
  • DNS requests with abnormally large requests and responses might be indicative of DNS tunneling or command and control traffic.
  • The order of magnitude more DNS responses than requests and the responses are very large might indicate that the target is being attacked with a DNS-based DDoS.

You can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

8.18. Flow Graph

The Flow Graph window shows connections between hosts. It displays the packet time, direction, ports and comments for each captured connection. You can filter all connections by ICMP Flows, ICMPv6 Flows, UIM Flows and TCP Flows. Flow Graph window is used for showing multiple different topics. Based on it, it offers different controls.

Figure 8.11. Flow Graph window

Each vertical line represents the specific host, which you can see in the top of the window.

The numbers in each row at the very left of the window represent the time packet. You can change the time format in the → . If you change the time format, you must relaunch the Flow Graph window to observe the time in a new format.

The numbers at the both ends of each arrow between hosts represent the port numbers.

Left-click a row to select a corresponding packet in the packet list.

Right-click on the graph for additional options, such as selecting the previous, current, or next packet in the packet list. This menu also contains shortcuts for moving the diagram.

Available controls:

  • Limit to display filter filters calls just to ones matching display filter. When display filter is active before window is opened, checkbox is checked.
  • Flow type allows limit type of protocol flows should be based on.
  • Addresses allows switch shown addresses in diagram.
  • Reset Diagram resets view position and zoom to default state.
  • Export allows export diagram as image in multiple different formats (PDF, PNG, BMP, JPEG and ASCII (diagram is stored with ASCII characters only)).

Figure 8.12. Flow Graph window showing VoIP call sequences

Additional shortcuts available for VoIP calls:

  • On selected RTP stream

    • S — Selects the stream in RTP Streams window (if not opened, it opens it and put it on background).
    • D — Deselects the stream in RTP Streams window (if not opened, it opens it and put it on background).

Additional controls available for VoIP calls:

  • Reset Diagram resets view position and zoom to default state.
  • Play Streams sends selected RTP stream to playlist of RTP Player window.
  • Export allows to export diagram as image in multiple different formats (PDF, PNG, BMP, JPEG and ASCII (diagram is stored with ASCII characters only)).

8.19. HART-IP

Highway Addressable Remote Transducer over IP (HART-IP) is an application layer protocol. It sends and receives digital information between smart devices and control or monitoring systems. The HART-IP statistics window shows the counter for response, request, publish and error packets. You can filter, copy or save the data to a file.

8.20. HPFEEDS

Hpfeeds protocol provides a lightweight authenticated publishing and subscription. It supports arbitrary binary payloads which can be separated into different channels. HPFEEDS statistics window shows a counter for payload size per channel and opcodes. You can filter, copy or save the data to a file.

8.21. HTTP Statistics

8.21.1. HTTP Packet Counter

Statistics for HTTP request types and response codes.

8.21.2. HTTP Requests

HTTP statistics based on the host and URI.

8.21.3. HTTP Load Distribution

HTTP request and response statistics based on the server address and host.

8.21.4. HTTP Request Sequences

HTTP Request Sequences uses HTTP’s Referer and Location headers to sequence a
capture’s HTTP requests as a tree. This enables analysts to see how one HTTP
request leads to the next.

Figure 8.13. The “HTTP Request Sequences” window

8.22. HTTP2

Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 (HTTP/2) allows multiplexing various HTTP requests and responses over a single connection. It uses a binary encoding which is consisting of frames. The HTTP/2 statistics window shows the total number of HTTP/2 frames and also provides a breakdown per frame types, such as HEADERS, DATA, and others.

As HTTP/2 traffic is typically encrypted with TLS, you must configure decryption to observe HTTP/2 traffic. For more details, see the TLS wiki page.

8.23. Sametime

Sametime is a protocol for the IBM Sametime software. The Sametime statistics window shows the counter for message type, send type, and user status.

8.24. TCP Stream Graphs

Show different visual representations of the TCP streams in a capture.

Time Sequence (Stevens)
This is a simple graph of the TCP sequence
number over time, similar to the ones used in Richard Stevens’ “TCP/IP
Illustrated” series of books.
Time Sequence (tcptrace)
Shows TCP metrics similar to the
tcptrace utility, including forward segments,
acknowledgments, selective acknowledgments, reverse window sizes, and
zero windows.
Throughput
Average throughput and goodput.
Round Trip Time
Round trip time vs time or sequence number. RTT is
based on the acknowledgment timestamp corresponding to a particular
segment.
Window Scaling
Window size and outstanding bytes.

8.25. UDP Multicast Streams

The UDP Multicast Streams window shows statistics for all UDP multicast streams. It includes source addresses and ports, destination addresses and ports, packets counter and other data. You can specify the burst interval, the alarm limits and output speeds. To apply new settings, press Enter.

With these statistics you can:

  • Measure the burst size for a video stream. This uses the sliding window algorithm.
  • Measure of the output buffer size limit, that no packet drop will occur. This uses the Leaky bucket algorithm.
  • Detect the packet loss inside the MPEG2 video stream.

Figure 8.14. UDP Multicast Streams window

8.26. Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool)

The Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) windows show statistics for the different protocols of Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool):

  • Aggregate Server Access Protocol (ASAP)
  • Endpoint Handlespace Redundancy Protocol (ENRP)

Furthermore, statistics for application protocols provided by RSPLIB are provided as well:

  • Component Status Protocol (CSP)
  • CalcApp Protocol
  • Fractal Generator Protocol
  • Ping Pong Protocol
  • Scripting Service Protocol (SSP)

With these statistics you can:

  • Observed number of messages and bytes per message type.
  • The share of messages and bytes for each message type.
  • See the first and last occurrence of each message type.
  • See the interval between first and last occurrence of each message type (if there are at least 2 messages of the corresponding type).
  • See the message and byte rate within the interval for each message type (if there are at least 2 messages of the corresponding type).

See Thomas Dreibholz’s Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) Page and Chapter 3 of Reliable Server Pooling – Evaluation, Optimization and Extension of a Novel IETF Architecture for more details about RSerPool and its protocols.

Figure 8.15. ASAP Statistics window

Figure 8.16. ENRP Statistics window

Figure 8.17. Component Status Protocol Statistics window

Figure 8.18. CalcApp Protocol Statistics window

Figure 8.19. Fractal Generator Protocol Statistics window

Figure 8.20. Ping Pong Protocol Statistics window

Figure 8.21. Scripting Service Protocol Statistics window

8.27. F5

In F5 Networks, TMM stands for Traffic Management Microkernel. It processes all load-balanced traffic on the BIG-IP system.

The F5 statistics menu shows packet and byte counts for both Virtual Server Distribution and tmm Distribution submenus.

Each Virtual Server Distribution window contains the statistics for the following data:

  • A line for each named virtual server name.
  • A line for traffic with a flow ID and no virtual server name.
  • A line for traffic without a flow ID.

Each tmm Distribution window contains the statistics for the following data:

  • A line for each tmm, which contains:

    • A line for each ingress and egress (should add to tmm total), which contains:

      • Traffic with a virtual server name.
      • Traffic with a flow ID and no virtual server name.
      • Traffic without a flow ID.

8.28. IPv4 Statistics

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is a core protocol for the internet layer. It uses 32-bit addresses and allows packets routing from one source host to the next one.

The → menu provides the packet counter by submenus:

  • All Addresses. Divides data by IP address.
  • Destination and Ports. Divides data by IP address, and further by IP protocol type, such as TCP, UDP, and others. It also shows port number.
  • IP Protocol Types. Divides data by IP protocol type.
  • Source and Destination addresses. Divides data by source and destination IP address.

You can see similar statistics in the → and → menus.

8.29. IPv6 Statistics

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a core protocol for the internet layer. It uses 128-bit addresses and routes internet traffic. Similar to Section 8.28, “IPv4 Statistics”, the → menu shows the packet counter in each submenu.

Chapter 9. Telephony

9.1. Introduction

Wireshark provides a wide range of telephony related network statistics which
can be accessed via the menu.

These statistics range from specific signaling protocols, to analysis of
signaling and media flows. If encoded in a compatible encoding the media flow
can even be played.

The protocol specific statistics windows display detailed information of
specific protocols and might be described in a later version of this document.

Some of these statistics are described at the
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Statistics pages.

9.2. Playing VoIP Calls

The tool for playing VoIP calls is called RTP Player. It shows RTP streams and its waveforms, allows play stream and export it as audio or payload to file. Its capabilities depend on supported codecs.

9.2.1. Supported codecs

RTP Player is able to play any codec supported by an installed plugin. The codecs supported by RTP Player depend on the version of Wireshark you’re using. The official builds contain all of the plugins maintained by the Wireshark developers, but custom/distribution builds might not include some of those codecs. To check your Wireshark installation’s installed codec plugins, do the following:

  • Open → window
  • Select the tab
  • In the menu on the top-right, select codec

Figure 9.1. List of supported codecs

9.2.2. Work with RTP streams — Playlist

Wireshark can be used for RTP stream analysis. User can select one or more streams which can be played later. RTP Player window maintains playlist (list of RTP streams) for this purpose.

Playlist is created empty when RTP Player window is opened and destroyed when window is closed. RTP Player window can be opened on background when not needed and put to front later. During its live, playlist is maintained.

When RTP Player window is opened, playlist can be modified from other tools (Wireshark windows) in three ways:

  • button → clears existing playlist and adds streams selected in the tool.
  • button → adds streams selected in the tool to playlist. Duplicated streams are not inserted again.
  • button → removes streams selected in the tool from playlist, if they are in the playlist.

Figure 9.2. Play Streams button with opened action menu

ws tel rtp player button

Play Streams button can be clicked directly and opens RTP Player window directly with Set playlist action. All actions can be selected with the small down arrow next to the button.

When the playlist is empty, there is no difference between Set playlist and Add to playlist. When the RTP Player window is not opened, all three actions above open it.

Remove from playlist is useful e.g. in case user selected all RTP streams and wants to remove RTP streams from specific calls found with .

Tools below can be used to maintain content of playlist, they contain Play Streams button. You can use one of procedures (Note: Add to playlist action is demonstrated):

  • Open → → window, it will show all streams in the capture. Select one or more streams and then press Play Streams. Selected streams are added to playlist.
  • Select any RTP packet in packet list, open → → window. It will show analysis of selected forward stream and its reverse stream (if Ctrl is pressed during window opening). Then press Play Streams. Forward and reverse stream is added to playlist.

    • window can be opened from other tools too.
  • Open → or → window, it will show all calls. Select one or more calls and then press Play Streams. It will add all RTP streams related to selected calls to playlist.
  • Open Flow Sequence window in → or → window, it will show flow sequence of calls. Select any RTP stream and then press Play Streams. It will add selected RTP stream to playlist.

Figure 9.3. Tools for modifying playlist in RTP Player window

ws tel playlist

[Note] Note

Same approach with set/add/remove actions is used for RTP Stream Analysis window. The playlist is there handled as different tabs in the window, see RTP Stream Analysis window.

9.2.3. Playing audio during live capture

Decoding RTP payload and showing waveforms is time consuming task. To speedup it RTP Player window uses copy of packet payload for all streams in the playlist. During live capture the dialog is not refreshed automatically as other Wireshark dialogs, but user must initiate it.

The copy is created or refreshed and dialog updated:

  • Every time window is opened.
  • Every time a new stream is added or set.
  • During live capture, when Refresh streams is pressed.
  • Every time live capture is finished/stopped by a user.

When capture file is opened (no live capturing), streams are read complete, no user action is required. Button Refresh streams is disabled as it is useless.

When live capture is running, streams are read only till «now» and are shown. When stream is continuous and user would like to see additional part, they must press Refresh stream. When the user ends live capture, view is refreshed and button is disabled.

[Note] Note

RTP Player dialog stays open even live capture is stopped and then started again. Play list stays unchanged. Therefore, Refresh stream tries to read same streams as before and shows them if they are still running. Past part of them (from previous live capture) is lost.

9.2.4. RTP Decoding Settings

RTP is carried usually in UDP packets with random source and destination ports. Therefore, Wireshark can only recognize RTP streams based on VoIP signaling, e.g., based on SDP messages in SIP signaling. If signaling is not captured, Wireshark shows just UDP packets. However, there are multiple settings which help Wireshark recognize RTP even when there is no related signaling.

You can use Decode As…​ function from → menu or in mouse context menu. Here you can set that traffic on specific source or destination should be decoded as RTP. You can save settings for later use.

Use of menu works fine, but is arduous for many streams.

You can enable heuristic dissector in → . See Section 11.4, “Control Protocol dissection” for details. Once is enabled, Wireshark tries to decode every UDP packet as RTP. If decoding is possible, packet (and entire UDP stream) is decoded as RTP.

When an RTP stream uses a well-known port, the heuristic dissector ignores it. So you might miss some RTP streams. You can enable setting for udp protocol → → → , see Section 11.5, “Preferences”. In this case heuristics dissector tries to decode UDP packet even it uses a well-known port.

[Note] Note

Take into account that heuristics is just simple «test» whether packet can be read as RTP. It can be false positive and you can see decoded as RTP more UDP packets than expected.

When you enable → , it increases possibility of false positives. If you capture all traffic in network, false positives rate can be quite high.

RTP Player must store decoded data somewhere to be able to play it. When data are decoded, there are audio samples and dictionary for fast navigation. Both types of data are stored in memory for default, but you can configure Wireshark to store it on disk. There are two settings:

  • ui.rtp_player_use_disk1 — When set to FALSE (default), audio samples are kept in memory. When set to TRUE, audio samples are stored on temporary file.
  • ui.rtp_player_use_disk2 — When set to FALSE (default), dictionary is kept in memory. When set to TRUE, dictionary is stored on temporary file.

When any data are configured to be stored on disk, one file is created for each stream. Therefore, there might be up to two files for one RTP stream (audio samples and dictionary). If your OS or user has OS enforced limit for count of opened files (most of Unix/Linux systems), you can see fewer streams that was added to playlist. Warnings are printed on console in this case and you will see fewer streams in the playlist than you send to it from other tools.

For common use you can use default settings — store everything in memory. When you will be out of memory, switch ui.rtp_player_use_disk1 to TRUE first — it saves much more memory than ui.rtp_player_use_disk2.

9.2.5. VoIP Processing Performance and Related Limits

Processing of RTP and decoding RTP voice takes resources. There are raw estimates you can use as guidelines…​

RTP Streams window can show as many streams as found in the capture. Its performance is limited just by memory and CPU.

RTP Player can handle 1000+ streams, but take into account that waveforms are very small and difficult to recognize in this case.

RTP Player plays audio by OS sound system and OS is responsible for mixing audio when multiple streams are played. In many cases OS sound system has limited count of mixed streams it can play/mix. RTP Player tries to handle playback failures and show warning. If it happens, just mute some streams and start playback again.

RTP Analysis window can handle 1000+ streams, but it is difficult to use it with so many streams — it is difficult to navigate between them. It is expected that RTP Analysis window will be used for analysis of lower tens of streams.

9.3. VoIP Calls Window

The VoIP Calls window shows a list of all detected VoIP calls in the captured
traffic. It finds calls by their signaling and shows related RTP streams. The current VoIP supported protocols are:

  • H.323
  • IAX2
  • ISUP
  • MGCP/MEGACO
  • SIP
  • SKINNY
  • UNISTIM

See VOIPProtocolFamily for an overview of the used VoIP protocols.

VoIP Calls window can be opened as window showing all protocol types ( → window) or limited to SIP messages only ( → window).

Figure 9.4. VoIP Calls window

User can use shortcuts:

  • Selection

    • Ctrl+A — Select all streams
    • Ctrl+I — Invert selection
    • Ctrl+Shift+A — Select none
    • Note: Common Mouse click, Shift+Mouse click and Ctrl+Mouse click works too
  • On selected call/calls

    • S — Selects stream/streams related to call in RTP Streams window (if not opened, it opens it and put it on background).
    • D — Deselects stream/streams related to call in RTP Streams window (if not opened, it opens it and put it on background).

Available controls are:

  • Limit to display filter filters calls just to ones matching display filter. When display filter is active before window is opened, checkbox is checked.
  • Time of Day switches format of shown time between relative to start of capture or absolute time of received packets.
  • Flow Sequence opens Flow Sequence window and shows selected calls in it.
  • Prepare Filter generates display filter matching to selected calls (signaling and RTP streams) and apply it.
  • Play Streams opens RTP Player window. Actions Set, Add and Remove are available.
  • Copy copies information from table to clipboard in CSV or YAML.

9.4. ANSI

This menu shows groups of statistic data for mobile communication protocols according to ETSI GSM standards.

9.4.1. A-I/F BSMAP Statistics Window

The A-Interface Base Station Management Application Part (BSMAP) Statistics window shows the messages list and the number of the captured messages. There is a possibility to filter the messages, copy or save the date into a file.

9.4.2. A-I/F DTAP Statistics Window

The A-Interface Direct Transfer Application Part (DTAP) Statistics widow shows the messages list and the number of the captured messages. There is a possibility to filter the messages, copy or save the date into a file.

9.5. GSM Windows

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard for mobile networks. This menu shows a group of statistic data for mobile communication protocols according to ETSI GSM standard.

9.6. IAX2 Stream Analysis Window

The “IAX2 Stream Analysis” window shows statistics for the forward and reverse
streams of a selected IAX2 call along with a graph.

9.7. ISUP Messages Window

Integrated Service User Part (ISUP) protocol provides voice and non-voice signaling for telephone communications. ISUP Messages menu opens the window which shows the related statistics. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.8. LTE

9.8.1. LTE MAC Traffic Statistics Window

Statistics of the captured LTE MAC traffic. This window will summarize the LTE
MAC traffic found in the capture.

Figure 9.5. The “LTE MAC Traffic Statistics” window

The top pane shows statistics for common channels. Each row in the middle pane
shows statistical highlights for exactly one UE/C-RNTI. In the lower pane, you
can see the for the currently selected UE/C-RNTI the traffic broken down by
individual channel.

9.8.2. LTE RLC Graph Window

The LTE RLC Graph menu launches a graph which shows LTE Radio Link Control protocol sequence numbers changing over time along with acknowledgements which are received in the opposite direction.

[Note] Note

That graph shows data of a single bearer and direction. The user can also launch it from the RLC Statistics window.

Figure 9.6. The RLC Graph window

The image of the RLC Graph is borrowed from Wireshark wiki.

9.8.3. LTE RLC Traffic Statistics Window

Statistics of the captured LTE RLC traffic. This window will summarize the LTE
RLC traffic found in the capture.

Figure 9.7. The “LTE RLC Traffic Statistics” window

At the top, the check-box allows this window to include RLC PDUs found within
MAC PDUs or not. This will affect both the PDUs counted as well as the display
filters generated (see below).

The upper list shows summaries of each active UE. Each row in the lower list
shows statistical highlights for individual channels within the selected UE.

The lower part of the windows allows display filters to be generated and set for
the selected channel. Note that in the case of Acknowledged Mode channels, if a
single direction is chosen, the generated filter will show data in that
direction and control PDUs in the opposite direction.

9.9. MTP3 Windows

The Message Transfer Part level 3 (MTP3) protocol is a part of the Signaling System 7 (SS7). The Public Switched Telephone Networks use it for reliable, unduplicated and in-sequence transport of SS7 messaging between communication partners.

This menu shows MTP3 Statistics and MTP3 Summary windows.

9.10. Osmux Windows

OSmux is a multiplex protocol designed to reduce bandwidth usage of satellite-based GSM systems’s voice (RTP-AMR) and signaling traffic. The OSmux menu opens the packet counter window with the related statistic data. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.11. RTP

9.11.1. RTP Streams Window

The RTP streams window shows all RTP streams in capture file. Streams can be selected there and on selected streams other tools can be initiated.

Figure 9.8. The “RTP Streams” window

User can use shortcuts:

  • Selection

    • Ctrl+A — Select all streams
    • Ctrl+I — Invert selection
    • Ctrl+Shift+A — Select none
    • Note: Common Mouse click, Shift+Mouse click and Ctrl+Mouse click works too
  • Find Reverse

    • R — Try search for reverse streams related to already selected streams. If found, selects them in the list too.
    • Shift+R — Select all pair streams (forward/reverse relation).
    • Ctrl+R — Select all single streams (no reverse stream does exist).
  • G — Go to packet of stream under the mouse cursor.
  • M — Mark all packets of selected streams.
  • P — Prepare filter matching selected streams and apply it.
  • E — Export selected streams in RTPDump format.
  • A — Open RTP Stream Analysis window and add selected streams to it.

Available controls are:

  • Find Reverse

    • Find Reverse search for reverse stream of every selected stream. If found, selects it in the list too.
    • Find All Pairs select all streams which have forward/reverse relation.
    • Find Only Single select all streams which are single — have no reverse stream.
  • Analyze opens RTP Stream Analysis window. Actions Set, Add and Remove are available.
  • Prepare Filter prepares filter matching selected streams and apply it.
  • Play Streams opens RTP Player window. Actions Set, Add and Remove are available.
  • Copy copies information from table to clipboard in CSV or YAML.
  • Export exports selected streams in RTPDump format.

9.11.2. RTP Stream Analysis Window

The RTP analysis function takes the selected RTP streams and generates a list of statistics on it including graph.

Menu → → is enabled only when selected packed is RTP packet. When window is opened, selected RTP stream is added to analysis. If Ctrl is pressed during menu opening, reverse RTP stream (if exists) is added to the window too.

Every stream is shown on own tab. Tabs are numbered as streams are added and its tooltip shows identification of the stream. When tab is closed, number is not reused. Color of tab matches color of graphs on graph tab.

Figure 9.9. The “RTP Stream Analysis” window

Figure 9.10. Error indicated in “RTP Stream Analysis” window

Per packet statistic shows:

  • Packet number
  • Sequence number
  • Delta (ms) to last packet
  • Jitter (ms)
  • Skew
  • Bandwidth
  • Marker — packet is marked in RTP header
  • Status — information related to the packet. E. g. change of codec, DTMF number, warning about incorrect sequence number.

Side panel left to packet list shows stream statistics:

  • Maximal delta and at which packet it occurred
  • Maximal jitter
  • Mean jitter
  • Maximal skew
  • Count of packets
  • Count of lost packets — calculated from sequence numbers
  • When the stream starts and first packet number
  • Duration of the stream
  • Clock drift
  • Frequency drift
[Note] Note

Some statistic columns are calculated only when Wireshark is able to decode codec of RTP stream.

Available shortcuts are:

  • G — Go to selected packet of stream in packet list
  • N — Move to next problem packet

Available controls are:

  • Prepare Filter

    • Current Tab prepares filter matching current tab and applies it.
    • All Tabs prepares filter matching all tabs and applies it.
  • Play Streams opens RTP Player window. Actions Set, Add and Remove are available.
  • Export allows export current stream or all streams as CSV or export graph as image in multiple different formats (PDF, PNG, BMP and JPEG).

Figure 9.11. Graph in “RTP Stream Analysis” window

Graph view shows graph of:

  • jitter
  • difference — absolute value of difference between expected and real time of packet arrival
  • delta — time difference from reception of previous packet

for every stream. Checkboxes below graph are enabling or disabling showing of a graph for every stream. Stream X checkbox enables or disables all graphs for the stream.

[Note] Note

Stream Analysis window contained tool for save audio and payload for analyzed streams. This tool was moved in Wireshark 3.5.0 to RTP Player window. New tool has more features.

9.11.3. RTP Player Window

The RTP Player function is tool for playing VoIP calls. It shows RTP streams and its waveforms, allows play stream and export it as audio or payload to file. See related concepts in Section 9.2, “Playing VoIP Calls”.

Menu → → is enabled only when selected packed is RTP packet. When window is opened, selected RTP stream is added to playlist. If Ctrl is pressed during menu opening, reverse RTP stream (if exists) is added to the playlist too.

Figure 9.12. RTP Player window

RTP Player Window consists of three parts:

  1. Waveform view
  2. Playlist
  3. Controls

Waveform view shows visual presentation of RTP stream. Color of waveform and playlist row are matching. Height of wave shows volume.

Waveform shows error marks for Out of Sequence, Jitter Drops, Wrong Timestamps and Inserted Silence marks if it happens in a stream.

Figure 9.13. Waveform with error marks

Playlist shows information about every stream:

  • Play — Audio routing
  • Source Address, Source Port, Destination Address, Destination Port, SSRC
  • Setup Frame

    • SETUP <number> is shown, when there is known signaling packet. Number is packet number of signaling packet. Note: Word SETUP is shown even RTP stream was initiated e. g. by SKINNY where no SETUP message exists.
    • RTP <number> is shown, when no related signaling was found. Number is packet number of first packet of the stream.
  • Packets — Count of packets in the stream.
  • Time Span — Start — Stop (Duration) of the stream
  • SR — Sample rate of used codec
  • PR — Decoded play rate used for stream playing
  • Payloads — One or more payload types used by the stream
[Note] Note

When rtp_udp is active, most of streams shows just RTP <number> even there is setup frame in capture.

When RTP stream contains multiple codecs, SR and PR is based on first observed coded. Later codecs in stream are resampled to first one.

Controls allow a user to:

  • Start/Pause/Stop playing of unmuted streams
  • >> enabling/disabling silence skipping

    • Min silence — Minimal duration of silence to skip in seconds. Shorter silence is played as it is.
  • Select Output audio device and Output audio rate
  • Select Playback Timing

    • Jitter Buffer — Packets outside Jitter Buffer size are discarded during decoding
    • RTP Timestamp — Packets are ordered and played by its Timestamp, no Jitter Buffer is used
    • Uninterrupted Mode — All gaps (e. g. Comfort Noise, lost packets) are discarded therefore audio is shorted than timespan
  • Time of Day selects whether waveform timescale is shown in seconds from start of capture or in absolute time of received packets
  • Refresh streams refreshes streams during live capture (see Section 9.2.3, “Playing audio during live capture”). Button is disabled when no live capture is running.
  • Inaudible streams

    • Select select all inaudible streams (streams with zero play rate)
    • Deselect deselect all inaudible streams (streams with zero play rate)
  • Analyze open RTP Stream Analysis window. Actions Set, Add and Remove are available.
  • Prepare Filter prepare filter matching selected streams and apply it.
  • Export — See Section 9.11.3.1, “Export”.
[Note] Note

RTP Player detects silence just by missing voice samples (Comfort Noise, interrupted RTP, missing RTP, …​) or when some streams are muted.

Figure 9.14. RTP stream state indication

Waveform view and playlist shows state of a RTP stream:

  1. stream is muted (dashed waveform, is shown in Play column) or unmuted (non-dashed waveform, audio routing is shown in Play column)
  2. stream is selected (blue waveform, blue row)
  3. stream is below mouse cursor (bold waveform, bold font)

User can control to where audio of a stream is routed to:

  • L — Left channel
  • L+R — Left and Right (Middle) channel
  • R — Left channel
  • P — Play (when mono soundcard is available only)
  • M — Muted

Audio routing can be changed by double clicking on first column of a row, by shortcut or by menu.

User can use shortcuts:

  • Selection

    • Ctrl+A — Select all streams
    • Ctrl+I — Invert selection
    • Ctrl+Shift+A — Select none
    • Note: Common Mouse click, Shift+Mouse click and Ctrl+Mouse click works too
  • Go to packet

    • G — Go to packet of stream under the mouse cursor
    • Shift+G — Go to setup packet of stream under the mouse cursor
  • Audio routing

    • M — Mute all selected streams
    • Shift+M — Unmute all selected streams
    • Ctrl+M — Invert muting of all selected streams
  • P — Play audio
  • S — Stop playing
  • Del or Ctrl+X — Remove all selected streams from playlist
  • Inaudible steams

    • N — Select all inaudible streams
    • Shift+N — Deselect all inaudible streams

9.11.3.1. Export

[Note] Note

was moved from window to window in 3.5.0.

Wireshark is able to export decoded audio in .au or .wav file format. Prior to version 3.2.0, Wireshark only supported exporting audio using the G.711 codec. From 3.2.0 it supports audio export using any codec with 8000 Hz sampling. From 3.5.0 is supported export of any codec, rate is defined by Output Audio Rate.

Export options available:

  • for one or more selected non-muted streams

    • From cursor — Streams are saved from play start cursor. If some streams are shorter, they are removed from the list before save and count of saved streams is lower than count of selected streams.
    • Stream Synchronized Audio — File starts at the begin of earliest stream in export, therefore there is no silence at beginning of exported file.
    • File Synchronized Audio — Streams starts at beginning of file, therefore silence can be at start of file.
  • for just one selected stream

    • Payload — just payload with no information about coded is stored in the file

Audio is exported as multi-channel file — one channel per RTP stream. One or two channels are equal to mono or stereo, but Wireshark can export e.g., 100 channels. For playing a tool with multi-channel support must be used (e.g., https://www.audacityteam.org/).

Export of payload function is useful for codecs not supported by Wireshark.

[Note] Note

Default value of Output Audio Rate is Automatic. When multiple codecs with different codec rates are captured, Wireshark decodes each stream with its own play audio rate. Therefore, each stream can have a different audio rate. If you attempt to export audio when there are multiple audio rates, it will fail because .au or .wav require a fixed audio rate.

In this case user must manually select one of rates in Output Audio Rate, streams will be resampled and audio export succeeds.

9.12. RTSP Window

In the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) menu the user can check the Packet Counter window. It shows Total RTCP Packets and divided into RTSP Response Packets, RTSP Request Packets and Other RTSP packets. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.13. SCTP Windows

Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a computer network protocol which provides a message transfer in telecommunication in the transport layer. It overcomes some lacks of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The SCTP packets consist of the common header and the data chunks.

The SCTP Analyze Association window shows the statistics of the captured packets between two Endpoints. You can check the different chunk types by pressing Chunk Statistics button in the Statistics tab. In the Endpoint tabs you can see various statistics, such as IP addresses, ports and others. You can also check different graphs here.

Figure 9.15. SCTP Analyze Association window

The SCTP Associations window shows the table with the data for captured packets, such as port and counter. You can also call for the SCTP Analyze Association window by pressing the Analyze button.

Figure 9.16. SCTP Associations window

9.14. SMPP Operations Window

Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol uses TCP protocol as its transfer for exchanging Short Message Service (SMS) Messages, mainly between Short Message Service Centers (SMSC). The dissector determines whether the captured packet is SMPP or not by using the heuristics in the fixed header. The SMPP Operations window displays the related statistical data. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.15. UCP Messages Window

The Universal Computer Protocol (UCP) plays role in transferring Short Messages between a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) and an application, which is using transport protocol, such as TCP or X.25. The UCP Messages window displays the related statistical data. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.16. H.225 Window

H.225 telecommunication protocol which is responsible for messages in call signaling and media stream packetization for packet-based multimedia communication systems. The H.225 window shows the counted messages by types and reasons. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

9.17. SIP Flows Window

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Flows window shows the list of all captured SIP transactions, such as client registrations, messages, calls and so on.

This window will list both complete and in-progress SIP transactions.

Window has same features as VoIP Calls window.

9.18. SIP Statistics Window

SIP Statistics window shows captured SIP transactions. It is divided into SIP Responses and SIP Requests. In this window the user can filter, copy or save the statistics into a file.

9.19. WAP-WSP Packet Counter Window

The WAP-WSP Packet Counter menu displays the number of packets for each Status Code and PDU Type in Wireless Session Protocol traffic. The user can filter, copy or save the data into a file.

Chapter 10. Wireless

10.1. Introduction

The Wireless menu provides access to statistics related to wireless traffic.

10.2. Bluetooth ATT Server Attributes

Bluetooth ATT Server Attributes window displays a list of captured Attribute Protocol (ATT) packets. The user can filter the list by the interfaces or devices, and also exclude repetitions by checking the Remove duplicates check box.

Handle is a unique attribute which is specific to the device.

UUID is a value which defines a type of an attribute.

UUID Name is a specified name for the captured packet.

10.3. Bluetooth Devices

The Bluetooth Devices window displays the list of the captured information about devices, such as MAC address, Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI), Name and other. Users can filter it by interface.

Figure 10.1. Bluetooth Devices window

10.4. Bluetooth HCI Summary

The Bluetooth HCI Summary window displays the summary for the captured Host Controller Interface (HCI) layer packets. This window allows users to apply filters and choose to display information about specific interfaces or devices.

Figure 10.2. Bluetooth HCI Summary window

10.5. WLAN Traffic

Statistics about captured WLAN traffic. This can be found under the
menu and summarizes the wireless network traffic found
in the capture. Probe requests will be merged into an existing network
if the SSID matches.

Figure 10.3. The “WLAN Traffic Statistics” window

Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one wireless
network.

Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is active for
the MAC layer.

Only show existing networks will exclude probe requests with a SSID not
matching any network from the list.

The Copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV (Comma
Separated Values) format.

[Tip] Tip

This window will be updated frequently, so it will be useful, even if you open
it before (or while) you are doing a live capture.

Chapter 11. Customizing Wireshark

11.1. Introduction

Wireshark’s default behavior will usually suit your needs pretty well. However,
as you become more familiar with Wireshark, it can be customized in various ways
to suit your needs even better. In this chapter we explore:

  • How to start Wireshark with command line parameters
  • How to colorize the packet list
  • How to control protocol dissection
  • How to use the various preference settings

11.2. Start Wireshark from the command line

You can start Wireshark from the command line, but it can also be started from
most Window managers as well. In this section we will look at starting it from
the command line.

Wireshark supports a large number of command line parameters. To see what they
are, simply enter the command wireshark -h and the help information shown in
Help information available from Wireshark (or something similar) should be printed.

Help information available from Wireshark. 

Wireshark 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-1991-g04aed725ef4c)
Interactively dump and analyze network traffic.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: wireshark [options] ... [ <infile> ]

Capture interface:
  -i <interface>, --interface <interface>
                           name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback)
  -f <capture filter>      packet filter in libpcap filter syntax
  -s <snaplen>, --snapshot-length <snaplen>
                           packet snapshot length (def: appropriate maximum)
  -p, --no-promiscuous-mode
                           don't capture in promiscuous mode
  -I, --monitor-mode       capture in monitor mode, if available
  -B <buffer size>, --buffer-size <buffer size>
                           size of kernel buffer (def: 2MB)
  -y <link type>, --linktype <link type>
                           link layer type (def: first appropriate)
  --time-stamp-type <type> timestamp method for interface
  -D, --list-interfaces    print list of interfaces and exit
  -L, --list-data-link-types
                           print list of link-layer types of iface and exit
  --list-time-stamp-types  print list of timestamp types for iface and exit

Capture display:
  -k                       start capturing immediately (def: do nothing)
  -S                       update packet display when new packets are captured
  --update-interval        interval between updates with new packets (def: 100ms)
  -l                       turn on automatic scrolling while -S is in use
Capture stop conditions:
  -c <packet count>        stop after n packets (def: infinite)
  -a <autostop cond.> ..., --autostop <autostop cond.> ...
                           duration:NUM - stop after NUM seconds
                           filesize:NUM - stop this file after NUM KB
                              files:NUM - stop after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - stop after NUM packets
Capture output:
  -b <ringbuffer opt.> ..., --ring-buffer <ringbuffer opt.>
                           duration:NUM - switch to next file after NUM secs
                           filesize:NUM - switch to next file after NUM KB
                              files:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - switch to next file after NUM packets
                           interval:NUM - switch to next file when the time is
                                          an exact multiple of NUM secs
Input file:
  -r <infile>, --read-file <infile>
                           set the filename to read from (no pipes or stdin!)

Processing:
  -R <read filter>, --read-filter <read filter>
                           packet filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
  -n                       disable all name resolutions (def: all enabled)
  -N <name resolve flags>  enable specific name resolution(s): "mnNtdv"
  -d <layer_type>==<selector>,<decode_as_protocol> ...
                           "Decode As", see the man page for details
                           Example: tcp.port==8888,http
  --enable-protocol <proto_name>
                           enable dissection of proto_name
  --disable-protocol <proto_name>
                           disable dissection of proto_name
  --enable-heuristic <short_name>
                           enable dissection of heuristic protocol
  --disable-heuristic <short_name>
                           disable dissection of heuristic protocol

User interface:
  -C <config profile>      start with specified configuration profile
  -H                       hide the capture info dialog during packet capture
  -Y <display filter>, --display-filter <display filter>
                           start with the given display filter
  -g <packet number>       go to specified packet number after "-r"
  -J <jump filter>         jump to the first packet matching the (display)
                           filter
  -j                       search backwards for a matching packet after "-J"
  -t (a|ad|adoy|d|dd|e|r|u|ud|udoy)[.[N]]|.[N]
                           format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)
  -u s|hms                 output format of seconds (def: s: seconds)
  -X <key>:<value>         eXtension options, see man page for details
  -z <statistics>          show various statistics, see man page for details

Output:
  -w <outfile|->           set the output filename (or '-' for stdout)
  --capture-comment <comment>
                           add a capture file comment, if supported
  --temp-dir <directory>   write temporary files to this directory
                           (default: /tmp)

Diagnostic output:
  --log-level <level>      sets the active log level ("critical", "warning", etc.)
  --log-fatal <level>      sets level to abort the program ("critical" or "warning")
  --log-domains <[!]list>  comma-separated list of the active log domains
  --log-fatal-domains <list>
                           list of domains that cause the program to abort
  --log-debug <[!]list>    list of domains with "debug" level
  --log-noisy <[!]list>    list of domains with "noisy" level
  --log-file <path>        file to output messages to (in addition to stderr)

Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help               display this help and exit
  -v, --version            display version info and exit
  -P <key>:<path>          persconf:path - personal configuration files
                           persdata:path - personal data files
  -o <name>:<value> ...    override preference or recent setting
  -K <keytab>              keytab file to use for kerberos decryption
  --display <X display>    X display to use
  --fullscreen             start Wireshark in full screen

We will examine each of the command line options in turn.

The first thing to notice is that issuing the command wireshark by itself will
launch Wireshark. However, you can include as many of the command line
parameters as you like. Their meanings are as follows ( in alphabetical order ):

-a <capture autostop condition>, —autostop <capture autostop condition>

Specify a criterion that specifies when Wireshark is to stop writing
to a capture file. The criterion is of the form test:value, where test
is one of:

duration:value
Stop writing to a capture file after value of seconds have elapsed.
filesize:value
Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches a size of value
kilobytes (where a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, not 1024 bytes). If
this option is used together with the -b option, Wireshark will
stop writing to the current capture file and switch to the next
one if filesize is reached.
files:value
Stop writing to capture files after value number of files were
written.
packets:value
Stop writing to a capture file after value number of packets were written.
-b <capture ring buffer option>

If a maximum capture file size was specified, this option causes Wireshark to
run in “ring buffer” mode, with the specified number of files. In “ring
buffer” mode, Wireshark will write to several capture files. Their
name is based on the number of the file and on the creation date and
time.

When the first capture file fills up Wireshark will switch to writing
to the next file, and so on. With the files option it’s
also possible to form a “ring buffer.” This will fill up new files until the
number of files specified, at which point the data in the first file will be
discarded so a new file can be written.

If the optional duration is specified, Wireshark will also
switch to the next file when the specified number of seconds has elapsed even
if the current file is not completely filled up.

duration:value
Switch to the next file after value seconds have elapsed, even
if the current file is not completely filled up.
filesize:value
Switch to the next file after it reaches a size of value kilobytes
(where a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, not 1024 bytes).
files:value
Begin again with the first file after value number of files were
written (form a ring buffer).
packets:value
Switch to the next file after value number of packets were written, even
if the current file is not completely filled up.
interval:value
Switch to the next file when the time is an exact multiple of value seconds.
-B <capture buffer size>, —buffer-size <capture buffer size>
Set capture buffer size (in MB, default is 2MB). This is used by the capture
driver to buffer packet data until that data can be written to disk. If you
encounter packet drops while capturing, try to increase this size. Not supported
on some platforms.
-C <config profile>
Start with the specified configuration profile.
-c <capture packet count>
This option specifies the maximum number of packets to capture when capturing
live data. It would be used in conjunction with the -k option.
—capture-comment <comment>
Add the comment string to the capture file, if supported by the file format.
-d <layer_type>==<selector>,<decode_as_protocol>
«Decode As», see Section 11.4.2, “User Specified Decodes” for details. Example: tcp.port==8888,http
-D, —list-interfaces

Print a list of the interfaces on which Wireshark can capture, then exit. For
each network interface, a number and an interface name, possibly followed by a
text description of the interface, is printed. The interface name or the number
can be supplied to the -i flag to specify an interface on which to capture.

This can be useful on systems that don’t have a command to list them (e.g.,
Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking ifconfig -a). The number can be
especially useful on Windows, where the interface name is a GUID.

Note that “can capture” means that Wireshark was able to open that device to
do a live capture. If, on your system, a program doing a network capture must be
run from an account with special privileges, then, if
Wireshark is run with the -D flag and is not run from such an account, it will
not list any interfaces.

—display <DISPLAY>
Set the X display to use, instead of the one defined in the environment, or
the default display.
—enable-protocol <proto_name>, —disable-protocol <proto_name>
Enable and disable the dissection of the protocol.
—enable-heuristic <short_name>, —disable-heuristic <short_name>
Enable and disable the dissection of the heuristic protocol.
-f <capture filter>
This option sets the initial capture filter expression to be used when capturing
packets.
—fullscreen
Start Wireshark in full screen.
-g <packet number>
After reading in a capture file using the -r flag, go to the given packet
number.
-h, —help
This option requests Wireshark to print its version and usage instructions
(as shown here) and exit.
-H
Hide the capture info dialog during live packet capture.
-i <capture interface>, —interface <capture interface>

Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live packet capture.

Network interface names should match one of the names listed in wireshark -D
(described above). A number, as reported by wireshark -D, can also be used. If
you’re using UNIX, netstat -i, ifconfig -a or ip link might also work to
list interface names, although not all versions of UNIX support the -a flag to
ifconfig.

If no interface is specified, Wireshark searches the list of interfaces,
choosing the first non-loopback interface if there are any non-loopback
interfaces, and choosing the first loopback interface if there are no
non-loopback interfaces; if there are no interfaces, Wireshark reports an error
and doesn’t start the capture.

Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or “-” to read
data from the standard input. Data read from pipes must be in standard libpcap
format.

-J <jump filter>
After reading in a capture file using the -r flag, jump to the first packet
which matches the filter expression. The filter expression is in display filter
format. If an exact match cannot be found the first packet afterwards is
selected.
-I, —monitor-mode
Capture wireless packets in monitor mode if available.
-j
Use this option after the -J option to search backwards for a first packet to
go to.
-k
The -k option specifies that Wireshark should start capturing packets
immediately. This option requires the use of the -i parameter to specify the
interface that packet capture will occur from.
-K <keytab file>
Use the specified file for Kerberos decryption.
-l
This option turns on automatic scrolling if the packet list pane is being
updated automatically as packets arrive during a capture (as specified by the
-S flag).
-L, —list-data-link-types
List the data link types supported by the interface and exit.
—list-time-stamp-types
List timestamp types configurable for the interface and exit.
-m <font>
This option sets the name of the font used for most text displayed by Wireshark.
-n
Disable network object name resolution (such as hostname, TCP and UDP port
names).
-N <name resolving flags>

Turns on name resolving for particular types of addresses and port numbers. The
argument is a string that may contain the following letters:

N
Use external name resolver.
d
Enable name resolution from captured DNS packets.
m
Enable MAC address resolution.
n
Enable network address resolution.
t
Enable transport layer port number resolution.
v
Enable VLAN ID resolution.
-o <preference or recent settings>

Sets a preference or recent value, overriding the default value and any value
read from a preference or recent file. The argument to the flag is a string of
the form prefname:value, where prefname is the name of the preference (which
is the same name that would appear in the preferences or recent file), and
value is the value to which it should be set. Multiple instances of `-o
<preference settings> ` can be given on a single command line.

An example of setting a single preference would be:

wireshark -o mgcp.display_dissect_tree:TRUE

An example of setting multiple preferences would be:

wireshark -o mgcp.display_dissect_tree:TRUE -o mgcp.udp.callagent_port:2627

You can get a list of all available preference strings from the
preferences file. See Appendix B, Files and Folders for details.

User access tables can be overridden using “uat,” followed by
the UAT file name and a valid record for the file:

wireshark -o "uat:user_dlts:"User 0 (DLT=147)","http","0","","0","""

The example above would dissect packets with a libpcap data link type 147 as
HTTP, just as if you had configured it in the DLT_USER protocol preferences.

-p, —no-promiscuous-mode
Don’t put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the interface might be
in promiscuous mode for some other reason. Hence, -p cannot be used to ensure
that the only traffic that is captured is traffic sent to or from the machine on
which Wireshark is running, broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to
addresses received by that machine.
-P <path setting>

Special path settings usually detected automatically. This is used for special
cases, e.g., starting Wireshark from a known location on an USB stick.

The criterion is of the form key:path, where key is one of:

persconf:path
Path of personal configuration files, like the preferences files.
persdata:path
Path of personal data files, it’s the folder initially opened. After the
initialization, the recent file will keep the folder last used.
-r <infile>, —read-file <infile>
This option provides the name of a capture file for Wireshark to read and
display. This capture file can be in one of the formats Wireshark understands.
-R <read (display) filter>, —read-filter <read (display) filter>
This option specifies a display filter to be applied when reading packets from a
capture file. The syntax of this filter is that of the display filters discussed
in Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”. Packets not matching the filter
are discarded.
-s <capture snapshot length>, —snapshot-length <capture snapshot length>
This option specifies the snapshot length to use when capturing packets.
Wireshark will only capture snaplen bytes of data for each packet.
-S
This option specifies that Wireshark will display packets as it captures them.
This is done by capturing in one process and displaying them in a separate
process. This is the same as “Update list of packets in real time” in the
“Capture Options” dialog box.
-t <time stamp format>

This option sets the format of packet timestamps that are displayed in the
packet list window. The format can be one of:

r
Relative, which specifies timestamps are
displayed relative to the first packet captured.
a
Absolute, which specifies that actual times
be displayed for all packets.
ad
Absolute with date, which specifies that
actual dates and times be displayed for all packets.
adoy
Absolute with YYYY/DOY date, which specifies that
actual dates and times be displayed for all packets.
d
Delta, which specifies that timestamps
are relative to the previous packet.

dd: Delta, which specifies that timestamps
are relative to the previous displayed packet.

e
Epoch, which specifies that timestamps
are seconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00)
u
Absolute, which specifies that actual times
be displayed for all packets in UTC.
ud
Absolute with date, which specifies that
actual dates and times be displayed for all packets in UTC.
udoy
Absolute with YYYY/DOY date, which specifies that
actual dates and times be displayed for all packets in UTC.
-u <s | hms>
Show timesamps as seconds (“s”, the default) or hours, minutes, and seconds (“hms”)
-v, —version
This option requests Wireshark to print out its version information and
exit.
-w <savefile>
This option sets the name of the file to be used to save captured packets.
This can be ‘-‘ for stdout.
-y <capture link type>, —link-type <capture like types>
If a capture is started from the command line with -k, set the data
link type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by -L
are the values that can be used.
—time-stamp-type <type>
If a capture is started from the command line with -k, set the time
stamp type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by
--list-time-stamp-types are the values that can be used.
-X <eXtension option>

Specify an option to be passed to a Wireshark/TShark module. The eXtension
option is in the form extension_key:value, where extension_key can be:

lua_script:<lua_script_filename>
Tells Wireshark to load the given script in addition to the default Lua scripts.
lua_script[num]:argument
Tells Wireshark to pass the given argument to the lua script identified by
num, which is the number indexed order of the lua_script command. For
example, if only one script was loaded with -X lua_script:my.lua, then -X
lua_script1:foo
will pass the string foo to the my.lua script. If two
scripts were loaded, such as -X lua_script:my.lua -X lua_script:other.lua
in that order, then a -X lua_script2:bar would pass the
string bar to the second lua script, ie., other.lua.
read_format:<file_type>
Tells Wireshark to use a specific input file type, instead of determining it
automatically.
stdin_descr:<description>
Define a description for the standard input interface, instead of the default:
«Standard input».
-Y <display filter>, —display-filter <display filter>
Start with the given display filter.
-z <statistics-string>
Get Wireshark to collect various types of statistics and display the
result in a window that updates in semi-real time. For the currently
implemented statistics consult the Wireshark manual page.

11.3. Packet colorization

A very useful mechanism available in Wireshark is packet colorization.
You can set up Wireshark so that it will colorize packets according to a
display filter. This allows you to emphasize the packets you might be
interested in.

You can find a lot of coloring rule examples at the Wireshark Wiki
Coloring Rules page
at https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/ColoringRules.

There are two types of coloring rules in Wireshark: temporary rules that
are only in effect until you quit the program, and permanent rules that
are saved in a preference file so that they are available the next time
you run Wireshark.

Temporary rules can be added by selecting a packet and pressing the Ctrl
key together with one of the number keys. This will create a coloring rule based
on the currently selected conversation. It will try to create a conversation
filter based on TCP first, then UDP, then IP and at last Ethernet. Temporary
filters can also be created by selecting the →
menu items when right-clicking in the packet detail pane.

To permanently colorize packets, select → . Wireshark
will display the “Coloring Rules” dialog box as shown in
Figure 11.1, “The “Coloring Rules” dialog box”.

Figure 11.1. The “Coloring Rules” dialog box

If this is the first time using the Coloring Rules dialog and you’re using the
default configuration profile you should see the default rules, shown above.

[Note] The first match wins

More specific rules should usually be listed before more general rules. For
example, if you have a coloring rule for UDP before the one for DNS, the rule
for DNS may not be applied (DNS is typically carried over UDP and the UDP rule
will match first).

You can create a new rule by clicking on the + button. You can delete
one or more rules by clicking the button. The “copy” button will
duplicate a rule.

You can edit a rule by double-clicking on its name or filter. In
Figure 11.1, “The “Coloring Rules” dialog box” the name of the rule “Checksum Errors” is being
edited. Clicking on the Foreground and Background buttons will
open a color chooser (Figure 11.2, “A color chooser”) for the foreground (text) and
background colors respectively.

Figure 11.2. A color chooser

The color chooser appearance depends on your operating system. The macOS color
picker is shown. Select the color you desire for the selected packets and click
OK.

Figure 11.3, “Using color filters with Wireshark” shows an example of several color filters being used
in Wireshark. Note that the frame detail shows that the “Bad TCP” rule
was applied, along with the matching filter.

Figure 11.3. Using color filters with Wireshark

11.4. Control Protocol dissection

The user can control how protocols are dissected.

Each protocol has its own dissector, so dissecting a complete packet will
typically involve several dissectors. As Wireshark tries to find the right
dissector for each packet (using static “routes” and heuristics “guessing”),
it might choose the wrong dissector in your specific case. For example,
Wireshark won’t know if you use a common protocol on an uncommon TCP port, e.g.,
using HTTP on TCP port 800 instead of the standard port 80.

There are two ways to control the relations between protocol dissectors: disable
a protocol dissector completely or temporarily divert the way Wireshark calls
the dissectors.

11.4.1. The “Enabled Protocols” dialog box

The Enabled Protocols dialog box lets you enable or disable specific protocols.
Most protocols are enabled by default. When a protocol is disabled, Wireshark
stops processing a packet whenever that protocol is encountered.

[Note] Note

Disabling a protocol will prevent information about higher-layer protocols from
being displayed. For example, suppose you disabled the IP protocol and selected
a packet containing Ethernet, IP, TCP, and HTTP information. The Ethernet
information would be displayed, but the IP, TCP and HTTP information would not —
disabling IP would prevent it and the higher-layer protocols from being displayed.

To enable or disable protocols select → .
Wireshark will pop up the “Enabled Protocols” dialog box as shown in
Figure 11.4, “The “Enabled Protocols” dialog box”.

Figure 11.4. The “Enabled Protocols” dialog box

To disable or enable a protocol, simply click the checkbox using the mouse.
Note that typing a few letters of the protocol name in the search box will limit
the list to those protocols that contain these letters.

You can choose from the following actions:

Enable All
Enable all protocols in the list.
Disable All
Disable all protocols in the list.
Invert
Toggle the state of all protocols in the list.
OK
Save and apply the changes and close the dialog box, see Appendix B, Files and Folders for details.
Cancel
Cancel the changes and close the dialog box.

11.4.2. User Specified Decodes

The “Decode As” functionality lets you temporarily divert specific protocol
dissections. This might be useful for example, if you do some uncommon
experiments on your network.

Decode As is accessed by selecting the → . Wireshark
will pop up the “Decode As” dialog box as shown in Figure 11.5, “The “Decode As” dialog box”.

Figure 11.5. The “Decode As” dialog box

In this dialog you are able to edit entries by means of the edit buttons on the
left.

You can also pop up this dialog box from the context menu in the packet list or
packet details. It will then contain a new line based on the currently selected
packet.

These settings will be lost if you quit Wireshark or change profile unless you
save the entries.

+
Add new entry for selected packet
Remove the selected entry.
Copy
Copy the selected entry.
Clear
Clear the list of user specified decodes.
OK
Apply the user specified decodes and close the dialog box.
Save
Save and apply the user specified decodes and close the dialog box.
Cancel
Cancel the changes and close the dialog box.

11.5. Preferences

There are a number of preferences you can set. Simply select the
→ ( → on macOS) and
Wireshark will pop up the Preferences dialog box as shown in
Figure 11.6, “The preferences dialog box”, with the “User Interface” page as default. On the left
side is a tree where you can select the page to be shown.

  • The OK button will apply the preferences settings and close the dialog.
  • The Cancel button will restore all preferences settings to the last saved state.

Figure 11.6. The preferences dialog box

Wireshark supports quite a few protocols, which is reflected in the long list of entries in the “Protocols” pane.
You can jump to the preferences for a specific protocol by expanding “Protocols” and typing the first few letters of the protocol name.

The “Advanced” pane will let you view and edit all of Wireshark’s preferences, similar to about:config and chrome:flags in the Firefox and Chrome web browsers.

Figure 11.7. Advanced preferences

You can search for a preference by typing text into the “Search” entry.
You can also pass preference names to Wireshark and TShark on the command line.
For example, the gui.prepend_window_title can be used to differentiate between different instances of Wireshark:

$ wireshark -o "gui.prepend_window_title:Internal Network" &
$ wireshark -o "gui.prepend_window_title:External Network" &

11.6. Configuration Profiles

Configuration Profiles can be used to configure and use more than one set of
preferences and configurations. Select the → menu item
or press Shift+Ctrl+A or Shift+Cmd+A (macOS) and Wireshark will pop up
the Configuration Profiles dialog box as shown in
Figure 11.8, “The configuration profiles dialog box”. It is also possible to click in the “Profile”
part of the statusbar to popup a menu with available Configuration Profiles
(Figure 3.23, “The Statusbar with a configuration profile menu”).

Configuration files stored in each profile include:

  • Preferences (preferences) (Section 11.5, “Preferences”)
  • Capture Filters (cfilters) (Section 6.6, “Defining And Saving Filters”)
  • Display Filters (dfilters) (Section 6.6, “Defining And Saving Filters”)
  • Coloring Rules (colorfilters) (Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”)
  • Disabled Protocols (disabled_protos) (Section 11.4.1, “The “Enabled Protocols” dialog box”)
  • User Accessible Tables:

    • Custom HTTP headers (custom_http_header_fields)
    • Custom IMF headers (imf_header_fields)
    • Custom LDAP AttributeValue types (custom_ldap_attribute_types)
    • Display Filter Macros (dfilter_macros) (Section 11.8, “Display Filter Macros”)
    • ESS Category Attributes (ess_category_attributes)
      (Section 11.9, “ESS Category Attributes”)
    • MaxMind Database Paths (maxmind_db_paths) (Section 11.10, “MaxMind Database Paths”)
    • K12 Protocols (k12_protos) (Section 11.19, “Tektronix K12xx/15 RF5 protocols Table”)
    • Object Identifier Names and Associated Syntaxes (Section 11.12, “Object Identifiers”)
    • PRES Users Context List (pres_context_list) (Section 11.13, “PRES Users Context List”)
    • SCCP Users Table (sccp_users) (Section 11.14, “SCCP users Table”)
    • SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types (snmp_specific_traps)
      (Section 11.17, “SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types”)
    • SNMP Users (snmp_users) (Section 11.18, “SNMP users Table”)
    • User DLTs Table (user_dlts) (Section 11.20, “User DLTs dissector table”)
    • IKEv2 decryption table (ikev2_decryption_table) (Section 11.11, “IKEv2 decryption table”)
    • Protobuf Search Paths (protobuf_search_paths) (Section 11.21, “Protobuf Search Paths”)
    • Protobuf UDP Message Types (protobuf_udp_message_types) (Section 11.22, “Protobuf UDP Message Types”)
  • Changed dissector assignments (decode_as_entries), which can be set in the “Decode
    As…​” dialog box (Section 11.4.2, “User Specified Decodes”).
  • Some recent settings (recent), such as pane sizes in the Main window
    (Section 3.3, “The Main window”), column widths in the packet list
    (Section 3.18, “The “Packet List” Pane”), all selections in the menu
    (Section 3.7, “The “View” Menu”) and the last directory navigated to in the “File
    Open” dialog.

All other configurations are stored in the personal configuration folder and
are common to all profiles.

Figure 11.8. The configuration profiles dialog box

Search for profile …​
The list of profiles can be filtered by entering part of the profile’s name
into the search box.
Type selection

Profiles can be filtered between displaying «All profiles», «Personal profiles»
and «Global profiles»

  • Personal profiles — these are profiles stored in the user’s configuration directory
  • Global profiles — these are profiles provided with Wireshark
New (+)
Create a new profile. The name of the created profile is “New profile”
and is highlighted so that you can more easily change it.
Delete (-)
Deletes the selected profile. This includes all configuration files used
in this profile. Multiple profiles can be selected and deleted at the same time.
It is not possible to delete the “Default” profile or global profiles.
Deletion of the «Default» profile will reset this profile.
Copy
Copies the selected profile. This copies the configuration of the
profile currently selected in the list. The name of the created profile
is the same as the copied profile, with the text “(copy)” and is
highlighted so that you can more easily change it.
Import
Profiles can be imported from zip-archives as well as directly from directory
structures. Profiles, which already exist by name will be skipped, as well as
profiles named «Default».
Export
Profiles can be exported to a zip-archive. Global profiles, as well as the default
profile will be skipped during export. Profiles can be selected in the list individually
and only the selected profiles will be exported
OK
This button saves all changes, applies the selected profile and closes the
dialog.
Cancel
Close this dialog. This will discard unsaved settings, new profiles will not be
added and deleted profiles will not be deleted.
Help
Show this help page.

11.7. User Table

The User Table editor is used for managing various tables in Wireshark. Its main
dialog works very similarly to that of Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”.

11.8. Display Filter Macros

Display Filter Macros are a mechanism to create shortcuts for complex filters.
For example, defining a display filter macro named tcp_conv whose text is

(ip.src == $1 and ip.dst == $2 and tcp.srcport == $3 and tcp.dstport == $4)
or (ip.src == $2 and ip.dst == $1 and tcp.srcport == $4 and tcp.dstport == $3)

would allow to use a display filter like

${tcp_conv:10.1.1.2;10.1.1.3;1200;1400}

instead of typing the whole filter.

Display Filter Macros can be managed with a user table, as described in
Section 11.7, “User Table”, by selecting → from
the menu. The User Table has the following fields:

Name
The name of the macro.
Text
The replacement text for the macro it uses $1, $2, $3, …​ as the input arguments.

11.9. ESS Category Attributes

Wireshark uses this table to map ESS Security Category attributes to textual representations. The values to put in this table are usually found in an XML SPIF, which is used for defining security labels.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

Tag Set
An Object Identifier representing the Category Tag Set.
Value
The value (Label And Cert Value) representing the Category.
Name
The textual representation for the value.

11.10. MaxMind Database Paths

If your copy of Wireshark supports MaxMind’s MaxMindDB library, you can use their databases to match IP addresses to countries, cites, autonomous system numbers, and other bits of information.
Some databases are available at no cost for registered users, while others require a licensing fee.
See the MaxMind web site for more information.

The configuration for the MaxMind database is a user table, as described
in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the following fields:

Database pathname
This specifies a directory containing MaxMind data files. Any files
ending with .mmdb will be automatically loaded.

The locations for your data files are up to you, but /usr/share/GeoIP
and /var/lib/GeoIP are common on Linux and C:ProgramDataGeoIP,
C:Program FilesWiresharkGeoIP might be good choices on Windows.

Previous versions of Wireshark supported MaxMind’s original GeoIP Legacy
database format. They were configured similar to MaxMindDB files above,
except GeoIP files must begin with Geo and end with .dat. They are
no longer supported and MaxMind stopped distributing GeoLite Legacy
databases in April 2018.

11.11. IKEv2 decryption table

Wireshark can decrypt Encrypted Payloads of IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version
2) packets if necessary information is provided. Note that you can decrypt only
IKEv2 packets with this feature. If you want to decrypt IKEv1 packets or ESP
packets, use Log Filename setting under ISAKMP protocol preference or settings
under ESP protocol preference respectively.

This is handled by a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”,
with the following fields:

Initiator’s SPI
Initiator’s SPI of the IKE_SA. This field takes hexadecimal string without
“0x” prefix and the length must be 16 hex chars (represents 8 octets).
Responder’s SPI
Responder’s SPI of the IKE_SA. This field takes hexadecimal string without
“0x” prefix and the length must be 16 hex chars (represents 8 octets).
SK_ei
Key used to encrypt/decrypt IKEv2 packets from initiator to responder. This
field takes hexadecimal string without “0x” prefix and its length must meet
the requirement of the encryption algorithm selected.
SK_er
Key used to encrypt/decrypt IKEv2 packets from responder to initiator. This
field takes hexadecimal string without “0x” prefix and its length must meet
the requirement of the encryption algorithm selected.
Encryption Algorithm
Encryption algorithm of the IKE_SA.
SK_ai
Key used to calculate Integrity Checksum Data for IKEv2 packets from responder
to initiator. This field takes hexadecimal string without “0x” prefix and its
length must meet the requirement of the integrity algorithm selected.
SK_ar
Key used to calculate Integrity Checksum Data for IKEv2 packets from initiator
to responder. This field takes hexadecimal string without “0x” prefix and its
length must meet the requirement of the integrity algorithm selected.
Integrity Algorithm
Integrity algorithm of the IKE_SA.

11.12. Object Identifiers

Many protocols that use ASN.1 use Object Identifiers (OIDs) to uniquely identify
certain pieces of information. In many cases, they are used in an extension
mechanism so that new object identifiers (and associated values) may be defined
without needing to change the base standard.

While Wireshark has knowledge about many of the OIDs and the syntax of their
associated values, the extensibility means that other values may be encountered.

Wireshark uses this table to allow the user to define the name and syntax of
Object Identifiers that Wireshark does not know about (for example, a privately
defined X.400 extension). It also allows the user to override the name and
syntax of Object Identifiers that Wireshark does know about (e.g., changing the
name “id-at-countryName” to just “c”).

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

OID
The string representation of the Object Identifier e.g., “2.5.4.6”.
Name
The name that should be displayed by Wireshark when the Object Identifier is
dissected e.g., (“c”);
Syntax
The syntax of the value associated with the Object Identifier. This must be one
of the syntaxes that Wireshark already knows about (e.g., “PrintableString”).

11.13. PRES Users Context List

Wireshark uses this table to map a presentation context identifier to a given
object identifier when the capture does not contain a PRES package with a
presentation context definition list for the conversation.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

Context Id
An Integer representing the presentation context identifier for which this
association is valid.
Syntax Name OID
The object identifier representing the abstract syntax name, which defines the
protocol that is carried over this association.

11.14. SCCP users Table

Wireshark uses this table to map specific protocols to a certain DPC/SSN
combination for SCCP.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

Network Indicator
An Integer representing the network indicator for which this association is
valid.
Called DPCs
A range of integers representing the dpcs for which this association is valid.
Called SSNs
A range of integers representing the ssns for which this association is valid.
User protocol
The protocol that is carried over this association

11.15. SMI (MIB and PIB) Modules

If your copy of Wireshark supports libSMI, you can specify a list of MIB and PIB
modules here. The COPS and SNMP dissectors can use them to resolve OIDs.

Module name
The name of the module, e.g., IF-MIB.

11.16. SMI (MIB and PIB) Paths

If your copy of Wireshark supports libSMI, you can specify one or more paths to
MIB and PIB modules here.

Directory name
A module directory, e.g., /usr/local/snmp/mibs. Wireshark automatically uses
the standard SMI path for your system, so you usually don’t have to add anything
here.

11.17. SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types

Wireshark uses this table to map specific-trap values to user defined
descriptions in a Trap PDU. The description is shown in the packet details
specific-trap element.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

Enterprise OID
The object identifier representing the object generating the trap.
Trap Id
An Integer representing the specific-trap code.
Description
The description to show in the packet details.

11.18. SNMP users Table

Wireshark uses this table to verify authentication and to decrypt encrypted
SNMPv3 packets.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

Engine ID
If given this entry will be used only for packets whose engine id is this. This
field takes a hexadecimal string in the form 0102030405.
Username
This is the userName. When a single user has more than one password for
different SNMP-engines the first entry to match both is taken, if you need a
catch all engine-id (empty) that entry should be the last one.
Authentication model
Which auth model to use (either “MD5” or “SHA1”).
Password
The authentication password. Use xDD for unprintable characters. A
hexadecimal password must be entered as a sequence of xDD characters. For
example, the hex password 010203040506 must be entered as
x01x02x03x04x05x06. The character must be treated as an unprintable
character, i.e., it must be entered as x5C or x5c.
Privacy protocol
Which encryption algorithm to use (either “DES” or “AES”).
Privacy password
The privacy password. Use xDD for unprintable characters. A hexadecimal
password must be entered as a sequence of xDD characters. For example, the hex
password 010203040506 must be entered as x01x02x03x04x05x06. The
character must be treated as an unprintable character, i.e., it must be entered
as x5C or x5c.

11.19. Tektronix K12xx/15 RF5 protocols Table

The Tektronix K12xx/15 rf5 file format uses helper files (*.stk) to identify the
various protocols that are used by a certain interface. Wireshark doesn’t read
these stk files, it uses a table that helps it identify which lowest layer
protocol to use.

Stk file to protocol matching is handled by a user table, as described
in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the following fields:

Match string
A partial match for an stk filename, the first match wins, so if you have a
specific case and a general one the specific one must appear first in the list.
Protocol
This is the name of the encapsulating protocol (the lowest layer in the packet
data) it can be either just the name of the protocol (e.g., mtp2, eth_withoutfcs,
sscf-nni ) or the name of the encapsulation protocol and the “application”
protocol over it separated by a colon (e.g., sscop:sscf-nni, sscop:alcap,
sscop:nbap, …​)

11.20. User DLTs dissector table

When a pcap file uses one of the user DLTs (147 to 162) Wireshark uses this
table to know which dissector(s) to use for each user DLT.

This table is a user table, as described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the
following fields:

DLT
One of the user dlts.
Payload dissector
This is the name of the payload dissector (the lowest layer in the packet data).
(e.g., “eth_withfcs, «eth_withoutfcs”, and «eth_maybefcs» respectively for Ethernet frames that do, do not, or might possibly include the FCS at the end, “ip” for trying IPv4 then IPv6)
Header size
If there is a header (before the payload) this tells which
size this header is. A value of 0 disables the header dissector.
Header dissector
The name of the header dissector to be used (uses “data” as default).
Trailer size
If there is a trailer (after the payload) this tells which
size this trailer is. A value of 0 disables the trailer dissector.
Trailer dissector
The name of the trailer dissector to be used (uses “data” as default).

11.21. Protobuf Search Paths

The
binary wire format
of Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) messages are not self-described protocol. For
example, the varint wire type in protobuf packet may be converted to int32, int64,
uint32, uint64, sint32, sint64, bool or enum field types of
protocol buffers language.
Wireshark should be configured with Protocol Buffers language files (*.proto) to
enable proper dissection of protobuf data (which may be payload of
gRPC) based on the message, enum and field definitions.

You can specify protobuf search paths at the Protobuf protocol preferences.
For example, if you defined a proto file with path d:/my_proto_files/helloworld.proto
and the helloworld.proto contains a line of import "google/protobuf/any.proto";
because the any type of official protobuf library is used. And the real path of
any.proto is d:/protobuf-3.4.1/include/google/protobuf/any.proto. You should
add the d:/protobuf-3.4.1/include/ and d:/my_proto_files paths into protobuf
search paths.

The configuration for the protobuf search paths is a user table, as described
in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the following fields:

Protobuf source directory
This specifies a directory containing protobuf source files. For example,
d:/protobuf-3.4.1/include/ and d:/my_proto_files in Windows, or
/usr/include/ and /home/alice/my_proto_files in Linux/UNIX.
Load all files
If this option is enabled, Wireshark will load all *.proto files in this directory
and its subdirectories when Wireshark startup or protobuf search paths preferences
changed. Note that the source directories that configured to protobuf official or third
libraries path (like d:/protobuf-3.4.1/include/) should not be set to load all
files, that may cause unnecessary memory use.

11.22. Protobuf UDP Message Types

If the payload of UDP on certain ports is Protobuf encoding, Wireshark use this table
to know which Protobuf message type should be used to parsing the data on the specified
UDP port(s).

The configuration for UDP Port(s) to Protobuf message type maps is a user table, as
described in Section 11.7, “User Table”, with the following fields:

UDP Ports
The range of UDP ports. The format may be «8000» or «8000,8008-8088,9080».
Message Type
The Protobuf message type as which the data on the specified udp port(s) should be parsed.
The message type is allowed to be empty, that means let Protobuf to dissect the data on
specified UDP ports as normal wire type without precise definitions.

Tips: You can create your own dissector to call Protobuf dissector. If your dissector is
written in C language, you can pass the message type to Protobuf dissector by data
parameter of call_dissector_with_data() function. If your dissector is written in Lua, you
can pass the message type to Protobuf dissector by pinfo.private["pb_msg_type"]. The format
of data and pinfo.private["pb_msg_type"] is

    "message," message_type_name

For example:

    message,helloworld.HelloRequest

the helloworld is package name, HelloRequest is message type.

Chapter 12. MATE

12.1. Introduction

MATE: Meta Analysis and Tracing Engine

What is MATE? Well, to keep it very short, with MATE you can create user
configurable extension(s) of the display filter engine.

MATE’s goal is to enable users to filter frames based on information extracted
from related frames or information on how frames relate to each other. MATE
was written to help troubleshooting gateways and other systems where a «use»
involves more protocols. However, MATE can be used as well to analyze other
issues regarding an interaction between packets like response times,
incompleteness of transactions, presence/absence of certain attributes in a
group of PDUs and more.

MATE is a Wireshark plugin that allows the user to specify how different
frames are related to each other. To do so, MATE extracts data from the frames’
tree and then, using that information, tries to group the frames based on how
MATE is configured. Once the PDUs are related, MATE will create a «protocol»
tree with fields the user can filter with. The fields will be almost the same
for all the related frames, so one can filter a complete session spanning
several frames containing more protocols based on an attribute appearing in
some related frame. Other than that MATE allows to filter frames based on
response times, number of PDUs in a group and a lot more.

So far MATE has been used to:

  • Filter all packets of a call using various protocols knowing just the
    calling number. (MATE’s original goal)
  • Filter all packets of all calls using various protocols based on the release
    cause of one of its «segments».
  • Extrapolate slow transactions from very «dense» captures. (finding requests
    that timeout)
  • Find incomplete transactions (no responses)
  • Follow requests through more gateways/proxies.
  • more…​

12.2. Getting Started

These are the steps to try out MATE:

  • Run Wireshark and check if the plugin is installed correct (MATE should
    appear in Help→About→Plugins)
  • Get a configuration file e.g., tcp.mate (see Mate/Examples
    for more) and place it somewhere on your harddisk.
  • Go to Preferences→Protocols→MATE and set the config filename to the file
    you want to use (you don’t have to restart Wireshark)
  • Load a corresponding capture file (e.g.,
    http.cap) and see if MATE
    has added some new display filter fields, something like: mate tcp_pdu:1→tcp_ses:1
    or, at prompt: path_to/wireshark -o "mate.config: tcp.mate" -r http.cap.

If anything went well, your packet details might look something like this:

ws mate tcp output

12.3. MATE Manual

12.3.1. Introduction

MATE creates a filterable tree based on information contained in frames that
share some relationship with information obtained from other frames. The way
these relationships are made is described in a configuration file. The
configuration file tells MATE what makes a PDU and how to relate it to other
PDUs.

MATE analyzes each frame to extract relevant information from the «protocol»
tree of that frame. The extracted information is contained in MATE PDUs;
these contain a list of relevant attributes taken from the tree. From now on, I
will use the term «PDU» to refer to the objects created by MATE containing the
relevant information extracted from the frame; I’ll use «frame» to refer to the
«raw» information extracted by the various dissectors that pre-analyzed the frame.

For every PDU, MATE checks if it belongs to an existing «Group of PDUs» (Gop).
If it does, it assigns the PDU to that Gop and moves any new relevant attributes
to the Gop’s attribute list. How and when do PDUs belong to Gops is described
in the configuration file as well.

Every time a Gop is assigned a new PDU, MATE will check if it matches the
conditions to make it belong to a «Group of Groups» (Gog). Naturally the
conditions that make a Gop belong to a Gog are taken from the configuration
file as well.

Once MATE is done analyzing the frame it will be able to create a «protocol»
tree for each frame based on the PDUs, the Gops they belong to and naturally any
Gogs the former belongs to.

How to tell MATE what to extract, how to group it and then how to relate those
groups is made using AVPs and AVPLs.

Information in MATE is contained in Attribute/Value Pairs (AVPs). AVPs are made
of two strings: the name and the value. AVPs are used in the configuration and
there they have an operator as well. There are various ways AVPs can be matched
against each other using those operators.

AVPs are grouped into AVP Lists (AVPLs). PDUs, Gops and Gogs have an AVPL each.
Their AVPLs will be matched in various ways against others coming from the
configuration file.

MATE will be instructed how to extract AVPs from frames in order to create a PDU
with an AVPL. It will be instructed as well, how to match that AVPL against the
AVPLs of other similar PDUs in order to relate them. In MATE the relationship
between PDUs is a Gop, it has an AVPL as well. MATE will be configured with other
AVPLs to operate against the Gop’s AVPL to relate Gops together into Gogs.

A good understanding on how AVPs and AVPLs work is fundamental to understand how
MATE works.

12.3.2. Attribute Value Pairs

Information used by MATE to relate different frames is contained in Attribute/
Value Pairs (AVPs). AVPs are made of two strings — the name and the value. When
AVPs are used in the configuration, an operator is defined as well. There are
various ways AVPs can be matched against each other using those operators.

  avp_name="avp's value"
  another_name= "1234 is the value"

The name is a string used to refer to a «kind» of an AVP. Two AVPs won’t match
unless their names are identical.

You should not use uppercase characters in names, or names that start with “.” or
“_”. Capitalized names are reserved for configuration parameters (we’ll call them
keywords); nothing forbids you from using capitalized strings for other things as
well but it probably would be confusing. I’ll avoid using capitalized words for
anything but the keywords in this document, the reference manual, the examples
and the base library. Names that start with a “.” would be very confusing as well
because in the old grammar, AVPL transformations use names starting with a “.” to
indicate they belong to the replacement AVPL.

The value is a string that is either set in the configuration (for configuration
AVPs) or by Wireshark while extracting interesting fields from a frame’s tree.
The values extracted from fields use the same representation as they do in filter
strings except that no quotes are used.

The name can contain only alphanumeric characters, «_», and «.». The name ends
with an operator.

The value will be dealt with as a string even if it is a number. If there are
any spaces in the value, the value must be between quotes «».

   ip_addr=10.10.10.11,
   tcp_port=1234,
   binary_data=01:23:45:67:89:ab:cd:ef,
   parameter12=0x23aa,
   parameter_with_spaces="this value has spaces"

The way two AVPs with the same name might match is described by the operator.
Remember two AVPs won’t match unless their names are identical. In MATE, match
operations are always made between the AVPs extracted from frames (called data
AVPs) and the configuration’s AVPs.

Currently defined MATE’s AVP match operators are:

  • Equal = will match if the string given completely matches the data
    AVP’s value string
  • Not Equal ! will match only if the given value string is not equal to
    the data AVP’s value string
  • One Of {} will match if one of the possible strings listed is equal to
    the data AVP’s value string
  • Starts With ^ will match if the string given matches the first
    characters of the data AVP’s value string
  • Ends With $ will match if the string given matches the last characters
    of the data AVP’s value string
  • Contains ~ will match if the string given matches any substring of the
    data AVP’s value string
  • Lower Than < will match if the data AVP’s value string is semantically
    lower than the string given
  • Higher Than > will match if the data AVP’s value string is semantically
    higher than the string given
  • Exists ? (the ? can be omitted) will match as far as a data AVP of the
    given name exists

12.3.3. AVP lists

An AVPL is a set of diverse AVPs that can be matched against other AVPLs. Every
PDU, Gop and Gog has an AVPL that contains the information regarding it. The
rules that MATE uses to group Pdus and Gops are AVPL operations.

There will never be two identical AVPs in a given AVPL. However, we can have
more than one AVP with the same name in an AVPL as long as their values are
different.

Some AVPL examples:

  ( addr=10.20.30.40, addr=192.168.0.1, tcp_port=21, tcp_port=32534, user_cmd=PORT, data_port=12344, data_addr=192.168.0.1 )
  ( addr=10.20.30.40, addr=192.168.0.1, channel_id=22:23, message_type=Setup, calling_number=1244556673 )
  ( addr=10.20.30.40, addr=192.168.0.1, ses_id=01:23:45:67:89:ab:cd:ef )
  ( user_id=pippo, calling_number=1244556673, assigned_ip=10.23.22.123 )

In MATE there are two types of AVPLs:

  • data AVPLs that contain information extracted from frames.
  • operation AVPLs that come from the configuration and are used to tell MATE how
    to relate items based on their data AVPLs.

Data AVPLs can be operated against operation AVPLs in various ways:

  • Loose Match: Will match if at least one of the AVPs of each AVPL
    match. If it matches it will return an AVPL containing all AVPs from the operand
    AVPL that did match the operator’s AVPs.
  • «Every» Match: Will match if none of the AVPs of the operator AVPL
    fails to match a present AVP in the operand AVPL, even if not all of the
    operator’s AVPs have a match. If it matches it will return an AVPL containing
    all AVPs from the operand AVPL that did match one AVP in the operator AVPL.
  • Strict Match: Will match if and only if every one of the operator’s
    AVPs have at least one match in the operand AVPL. If it matches it will return
    an AVPL containing the AVPs from the operand that matched.
  • There’s also a Merge operation that is to be performed between AVPLs
    where all the AVPs that don’t exist in the operand AVPL but exist in the operand
    will be added to the operand AVPL.
  • Other than that, there are Transformations — a combination
    of a match AVPL and an AVPL to merge.

12.3.4. MATE Analysis

MATE’s analysis of a frame is performed in three phases:

  • In the first phase, MATE attempts to extract a MATE Pdu from the frame’s
    protocol tree. MATE will create a Pdu if MATE’s config has a Pdu declaration
    whose Proto is contained in the frame.
  • In the second phase, if a Pdu has been extracted from the frame, MATE will try
    to group it to other Pdus into a Gop (Group of Pdus) by matching the key
    criteria given by a Gop declaration. If there is no Gop yet with the key
    criteria for the Pdu, MATE will try to create a new Gop for it if it matches the
    Start criteria given in the Gop declaration.
  • In the third phase, if there’s a Gop for the Pdu, MATE will try to group this
    Gop with other Gops into a Gog (Group of Groups) using the criteria given by the
    Member criteria of a Gog declaration.

ws mate analysis

The extraction and matching logic comes from MATE’s configuration; MATE’s
configuration file is declared by the mate.config preference. By default it is
an empty string which means: do not configure MATE.

The config file tells MATE what to look for in frames; How to make PDUs out of
it; How will PDUs be related to other similar PDUs into Gops; And how Gops
relate into Gogs.

The MATE configuration file is a list of declarations. There are 4 types of
declarations: Transform, Pdu, Gop and Gog.

12.3.4.1. Mate’s PDU’s

MATE will look in the tree of every frame to see if there is useful data to
extract, and if there is, it will create one or more PDU objects containing the
useful information.

The first part of MATE’s analysis is the «PDU extraction»; there are various
«Actions» that are used to instruct MATE what has to be extracted from the
current frame’s tree into MATE’s PDUs.

12.3.4.1.1. PDU data extraction

MATE will make a Pdu for each different proto field of Proto type present in the
frame. MATE will fetch from the field’s tree those fields that are defined in
the Section 12.8.1, “Pdsu’s configuration actions” declaration whose initial offset in the frame is within the
boundaries of the current Proto and those of the given Transport and Payload
statements.

Pdu dns_pdu Proto dns Transport ip {
    Extract addr From ip.addr;
    Extract dns_id From dns.id;
    Extract dns_resp From dns.flags.response;
};

MATE will make a Pdu for each different proto field of Proto type present in the
frame. MATE will fetch from the field’s tree those fields that are defined in
the Section 12.8.1, “Pdsu’s configuration actions” AVPL whose initial offset in the frame is within the boundaries of
the current Proto and those of the various assigned Transports.

ws mate dns pane

Once MATE has found a Proto field for which to create a Pdu from the frame it
will move backwards in the frame looking for the respective Transport fields.
After that it will create AVPs named as each of those given in the rest of the
AVPL for every instance of the fields declared as its values.

ws mate dns pdu

Sometimes we need information from more than one Transport protocol. In that
case MATE will check the frame looking backwards to look for the various
Transport protocols in the given stack. MATE will choose only the closest
transport boundary per «protocol» in the frame.

This way we’ll have all Pdus for every Proto that appears in a frame match its
relative transports.

Pdu isup_pdu Proto isup Transport mtp3/ip {
        Extract m3pc From mtp3.dpc;
        Extract m3pc From mtp3.opc;
        Extract cic From isup.cic;
        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract isup_msg From isup.message_type;
};

ws mate isup over mtp3 over ip

This allows to assign the right Transport to the Pdu avoiding duplicate
transport protocol entries (in case of tunneled ip over ip for example).

Pdu ftp_pdu Proto ftp Transport tcp/ip {
        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract port From tcp.port;
        Extract ftp_cmd From ftp.command;
};

ws mate ftp over gre

Other than the mandatory Transport there is also an optional Payload
statement, which works pretty much as Transport but refers to elements after
the Proto‘s range. It is useful in those cases where the payload protocol
might not appear in a Pdu but nevertheless the Pdu belongs to the same category.

Pdu mmse_over_http_pdu Proto http Transport tcp/ip {

        Payload mmse;

        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract port From tcp.port;
        Extract method From http.request.method;
        Extract content From http.content_type;
        Extract http_rq From http.request;
        Extract resp From http.response.code;
        Extract host From http.host;
        Extract trx From mmse.transaction_id;
        Extract msg_type From mmse.message_type;
        Extract notify_status From mmse.status;
        Extract send_status From mmse.response_status;
};

ws mate mmse over http

12.3.4.1.2. Conditions on which to create PDUs

There might be cases in which we won’t want MATE to create a PDU unless some of
its extracted attributes meet or do not meet some criteria. For that we use the
Criteria statements of the Pdu declarations.

Pdu isup_pdu Proto isup Transport mtp3/ip {
    ...

   // MATE will create isup_pdu PDUs only when there is not a point code '1234'
   Criteria Reject Strict (m3pc=1234);
};

Pdu ftp_pdu Proto ftp Transport tcp/ip {
    ...

    // MATE will create ftp_pdu PDUs only when they go to port 21 of our ftp_server
    Criteria Accept Strict (addr=10.10.10.10, port=21);
};

The Criteria statement is given an action (Accept or Reject), a match mode
(Strict, Loose or Every) and an AVPL against which to match the currently
extracted one.

12.3.4.1.3. Transforming the attributes of a PDU

Once the fields have been extracted into the Pdu’s AVPL, MATE will apply any
declared transformation to it. The way transforms are applied and how they work
is described later on. However, it’s useful to know that once the AVPL for the
Pdu is created, it may be transformed before being analyzed. That way we can
massage the data to simplify the analysis.

12.3.4.1.4. MATE’s PDU tree

Every successfully created Pdu will add a MATE tree to the frame dissection. If
the Pdu is not related to any Gop, the tree for the Pdu will contain just the
Pdu’s info, if it is assigned to a Gop, the tree will also contain the Gop items,
and the same applies for the Gog level.

mate dns_pdu:1
    dns_pdu: 1
        dns_pdu time: 3.750000
        dns_pdu Attributes
            dns_resp: 0
            dns_id: 36012
            addr: 10.194.4.11
            addr: 10.194.24.35

The Pdu’s tree contains some filterable fields

  • mate.dns_pdu will contain the number of the «dns_pdu» Pdu
  • mate.dns_pdu.RelativeTime will contain the time passed since the beginning
    of the capture in seconds
  • the tree will contain the various attributes of the Pdu as well, these will
    all be strings (to be used in filters as «10.0.0.1», not as 10.0.0.1)

    • mate.dns_pdu.dns_resp
    • mate.dns_pdu.dns_id
    • mate.dns_pdu.addr

12.3.4.2. Grouping Pdus together (Gop)

Once MATE has created the Pdus it passes to the Pdu analysis phase. During the
PDU analysis phase MATE will try to group Pdus of the same type into ‘Groups of
Pdus’ (aka *Gop*s) and copy some AVPs from the Pdu’s AVPL to the Gop’s AVPL.

ws mate pdu analysis

12.3.4.2.1. What can belong to a Gop

Given a Pdu, the first thing MATE will do is to check if there is any Gop
declaration in the configuration for the given Pdu type. If so, it will use its
Match AVPL to match it against the Pdu’s AVPL; if they don’t match, the
analysis phase is done. If there is a match, the AVPL is the Gop’s candidate key
which will be used to search the Gop’s index for the Gop to which to assign
the current PDU. If there is no such Gop and this Pdu does not match the
Start criteria of a Gop declaration for the Pdu type, the Pdu will remain
unassigned and only the analysis phase will be done.

Gop ftp_ses On ftp_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port);
Gop dns_req On dns_pdu Match (addr, addr, dns_id);
Gop isup_leg On isup_pdu Match (m3pc, m3pc, cic);
12.3.4.2.2. Start of a Gop

If there was a match, the candidate key will be used to search the Gop’s index
to see if there is already a Gop matching the Gop’s key the same way. If there
is such a match in the Gops collection, and the PDU doesn’t match the Start
AVPL for its kind, the PDU will be assigned to the matching Gop. If it is a
Start match, MATE will check whether or not that Gop has been already
stopped. If the Gop has been stopped, a new Gop will be created and will replace
the old one in the Gop’s index.

Gop ftp_ses On ftp_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
    Start (ftp_cmd=USER);
};

Gop dns_req On dns_pdu Match (addr, addr, dns_id) {
    Start (dns_resp=0);
};

Gop isup_leg On isup_pdu Match (m3pc, m3pc, cic) {
    Start (isup_msg=1);
};

If no Start is given for a Gop, a Pdu whose AVPL matches an existing Gog’s
key will act as the start of a Gop.

12.3.4.2.3. What goes into the Gop’s AVPL

Once we know a Gop exists and the Pdu has been assigned to it, MATE will copy
into the Gop’s AVPL all the attributes matching the key plus any AVPs of the
Pdu’s AVPL matching the Extra AVPL.

Gop ftp_ses On ftp_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
    Start (ftp_cmd=USER);
    Extra (pasv_prt, pasv_addr);
};

Gop isup_leg On isup_pdu Match (m3pc, m3pc, cic) {
    Start (isup_msg=1);
    Extra (calling, called);
};
12.3.4.2.4. End of a Gop

Once the Pdu has been assigned to the Gop, MATE will check whether or not the
Pdu matches the Stop, if it happens, MATE will mark the Gop as stopped. Even
after stopped, a Gop may get assigned new Pdus matching its key, unless such
Pdu matches Start. If it does, MATE will instead create a new Gop starting
with that Pdu.

Gop ftp_ses On ftp_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
    Start (ftp_cmd=USER);
    Stop (ftp_cmd=QUIT); // The response to the QUIT command will be assigned to the same Gop
    Extra (pasv_prt, pasv_addr);
};

Gop dns_req On dns_pdu Match (addr, addr, dns_id) {
    Start (dns_resp=0);
    Stop (dns_resp=1);
};

Gop isup_leg On isup_pdu Match (m3pc, m3pc, cic) {
    Start (isup_msg=1); // IAM
    Stop (isup_msg=16); // RLC
    Extra (calling, called);
};

If no Stop criterium is stated for a given Gop, the Gop will be stopped as
soon as it is created. However, as with any other Gop, Pdus matching the Gop’s
key will still be assigned to the Gop unless they match a Start condition,
in which case a new Gop using the same key will be created.

12.3.4.3. Gop’s tree

For every frame containing a Pdu that belongs to a Gop, MATE will create a tree
for that Gop.

The example below represents the tree created by the dns_pdu and dns_req
examples.

...
mate dns_pdu:6->dns_req:1
    dns_pdu: 6
        dns_pdu time: 2.103063
        dns_pdu time since beginning of Gop: 2.103063
        dns_req: 1
            dns_req Attributes
                dns_id: 36012
                addr: 10.194.4.11
                addr: 10.194.24.35
            dns_req Times
                dns_req start time: 0.000000
                dns_req hold time: 2.103063
                dns_req duration: 2.103063
            dns_req number of PDUs: 2
                Start PDU: in frame 1
                Stop PDU: in frame 6 (2.103063 : 2.103063)
        dns_pdu Attributes
            dns_resp: 1
            dns_id: 36012
            addr: 10.194.4.11
            addr: 10.194.24.35

Other than the pdu’s tree, this one contains information regarding the
relationship between the Pdus that belong to the Gop. That way we have:

  • mate.dns_req which contains the id of this dns_req Gop. This will be present
    in frames that belong to dns_req Gops.
  • mate.dns_req.dns_id and mate.dns_req.addr which represent the values of the
    attributes copied into the Gop.
  • the timers of the Gop

    • mate.dns_req.StartTime time (in seconds) passed since beginning of capture
      until Gop’s start.
    • mate.dns_req.Time time passed between the start Pdu and the stop Pdu assigned
      to this Gop (only created if a Stop criterion has been declared for the Gop and
      a matching Pdu has arrived).
    • mate.dns_req.Duration time passed between the start Pdu and the last Pdu
      assigned to this Gop.
  • mate.dns_req.NumOfPdus the number of Pdus that belong to this Gop

    • a filterable list of frame numbers of the pdus of this Gop
12.3.4.3.1. Gop’s timers

Note that there are two «timers» for a Gop:

  • Time, which is defined only for Gops that have been Stopped, and gives the
    time passed between the Start and the Stop Pdus.
  • Duration, which is defined for every Gop regardless of its state, and give
    the time passed between its Start Pdu and the last Pdu that was assigned to
    that Gop.

So:

  • we can filter for Pdus that belong to Gops that have been Stopped with
    mate.xxx.Time
  • we can filter for Pdus that belong to unstopped Gops with mate.xxx &&
    mate.xxx.Time
  • we can filter for Pdus that belong to stopped Gops using mate.xxx.Duration
  • we can filter for Pdus that belong to Gops that have taken more (or less) time
    that 0.5s to complete with mate.xxx.Time > 0.5 (you can try these also as
    color filters to find out when response times start to grow)

12.3.4.4. Grouping Gops together (Gog)

When Gops are created, or whenever their AVPL changes, Gops are (re)analyzed to
check if they match an existent group of groups (Gog) or can create a new one.
The Gop analysis is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the still
unassigned Gop is checked to verify whether it belongs to an already existing
Gog or may create a new one. The second phase eventually checks the Gog and
registers its keys in the Gogs index.

ws mate gop analysis

There are several reasons for the author to believe that this feature needs to
be reimplemented, so probably there will be deep changes in the way this is done
in the near future. This section of the documentation reflects the version of
MATE as of Wireshark 0.10.9; in future releases this will change.

12.3.4.4.1. Declaring a Group Of Groups

The first thing we have to do configuring a Gog is to tell MATE that it exists.

Gog web_use {
   ...
};
12.3.4.4.2. Telling MATE what could be a Gog member

Then we have to tell MATE what to look for a match in the candidate Gops.

Gog web_use {
    Member http_ses (host);
    Member dns_req (host);
};
12.3.4.4.3. Getting interesting data into the Gop

Most often, also other attributes than those used for matching would be
interesting. In order to copy from Gop to Gog other interesting attributes, we
might use Extra like we do for Gops.

Gog web_use {
    ...
    Extra (cookie);
};
12.3.4.4.4. Gog’s tree

mate http_pdu:4->http_req:2->http_use:1
    http_pdu: 4
        http_pdu time: 1.309847
        http_pdu time since beginning of Gop: 0.218930
        http_req: 2
            ... (the gop's tree for http_req: 2) ..
        http_use: 1
            http_use Attributes
                host: www.example.com
            http_use Times
                http_use start time: 0.000000
                http_use duration: 1.309847
            number of GOPs: 3
                dns_req: 1
                    ... (the gop's tree for dns_req: 1) ..
                http_req: 1
                    ... (the gop's tree for http_req: 1) ..
                http_req of current frame: 2

We can filter on:

  • mate.http_use.Duration time elapsed between the first frame of a Gog and the last one assigned to it.
  • the attributes passed to the Gog

    • mate.http_use.host

12.3.4.5. AVPL Transforms

A Transform is a sequence of Match rules optionally completed with modification
of the match result by an additional AVPL. Such modification may be an Insert
(merge) or a Replace. Transforms can be used as helpers to manipulate an item’s
AVPL before it is processed further. They come to be very helpful in several
cases.

12.3.4.5.1. Syntax

AVPL Transformations are declared in the following way:

 Transform name {
   Match [Strict|Every|Loose] match_avpl [Insert|Replace] modify_avpl ;
   ...
 };

The name is the handle to the AVPL transformation. It is used to refer to the
transform when invoking it later.

The Match declarations instruct MATE what and how to match against the data
AVPL and how to modify the data AVPL if the match succeeds. They will be
executed in the order they appear in the config file whenever they are invoked.

The optional match mode qualifier (Strict, Every, or Loose) is used
to choose the match mode as explained above; Strict is a default value which
may be omitted.

The optional modification mode qualifier instructs MATE how the modify AVPL
should be used:

  • the default value Insert (which may be omitted) causes the modify_avpl
    to be merged to the existing data AVPL,
  • the Replace causes all the matching AVPs from the data AVPL to be
    replaced by the modify_avpl.

The modify_avpl may be an empty one; this comes useful in some cases for
both Insert and Replace modification modes.

Examples:

 Transform insert_name_and {
   Match Strict (host=10.10.10.10, port=2345) Insert (name=JohnDoe);
};

adds name=JohnDoe to the data AVPL if it contains host=10.10.10.10 and
port=2345

Transform insert_name_or {
   Match Loose (host=10.10.10.10, port=2345) Insert (name=JohnDoe);
};

adds name=JohnDoe to the data AVPL if it contains host=10.10.10.10 or
port=2345

Transform replace_ip_address {
   Match (host=10.10.10.10) Replace (host=192.168.10.10);
};

replaces the original host=10.10.10.10 by host=192.168.10.10

Transform add_ip_address {
   Match (host=10.10.10.10) (host=192.168.10.10);
};

adds (inserts) host=192.168.10.10 to the AVPL, keeping the original
host=10.10.10.10 in it too

 Transform replace_may_be_surprising {
   Match Loose (a=aaaa, b=bbbb) Replace (c=cccc, d=dddd);
 };

gives the following results:

  • (a=aaaa, b=eeee) gets transformed to (b=eeee, c=cccc, d=dddd) because a=aaaa
    did match so it got replaced while b=eeee did not match so it has been left
    intact,
  • (a=aaaa, b=bbbb) gets transformed to (c=cccc, d=dddd) because both a=aaaa and
    b=bbbb did match.
12.3.4.5.2. Usage

Once declared, Transforms can be added to the declarations of PDUs, Gops or
Gogs. This is done by adding the Transform name_list statement to the
declaration:

Pdu my_proto_pdu Proto my_proto Transport ip {
    Extract addr From ip.addr;
    ...
    Transform my_pdu_transform[, other_pdu_transform[, yet_another_pdu_transform]];
};
  • In case of PDU, the list of transforms is applied against the PDU’s AVPL
    after its creation.
  • In case of Gop and Gog, the list of transforms is applied against their
    respective AVPLs when they are created and every time they change.

12.3.4.6. Operation

ws mate transform

  • A list of previously declared Transforms may be given to every Item (Pdu, Gop,
    or Gog), using the Transform statement.
  • Every time the AVPL of an item changes, it will be operated against all the
    Transforms on the list given to that item. The Transforms on the list are
    applied left to right.
  • Inside each of the Transforms, the item’s AVPL will be operated against the
    Transform’s Match clauses starting from the topmost one, until all have been
    tried or until one of them succeeds.

MATE’s Transforms can be used for many different things, like:

12.3.4.6.1. Multiple Start/Stop conditions for a Gop

Using Transforms we can add more than one start or stop condition to a Gop.

Transform start_cond {
  Match (attr1=aaa,attr2=bbb) (msg_type=start);
  Match (attr3=www,attr2=bbb) (msg_type=start);
  Match (attr5^a) (msg_type=stop);
  Match (attr6$z) (msg_type=stop);
};

Pdu pdu ... {
  ...
  Transform start_cond;
}

Gop gop ... {
  Start (msg_type=start);
  Stop (msg_type=stop);
  ...
}
12.3.4.6.2. Marking Gops and Gogs to filter them easily

Transform marks {
  Match (addr=10.10.10.10, user=john) (john_at_host);
  Match (addr=10.10.10.10, user=tom) (tom_at_host);
}

...

Gop my_gop ... {
  ...
  Transform marks;
}

After that we can use a display filter mate.gop.john_at_host or
mate.gop.tom_at_host

12.3.4.6.3. Adding direction knowledge to MATE

Transform direction_as_text {
  Match (src=192.168.0.2, dst=192.168.0.3) Replace (direction=from_2_to_3);
  Match (src=192.168.0.3, dst=192.168.0.2) Replace (direction=from_3_to_2);
};

Pdu my_pdu Proto my_proto Transport tcp/ip {
  Extract src From ip.src;
  Extract dst From ip.dst;
  Extract addr From ip.addr;
  Extract port From tcp.port;
  Extract start From tcp.flags.syn;
  Extract stop From tcp.flags.fin;
  Extract stop From tcp.flags.rst;
  Transform direction_as_text;
}

Gop my_gop On my_pdu Match (addr,addr,port,port) {
  ...
  Extra (direction);
}
12.3.4.6.4. NAT

NAT can create problems when tracing, but we can easily work around it by
Transforming the NATed IP address and the Ethernet address of the router into
the non-NAT address:

Transform denat {
  Match (addr=192.168.0.5, ether=01:02:03:04:05:06) Replace (addr=123.45.67.89);
  Match (addr=192.168.0.6, ether=01:02:03:04:05:06) Replace (addr=123.45.67.90);
  Match (addr=192.168.0.7, ether=01:02:03:04:05:06) Replace (addr=123.45.67.91);
}

Pdu my_pdu Proto my_proto transport tcp/ip/eth {
  Extract ether From eth.addr;
  Extract addr From ip.addr;
  Extract port From tcp.port;
  Transform denat;
}

12.3.5. About MATE

MATE was originally written by Luis Ontanon, a Telecommunications systems
troubleshooter, as a way to save time filtering out the packets of a single call
from huge capture files using just the calling number. Later he used the time he
had saved to make it flexible enough to work with protocols other than the ones
he was directly involved with.

12.4. MATE’s configuration tutorial

We’ll show a MATE configuration that first creates Gops for every DNS and HTTP
request, then it ties the Gops together in a Gop based on the host. Finally,
we’ll separate into different Gogs request coming from different users.

With this MATE configuration loaded we can:

  • use mate.http_use.Duration > 5.5 to filter frames based on the time it takes
    to load a complete page from the DNS request to resolve its name until the last
    image gets loaded.
  • use mate.http_use.client == «10.10.10.20» && mate.http_use.host == «www.example.com»
    to isolate DNS and HTTP packets related to a visit of a certain user.
  • use mate.http_req.Duration > 1.5 to filter all the packets of HTTP requests
    that take more than 1.5 seconds to complete.

The complete config file is available on the Wireshark Wiki:
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Mate/Tutorial

Note: This example uses dns.qry.name which is defined since Wireshark
version 0.10.9. Supposing you have a mate plugin already installed you can test
it with the current Wireshark version.

12.4.1. A Gop for DNS requests

First we’ll tell MATE how to create a Gop for each DNS request/response.

MATE needs to know what makes a DNS PDU. We describe it this using a Pdu
declaration:

Pdu dns_pdu Proto dns Transport ip {
  Extract addr From ip.addr;
  Extract dns_id From dns.id;
  Extract dns_resp From dns.flags.response;
};

Using Proto dns we tell MATE to create Pdus every time it finds dns. Using
Transport ip we inform MATE that some of the fields we are interested are
in the ip part of the frame. Finally, we tell MATE to import ip.addr as
addr, dns.id as dns_id and dns.flags.response as dns_resp.

Once we’ve told MATE how to extract dns_pdus we’ll tell it how to match
requests and responses and group them into a Gop. For this we’ll use a Gop
declaration to define the Gop, and then, Start and Stop statements to
tell it when the Gop starts and ends.

Gop dns_req On dns_pdu Match (addr,addr,dns_id) {
  Start (dns_resp=0);
  Stop (dns_resp=1);
};

Using the Gop declaration we tell MATE that the Name of the Gop is dns_req,
that dns_pdus can become members of the Gop, and what is the key used to match
the Pdus to the Gop.

The key for this Gop is «addr, addr, dns_id». That means that in order to
belong to the same Gop, dns_pdus have to have both addresses and the
request id identical. We then instruct MATE that a dns_req starts whenever
a dns_pdu matches «dns_resp=0» and that it stops when another dns_pdu
matches «dns_resp=1».

At this point, if we open a capture file using this configuration, we are able
to use a display filter mate.dns_req.Time > 1 to see only the packets of
DNS requests that take more than one second to complete.

We can use a display filter mate.dns_req && ! mate.dns_req.Time to find
requests for which no response was given. mate.xxx.Time is set only for Gops
that have being stopped.

12.4.2. A Gop for HTTP requests

This other example creates a Gop for every HTTP request.

Pdu http_pdu Proto http Transport tcp/ip {
  Extract addr From ip.addr;
  Extract port From tcp.port;
  Extract http_rq From http.request.method;
  Extract http_rs From http.response;
  DiscardPduData true;
};

Gop http_req On http_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
  Start (http_rq);
  Stop (http_rs);
};

So, if we open a capture using this configuration

  • filtering with mate.http_req.Time > 1 will give all the requests where the
    response header takes more than one second to come
  • filtering with mate.http_req.Duration > 1.5 will show those request that
    take more than 1.5 seconds to complete.

You have to know that mate.xxx.Time gives the time in seconds between the pdu
matching the GopStart and the Pdu matching the GopStop (yes, you can create
timers using this!). On the other hand, mate.xxx.Duration gives you the time
passed between the GopStart and the last pdu assigned to that Gop regardless
whether it is a stop or not. After the GopStop, Pdus matching the Gop’s Key will
still be assigned to the same Gop as far as they don’t match the GopStart, in
which case a new Gop with the same key will be created.

12.4.3. Getting DNS and HTTP together into a Gog

We’ll tie together to a single Gog all the http packets belonging to requests
and responses to a certain host and the dns request and response used to resolve
its domain name using the Pdu and Gop definitions of the previous examples

To be able to group DNS and HTTP requests together, we need to import into the
Pdus and Gops some part of information that both those protocols share. Once the
Pdus and Gops have been defined, we can use Extract (for Pdus) and
Extract (for Gops) statements to tell MATE what other protocol fields are to
be added to Pdus’ and Gops’ AVPLs. We add the following statements to the
appropriate declarations:

Extract host From http.host; // to Pdu http_pdu as the last Extract in the list
Extra (host); // to Gop http_req after the Stop

Extract host From dns.qry.name; // to Pdu dns_pdu as the last Extract in the list
Extra (host); // to Gop dns_req after the Stop

Here we’ve told MATE to import http.host into http_pdu and dns.qry.name
into dns_pdu as host. We also have to tell MATE to copy the host
attribute from the Pdus to the Gops, we do this using Extra.

Once we have all the data we need in Pdus and Gops, we tell MATE what makes
different Gops belong to a certain Gog.

Gog http_use {
  Member http_req (host);
  Member dns_req (host);
  Expiration 0.75;
};

Using the Gog declaration, we tell MATE to define a Gog type Named
http_use whose expiration is 0.75 seconds after all the Gops that belong to it
had been stopped. After that time, an eventual new Gop with the same key match
will create a new Gog instead of been added to the previous Gog.

Using the Member statements, we tell MATE that http_req*s with the same
*host
belong to the same Gog, same thing for *dns_req*s.

So far we have instructed mate to group every packet related to sessions towards
a certain host. At this point if we open a capture file and:

  • a display filter mate.http_use.Duration > 5 will show only those requests
    that have taken more than 5 seconds to complete starting from the DNS request
    and ending with the last packet of the http responses.
  • a display filter mate.http_use.host == «www.w3c.org» will show all the
    packets (both DNS and HTTP) related to the requests directed to www.w3c.org

12.4.4. Separating requests from multiple users

«Houston: we’ve had a problem here.»

This configuration works fine if used for captures taken at the client’s side
but deeper in the network we’d got a real mess. Requests from many users get
mixed together into http_uses. Gogs are created and stopped almost randomly
(depending on the timing in which Gops start and stop). How do we get requests
from individual users separated from each other?

MATE has a tool that can be used to resolve this kind of grouping issues. This
tool are the Transforms. Once defined, they can be applied against Pdus,
Gops and Gogs and they might replace or insert more attributes based on what’s
there. We’ll use them to create an attribute named client, using which we’ll
separate different requests.

For DNS we need the ip.src of the request moved into the Gop only from the DNS
request.

So we first tell MATE to import ip.src as client:

Extract client From ip.src;

Next, we tell MATE to replace ( dns_resp=1, client ) with just dns_resp=1 in
the Pdu. That way, we’ll keep the attribute client only in the DNS request
Pdus (i.e., packets coming from the client).To do so, we have to add a
Transform declaration (in this case, with just one clause) before the Pdu
declaration which uses it:

Transform rm_client_from_dns_resp {
  Match (dns_resp=1, client) Replace (dns_resp=1);
};

Next, we invoke the transform by adding the following line after the Extract
list of the dns_pdu Pdu:

  Transform rm_client_from_dns_resp;

HTTP is a little trickier. We have to remove the attribute carrying ip.src from
both the response and the «continuations» of the response, but as there is
nothing to filter on for the continuations, we have to add a fake attribute
first. And then we have to remove client when the fake attribute appears.
This is possible due to the fact that the Match clauses in the Transform
are executed one by one until one of them succeeds. First, we declare another
two Transforms:

Transform rm_client_from_http_resp1 {
  Match (http_rq); //first match wins so the request won't get the not_rq attribute inserted
  Match Every (addr) Insert (not_rq); //this line won't be evaluated if the first one matched so not_rq won't be inserted to requests
};

Transform rm_client_from_http_resp2 {
  Match (not_rq, client) Replace (); //replace "client and not_rq" with nothing (will happen only in the response and eventual parts of it)
};

Next, we add another Extract statement to the http_pdu declaration, and
apply both Transforms declared above in a proper order:

  Extract client From ip.src;
  Transform rm_client_from_http_resp1, rm_client_from_http_resp2;

In MATE, all the Transform_s listed for an item will be evaluated, while
inside a single _Transform
, the evaluation will stop at the first successful
Match clause. That’s why we first just match http_rq to get out of the
first sequence before adding the not_rq attribute. Then we apply the second
Transform which removes both not_rq and client if both are there. Yes,
_Transform_s are cumbersome, but they are very useful.

Once we got all what we need in the Pdus, we have to tell MATE to copy the
attribute client from the Pdus to the respective Gops, by adding client to
Extra lists of both Gop declarations:

Extra (host, client);

On top of that, we need to modify the old declarations of Gop key to new ones
that include both client and host. So we change the Gog Member
declarations the following way:

  Member http_req (host, client);
  Member dns_req (host, client);

Now we got it, every «usage» gets its own Gog.

12.5. MATE configuration examples

The following is a collection of various configuration examples for MATE. Many
of them are useless because the «conversations» facility does a better job.
Anyway they are meant to help users understanding how to configure MATE.

12.5.1. TCP session

The following example creates a GoP out of every TCP session.

Pdu tcp_pdu Proto tcp Transport ip {
    Extract addr From ip.addr;
    Extract port From tcp.port;
    Extract tcp_start From tcp.flags.syn;
    Extract tcp_stop From tcp.flags.reset;
    Extract tcp_stop From tcp.flags.fin;
};

Gop tcp_ses On tcp_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
    Start (tcp_start=1);
    Stop (tcp_stop=1);
};

Done;

This probably would do fine in 99.9% of the cases but 10.0.0.1:20→10.0.0.2:22 and 10.0.0.1:22→10.0.0.2:20 would both fall into the same gop if they happen to overlap in time.

  • filtering with mate.tcp_ses.Time > 1 will give all the sessions that last less than one second
  • filtering with mate.tcp_ses.NumOfPdus < 5 will show all tcp sessions that have less than 5 packets.
  • filtering with mate.tcp_ses.Id == 3 will show all the packets for the third tcp session MATE has found

12.5.2. a Gog for a complete FTP session

This configuration allows to tie a complete passive ftp session (including the
data transfer) in a single Gog.

Pdu ftp_pdu Proto ftp Transport tcp/ip {
        Extract ftp_addr From ip.addr;
        Extract ftp_port From tcp.port;
        Extract ftp_resp From ftp.response.code;
        Extract ftp_req From ftp.request.command;
        Extract server_addr From ftp.passive.ip;
        Extract server_port From ftp.passive.port;

        LastPdu;
};

Pdu ftp_data_pdu Proto ftp-data Transport tcp/ip{
        Extract server_addr From ip.src;
        Extract server_port From tcp.srcport;

};

Gop ftp_data On ftp_data_pdu (server_addr, server_port) {
        Start (server_addr);
};

Gop ftp_ctl On ftp_pdu (ftp_addr, ftp_addr, ftp_port, ftp_port) {
        Start (ftp_resp=220);
        Stop (ftp_resp=221);
        Extra (server_addr, server_port);
};

Gog ftp_ses {
        Member ftp_ctl (ftp_addr, ftp_addr, ftp_port, ftp_port);
        Member ftp_data (server_addr, server_port);
};

Done;

Note: not having anything to distinguish between ftp-data packets makes this
config to create one Gop for every ftp-data packet instead of each transfer.
Pre-started Gops would avoid this.

12.5.3. using RADIUS to filter SMTP traffic of a specific user

Spying on people, in addition to being immoral, is illegal in many countries.
This is an example meant to explain how to do it not an invitation to do so.
It’s up to the police to do this kind of job when there is a good reason to do
so.

Pdu radius_pdu On radius Transport udp/ip {
    Extract addr From ip.addr;
    Extract port From udp.port;
    Extract radius_id From radius.id;
    Extract radius_code From radius.code;
    Extract user_ip From radius.framed_addr;
    Extract username From radius.username;
}

Gop radius_req On radius_pdu (radius_id, addr, addr, port, port) {
    Start (radius_code {1|4|7} );
    Stop (radius_code {2|3|5|8|9} );
    Extra (user_ip, username);
}

// we define the smtp traffic we want to filter
Pdu user_smtp Proto smtp Transport tcp/ip {
    Extract user_ip From ip.addr;
    Extract smtp_port From tcp.port;
    Extract tcp_start From tcp.flags.syn;
    Extract tcp_stop From tcp.flags.reset;
}

Gop user_smtp_ses On user_smtp (user_ip, user_ip, smtp_port!25) {
    Start (tcp_start=1);
    Stop (tcp_stop=1);
}

// with the following group of groups we'll group together the radius and the smtp
// we set a long expiration to avoid the session expire on long pauses.
Gog user_mail {
    Expiration 1800;
    Member radius_req (user_ip);
    Member user_smtp_ses (user_ip);
    Extra (username);
}

Done;

Filtering the capture file with mate.user_mail.username == «theuser» will
filter the radius packets and smtp traffic for «theuser».

12.5.4. H323 Calls

This configuration will create a Gog out of every call.

Pdu q931 Proto q931 Transport ip {
        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract call_ref From q931.call_ref;
        Extract q931_msg From q931.message_type;
        Extract calling From q931.calling_party_number.digits;
        Extract called From q931.called_party_number.digits;
        Extract guid From h225.guid;
        Extract q931_cause From q931.cause_value;
};

Gop q931_leg On q931 Match (addr, addr, call_ref) {
        Start (q931_msg=5);
        Stop (q931_msg=90);
        Extra (calling, called, guid, q931_cause);
};

Pdu ras Proto h225.RasMessage Transport ip {
        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract ras_sn From h225.requestSeqNum;
        Extract ras_msg From h225.RasMessage;
        Extract guid From h225.guid;
};

Gop ras_req On ras Match (addr, addr, ras_sn) {
        Start (ras_msg {0|3|6|9|12|15|18|21|26|30} );
        Stop (ras_msg {1|2|4|5|7|8|10|11|13|14|16|17|19|20|22|24|27|28|29|31});
        Extra (guid);
};

Gog call {
        Member ras_req (guid);
        Member q931_leg (guid);
        Extra (called,calling,q931_cause);
};

Done;

with this we can:

  • filter all signalling for a specific caller: mate.call.caller == «123456789»
  • filter all signalling for calls with a specific release cause: mate.call.q931_cause == 31
  • filter all signalling for very short calls: mate.q931_leg.Time < 5

12.5.5. MMS

With this example, all the components of an MMS send or receive will be tied
into a single Gog. Note that this example uses the Payload clause because
MMS delivery uses MMSE over either HTTP or WSP. As it is not possible to relate
the retrieve request to a response by the means of MMSE only (the request is
just an HTTP GET without any MMSE), a Gop is made of HTTP Pdus but MMSE data
need to be extracted from the bodies.

## WARNING: this example has been blindly translated from the "old" MATE syntax
## and it has been verified that Wireshark accepts it. However, it has not been
## tested against any capture file due to lack of the latter.

Transform rm_client_from_http_resp1 {
        Match (http_rq);
        Match Every (addr) Insert (not_rq);
};

Transform rm_client_from_http_resp2 {
        Match (not_rq,ue) Replace ();
};

Pdu mmse_over_http_pdu Proto http Transport tcp/ip {
        Payload mmse;
        Extract addr From ip.addr;
        Extract port From tcp.port;
        Extract http_rq From http.request;
        Extract content From http.content_type;
        Extract resp From http.response.code;
        Extract method From http.request.method;
        Extract host From http.host;
        Extract content From http.content_type;
        Extract trx From mmse.transaction_id;
        Extract msg_type From mmse.message_type;
        Extract notify_status From mmse.status;
        Extract send_status From mmse.response_status;
        Transform rm_client_from_http_resp1, rm_client_from_http_resp2;
};

Gop mmse_over_http On mmse_over_http_pdu Match (addr, addr, port, port) {
        Start (http_rq);
        Stop (http_rs);
        Extra (host, ue, resp, notify_status, send_status, trx);
};

Transform mms_start {
        Match Loose() Insert (mms_start);
};

Pdu mmse_over_wsp_pdu Proto wsp Transport ip {
        Payload mmse;
        Extract trx From mmse.transaction_id;
        Extract msg_type From mmse.message_type;
        Extract notify_status From mmse.status;
        Extract send_status From mmse.response_status;
        Transform mms_start;
};

Gop mmse_over_wsp On mmse_over_wsp_pdu Match (trx) {
        Start (mms_start);
        Stop (never);
        Extra (ue, notify_status, send_status);
};

Gog mms {
        Member mmse_over_http (trx);
        Member mmse_over_wsp (trx);
        Extra (ue, notify_status, send_status, resp, host, trx);
        Expiration 60.0;
};

12.6. MATE’s configuration library

The MATE library (will) contains GoP definitions for several protocols. Library
protocols are included in your MATE config using: _Action=Include;
Lib=proto_name;_.

For Every protocol with a library entry, we’ll find defined what from the PDU is
needed to create a GoP for that protocol, eventually any criteria and the very
essential GoP definition (i.e., GopDef, GopStart and GopStop).

[Note] Note

It seems that this code is written in the old syntax of MATE. So far it has not
been transcribed into the new format. It may still form the basis to recreate
these in the new format.

12.6.1. General use protocols

12.6.1.1. TCP

It will create a GoP for every TCP session, If it is used it should be the last
one in the list. And every other proto on top of TCP should be declared with
Stop=TRUE; so the a TCP PDU is not created where we got already one going on.

   Action=PduDef; Name=tcp_pdu; Proto=tcp; Transport=ip; addr=ip.addr; port=tcp.port; tcp_start=tcp.flags.syn; tcp_stop=tcp.flags.fin; tcp_stop=tcp.flags.reset;
   Action=GopDef; Name=tcp_session; On=tcp_pdu; addr; addr; port; port;
   Action=GopStart; For=tcp_session; tcp_start=1;
   Action=GopStop; For=tcp_session; tcp_stop=1;

12.6.1.2. DNS

will create a GoP containing every request and its response (eventually
retransmissions too).

Action=PduDef; Name=dns_pdu; Proto=dns; Transport=udp/ip; addr=ip.addr; port=udp.port; dns_id=dns.id; dns_rsp=dns.flags.response;

Action=GopDef; Name=dns_req; On=dns_pdu; addr; addr; port!53; dns_id;
Action=GopStart; For=dns_req; dns_rsp=0;
Action=GopStop; For=dns_req; dns_rsp=1;

12.6.1.3. RADIUS

A Gop for every transaction.

Action=PduDef; Name=radius_pdu; Proto=radius; Transport=udp/ip; addr=ip.addr; port=udp.port; radius_id=radius.id; radius_code=radius.code;

Action=GopDef; Name=radius_req; On=radius_pdu; radius_id; addr; addr; port; port;
Action=GopStart; For=radius_req; radius_code|1|4|7;
Action=GopStop; For=radius_req; radius_code|2|3|5|8|9;

12.6.1.4. RTSP

Action=PduDef; Name=rtsp_pdu; Proto=rtsp; Transport=tcp/ip; addr=ip.addr; port=tcp.port; rtsp_method=rtsp.method;
Action=PduExtra; For=rtsp_pdu; rtsp_ses=rtsp.session; rtsp_url=rtsp.url;

Action=GopDef; Name=rtsp_ses; On=rtsp_pdu; addr; addr; port; port;
Action=GopStart; For=rtsp_ses; rtsp_method=DESCRIBE;
Action=GopStop; For=rtsp_ses; rtsp_method=TEARDOWN;
Action=GopExtra; For=rtsp_ses; rtsp_ses; rtsp_url;

12.6.2. VoIP/Telephony

Most protocol definitions here will create one Gop for every Call Leg unless
stated.

12.6.2.1. ISUP

Action=PduDef; Name=isup_pdu; Proto=isup; Transport=mtp3; mtp3pc=mtp3.dpc; mtp3pc=mtp3.opc; cic=isup.cic; isup_msg=isup.message_type;

Action=GopDef; Name=isup_leg; On=isup_pdu; ShowPduTree=TRUE; mtp3pc; mtp3pc; cic;
Action=GopStart; For=isup_leg; isup_msg=1;
Action=GopStop; For=isup_leg; isup_msg=16;

12.6.2.2. Q931

Action=PduDef; Name=q931_pdu; Proto=q931; Stop=TRUE; Transport=tcp/ip; addr=ip.addr; call_ref=q931.call_ref; q931_msg=q931.message_type;

Action=GopDef; Name=q931_leg; On=q931_pdu; addr; addr; call_ref;
Action=GopStart; For=q931_leg; q931_msg=5;
Action=GopStop; For=q931_leg; q931_msg=90;

12.6.2.3. H225 RAS

Action=PduDef; Name=ras_pdu; Proto=h225.RasMessage; Transport=udp/ip; addr=ip.addr; ras_sn=h225.RequestSeqNum; ras_msg=h225.RasMessage;
Action=PduExtra; For=ras_pdu; guid=h225.guid;

Action=GopDef; Name=ras_leg; On=ras_pdu; addr; addr; ras_sn;
Action=GopStart; For=ras_leg; ras_msg|0|3|6|9|12|15|18|21|26|30;
Action=GopStop; For=ras_leg; ras_msg|1|2|4|5|7|8|10|11|13|14|16|17|19|20|22|24|27|28|29|31;
Action=GopExtra; For=ras_leg; guid;

12.6.2.4. SIP

Action=PduDef; Proto=sip_pdu; Transport=tcp/ip; addr=ip.addr; port=tcp.port; sip_method=sip.Method; sip_callid=sip.Call-ID; calling=sdp.owner.username;

Action=GopDef; Name=sip_leg; On=sip_pdu; addr; addr; port; port;
Action=GopStart; For=sip; sip_method=INVITE;
Action=GopStop; For=sip; sip_method=BYE;

12.6.2.5. MEGACO

Will create a Gop out of every transaction.

To «tie» them to your call’s GoG use: Action=GogKey; Name=your_call; On=mgc_tr;
addr!mgc_addr; megaco_ctx;

Action=PduDef; Name=mgc_pdu; Proto=megaco; Transport=ip; addr=ip.addr; megaco_ctx=megaco.context; megaco_trx=megaco.transid; megaco_msg=megaco.transaction; term=megaco.termid;

Action=GopDef; Name=mgc_tr; On=mgc_pdu; addr; addr; megaco_trx;
Action=GopStart; For=mgc_tr; megaco_msg|Request|Notify;
Action=GopStop; For=mgc_tr; megaco_msg=Reply;
Action=GopExtra; For=mgc_tr; term^DS1; megaco_ctx!Choose one;

12.7. MATE’s reference manual

12.7.1. Attribute Value Pairs

MATE uses AVPs for almost everything: to keep the data it has extracted from the
frames’ trees as well as to keep the elements of the configuration.

These «pairs» (actually tuples) are made of a name, a value and, in case of
configuration AVPs, an operator. Names and values are strings. AVPs with
operators other than ‘=’ are used only in the configuration and are used for
matching AVPs of Pdus, GoPs and GoGs in the analysis phase.

12.7.1.1. Name

The name is a string used to refer to a class of AVPs. Two attributes won’t
match unless their names are identical. Capitalized names are reserved for
keywords (you can use them for your elements if you want but I think it’s not
the case). MATE attribute names can be used in Wireshark’s display filters the
same way like names of protocol fields provided by dissectors, but they are not
just references to (or aliases of) protocol fields.

12.7.1.2. Value

The value is a string. It is either set in the configuration (for configuration
AVPs) or by MATE while extracting interesting fields from a dissection tree
and/or manipulating them later. The values extracted from fields use the same
representation as they do in filter strings.

12.7.1.3. Operators

Currently only match operators are defined (there are plans to (re)add transform
attributes but some internal issues have to be solved before that). The match
operations are always performed between two operands: the value of an AVP stated
in the configuration and the value of an AVP (or several AVPs with the same name)
extracted from packet data (called «data AVPs»). It is not possible to match
data AVPs to each other.

The defined match operators are:

  • Equal = test for equality, that is: either the value strings are identical
    or the match will fail.
  • Not Equal ! will match only if the value strings aren’t equal.
  • One Of {} will match if one of the value strings listed is equal to the
    data AVP’s string. Items inside the list’s curly braces are
    separated with the | character.
  • Starts With ^ will match if the configuration value string matches the
    first characters of the data AVP’s value string.
  • Ends With $ will match if the configuration value string matches the
    last characters of the data AVP’s value string.
  • Contains ~ will match if the configuration value string matches a
    substring of the characters of the data AVP’s value string.
  • Lower Than < will match if the data AVP’s value string is semantically
    lower than the configuration value string.
  • Higher Than > will match if the data AVP’s value string is semantically
    higher than the configuration value string.
  • Exists ? (can be omitted) will match if the AVP name matches, regardless
    what the value string is.
12.7.1.3.1. Equal AVP Operator

This operator tests whether the values of the operator and the operand AVP are
equal.

Example
attrib=aaa matches attrib=aaa
attrib=aaa does not match attrib=bbb
12.7.1.3.2. Not equal AVP operator

This operator matches if the value strings of two AVPs are not equal.

Example
attrib=aaa matches attrib!bbb
attrib=aaa does not match attrib!aaa
12.7.1.3.3. «One of» AVP operator

The «one of» operator matches if the data AVP value is equal to one of the
values listed in the «one of» AVP.

Example
attrib=1 matches attrib{1|2|3}
attrib=2 matches attrib{1|2|3}
attrib=4 does not match attrib{1|2|3}
12.7.1.3.4. «Starts with» AVP operator

The «starts with» operator matches if the first characters of the data AVP
value are identical to the configuration AVP value.

Example
attrib=abcd matches attrib^abc
attrib=abc matches attrib^abc
attrib=ab does not match attrib^abc
attrib=abcd does not match attrib^bcd
attrib=abc does not match attrib^abcd
12.7.1.3.5. «Ends with» operator

The ends with operator will match if the last bytes of the data AVP value are
equal to the configuration AVP value.

Example
attrib=wxyz matches attrib$xyz
attrib=yz does not match attrib$xyz
attrib=abc…​wxyz does not match attrib$abc
12.7.1.3.6. Contains operator

The «contains» operator will match if the data AVP value contains a string
identical to the configuration AVP value.

Example
attrib=abcde matches attrib~bcd
attrib=abcde matches attrib~abc
attrib=abcde matches attrib~cde
attrib=abcde does not match attrib~xyz
12.7.1.3.7. «Lower than» operator

The «lower than» operator will match if the data AVP value is semantically lower
than the configuration AVP value.

Example
attrib=abc matches attrib<bcd
attrib=1 matches attrib<2
but beware: attrib=10 does not match attrib<9
attrib=bcd does not match attrib<abc
attrib=bcd does not match attrib<bcd

BUGS

It should check whether the values are numbers and compare them numerically

12.7.1.3.8. «Higher than» operator

The «higher than» operator will match if the data AVP value is semantically
higher than the configuration AVP value.

Examples

attrib=bcd matches attrib>abc
attrib=3 matches attrib>2
but beware: attrib=9 does not match attrib>10
attrib=abc does not match attrib>bcd
attrib=abc does not match attrib>abc

BUGS

It should check whether the values are numbers and compare them numerically

12.7.1.3.9. Exists operator

The exists operator will always match as far as the two operands have the same
name.

Examples

attrib=abc matches attrib?
attrib=abc matches attrib (this is just an alternative notation of the previous example)
obviously attrib=abc does not match other_attrib?

12.7.2. Attribute/Value Pair List (AVPL)

Pdus, GoPs and GoGs use an AVPL to contain the tracing information. An AVPL is
an unsorted set of AVPs that can be matched against other AVPLs.

12.7.2.1. Operations between AVPLs

There are three types of match operations that can be performed between AVPLs.
The Pdu’s/GoP’s/GoG’s AVPL will be always one of the operands; the AVPL operator
(match type) and the second operand AVPL will always come from the
configuration.
Note that a diverse AVP match operator may be specified for each AVP in the
configuration AVPL.

An AVPL match operation returns a result AVPL. In Transforms, the
result AVPL may be replaced by another AVPL. The replacement means that the
existing data AVPs are dropped and the replacement AVPL from the
configuration is Merged to the data AVPL of the
Pdu/GoP/GoG.

  • Loose Match: Will match if at least one of the AVPs of the two
    operand AVPLs match. If it matches, it returns a result AVPL containing all AVPs
    from the data AVPL that did match the configuration’s AVPs.
  • «Every» Match: Will match if none of the AVPs of the configuration
    AVPL fails to match an AVP in the data AVPL, even if not all of the
    configuration AVPs have a match. If it matches, it returns a result AVPL
    containing all AVPs from the data AVPL that did match an AVP in the
    configuration AVPL.
  • Strict Match: Will match if and only if each of the AVPs in the
    configuration AVPL has at least one match in the data AVPL. If it matches, it
    returns a result AVPL containing those AVPs from the data AVPL that matched.
12.7.2.1.1. Loose Match

A loose match between AVPLs succeeds if at least one of the data AVPs matches at
least one of the configuration AVPs. Its result AVPL contains all the data AVPs
that matched.

Loose matches are used in Extra operations against the Pdu’s AVPL to
merge the result into Gop’s AVPL, and against Gop’s AVPL to
merge the result into Gog’s AVPL. They may also be used in
Criteria and Transforms.

[Note] Note

As of current (2.0.1), Loose Match does not work as described here, see
issue 12184. Only use
in Transforms and Criteria is effectively affected by the bug.

Loose Match Examples

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Loose (attr_a?, attr_c?) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Loose (attr_a?, attr_c=ccc) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Loose (attr_a=xxx; attr_c=ccc) =⇒ No Match!

12.7.2.1.2. Every Match

An «every» match between AVPLs succeeds if none of the configuration’s AVPs that
have a counterpart in the data AVPL fails to match. Its result AVPL contains all
the data AVPs that matched.

These may only be used in Criteria and Transforms.

[Note] Note

As of current (2.0.1), Loose Match does not work as described here, see
issue 12184.

«Every» Match Examples

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Every (attr_a?, attr_c?) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Every (attr_a?, attr_c?, attr_d=ddd) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Every (attr_a?, attr_c=ccc) =⇒ No Match!

(attr_a=aaa; attr_b=bbb; attr_c=xxx) Match Every (attr_a=xxx, attr_c=ccc) =⇒ No Match!

12.7.2.1.3. Strict Match

A Strict match between AVPLs succeeds if and only if every AVP in the
configuration AVPL has at least one counterpart in the data AVPL and none of the
AVP matches fails. The result AVPL contains all the data AVPs that matched.

These are used between Gop keys (key AVPLs) and Pdu AVPLs. They may also be used
in Criteria and Transforms.

Examples

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Strict (attr_a?, attr_c=xxx) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx, attr_c=yyy) Match Strict (attr_a?, attr_c?) =⇒ (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx, attr_c=yyy)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Strict (attr_a?, attr_c=ccc) =⇒ No Match!

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx) Match Strict (attr_a?, attr_c?, attr_d?) =⇒ No Match!

12.7.2.1.4. AVPL Merge

An AVPL may be merged into another one. That would add to the latter every AVP
from the former that does not already exist there.

This operation is done

  • between the result of a key match and the Gop’s or Gog’s AVPL,
  • between the result of an Extra match and the Gop’s or Gog’s AVPL,
  • between the result of a Transform match and Pdu’s/Gop’s AVPL. If
    the operation specified by the Match clause is Replace, the result AVPL of the
    match is removed from the item’s AVPL before the modify_avpl is merged into it.

Examples

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb) Merge (attr_a=aaa, attr_c=xxx) former becomes (attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb) Merge (attr_a=aaa, attr_a=xxx) former becomes (attr_a=aaa, attr_a=xxx, attr_b=bbb)

(attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb) Merge (attr_c=xxx, attr_d=ddd) former becomes (attr_a=aaa, attr_b=bbb, attr_c=xxx, attr_d=ddd)

12.7.2.1.5. Transforms

A Transform is a sequence of Match rules optionally followed by an instruction
how to modify the match result using an additional AVPL. Such modification may
be an Insert (merge) or a Replace. The syntax is as follows:

Transform name {
    Match [Strict|Every|Loose] match_avpl [[Insert|Replace] modify_avpl] ; // may occur multiple times, at least once
};

For examples of Transforms, check the Manual page.

TODO: migrate the examples here?

The list of Match rules inside a Transform is processed top to bottom;
the processing ends as soon as either a Match rule succeeds or all have been
tried in vain.

Transforms can be used as helpers to manipulate an item’s AVPL before the item
is processed further. An item declaration may contain a Transform clause
indicating a list of previously declared Transforms. Regardless whether the
individual transforms succeed or fail, the list is always executed completely
and in the order given, i.e., left to right.

In MATE configuration file, a Transform must be declared before declaring any
item which uses it.

12.8. Configuration AVPLs

12.8.1. Pdsu’s configuration actions

The following configuration AVPLs deal with PDU creation and data extraction.

12.8.1.1. Pdu declaration block header

In each frame of the capture, MATE will look for source proto_name‘s PDUs in
the order in which the declarations appear in its configuration and will create
Pdus of every type it can from that frame, unless specifically instructed that
some Pdu type is the last one to be looked for in the frame. If told so for a
given type, MATE will extract all Pdus of that type and the previously declared
types it finds in the frame but not those declared later.

The complete declaration of a Pdu looks as below; the mandatory order of the
diverse clauses is as shown.

    Pdu name Proto proto_name Transport proto1[/proto2/proto3[/...]]] {
      Payload proto; //optional, no default value
      Extract attribute From proto.field ; //may occur multiple times, at least once
      Transform (transform1[, transform2[, ...]]); //optional
      Criteria [{Accept|Reject}] [{Strict|Every|Loose} match_avpl];
      DropUnassigned {true|false}; //optional, default=false
      DiscardPduData {true|false}; //optional, default=false
      LastExtracted {true|false}; //optional, default=false
    };

12.8.1.2. Pdu name

The name is a mandatory attribute of a Pdu declaration. It is chosen
arbitrarily, except that each name may only be used once in MATE’s
configuration, regardless the class of an item it is used for. The name is
used to distinguish between different types of Pdus, Gops, and Gogs. The name
is also used as part of the filterable fields’ names related to this type of Pdu
which MATE creates.

However, several Pdu declarations may share the same name. In such case, all
of them are created from each source PDU matching their Proto, Transport,
and Payload clauses, while the bodies of their declarations may be totally
different from each other. Together with the Accept (or Reject) clauses,
this feature is useful when it is necessary to build the Pdu’s AVPL from
different sets of source fields depending on contents (or mere presence) of
other source fields.

12.8.1.2.1. Proto and Transport clauses

Every instance of the protocol proto_name PDU in a frame will generate one
Pdu with the AVPs extracted from fields that are in the proto_name‘s range
and/or the ranges of underlying protocols specified by the Transport list.
It is a mandatory attribute of a Pdu declaration. The proto_name is the name
of the protocol as used in Wireshark display filter.

The Pdu’s Proto, and its Transport list of protocols separated by / tell
MATE which fields of a frame can get into the Pdu’s AVPL. In order that MATE
would extract an attribute from a frame’s protocol tree, the area representing
the field in the hex display of the frame must be within the area of either the
Proto or its relative Transport s. Transport s are chosen moving backwards
from the protocol area, in the order they are given.

Proto http Transport tcp/ip does what you’d expect it to — it selects the
nearest tcp range that precedes the current http range, and the nearest ip range
that precedes that tcp range. If there is another ip range before the nearest
one (e.g., in case of IP tunneling), that one is not going to be selected.
Transport tcp/ip/ip that «logically» should select the encapsulating IP header
too doesn’t work so far.

Once we’ve selected the Proto and Transport ranges, MATE will fetch those
protocol fields belonging to them whose extraction is declared using the
Extract clauses for the Pdu type. The Transport list is also mandatory,
if you actually don’t want to use any transport protocol, use Transport mate.
(This didn’t work until 0.10.9).

12.8.1.2.2. Payload clause

Other than the Pdu’s Proto and its Transport protocols, there is also a
Payload attribute to tell MATE from which ranges of Proto‘s payload to
extract fields of a frame into the Pdu. In order to extract an attribute from a
frame’s tree the highlighted area of the field in the hex display must be within
the area of the Proto‘s relative payload(s). Payload s are chosen moving
forward from the protocol area, in the order they are given.
Proto http Transport tcp/ip Payload mmse will select the first mmse range
after the current http range. Once we’ve selected the Payload ranges, MATE
will fetch those protocol fields belonging to them whose extraction is declared
using the Extract clauses for the Pdu type.

12.8.1.2.3. Extract clause

Each Extract clause tells MATE which protocol field value to extract as an AVP
value and what string to use as the AVP name. The protocol fields are referred
to using the names used in Wireshark display filters. If there is more than one
such protocol field in the frame, each instance that fulfills the criteria
stated above is extracted into its own AVP. The AVP names may be chosen
arbitrarily, but to be able to match values originally coming from different
Pdus (e.g., hostname from DNS query and a hostname from HTTP GET request) later
in the analysis, identical AVP names must be assigned to them and the dissectors
must provide the field values in identical format (which is not always the case).

12.8.1.2.4. Transform clause

The Transform clause specifies a list of previously declared Transform s to
be performed on the Pdu’s AVPL after all protocol fields have been extracted to
it. The list is always executed completely, left to right. On the contrary, the
list of Match clauses inside each individual Transform is executed only until
the first match succeeds.

12.8.1.2.5. Criteria clause

This clause tells MATE whether to use the Pdu for analysis. It specifies a match
AVPL, an AVPL match type (Strict, Every, or Loose) and the action to be
performed (Accept or Reject) if the match succeeds. Once every attribute has
been extracted and eventual transform list has been executed, and if the
Criteria clause is present, the Pdu’s AVPL is matched against the match AVPL;
if the match succeeds, the action specified is executed, i.e., the Pdu is
accepted or rejected. The default behaviors used if the respective keywords are
omitted are Strict and Accept. Accordingly, if the clause is omitted, all
Pdus are accepted.

12.8.1.2.6. DropUnassigned clause

If set to TRUE, MATE will destroy the Pdu if it cannot assign it to a Gop.
If set to FALSE (the default if not given), MATE will keep them.

12.8.1.2.7. DiscardPduData clause

If set to TRUE, MATE will delete the Pdu’s AVPL once it has analyzed it and
eventually extracted some AVPs from it into the Gop’s AVPL. This is useful to
save memory (of which MATE uses a lot). If set to FALSE (the default if not
given), MATE will keep the Pdu attributes.

12.8.1.2.8. LastExtracted clause

If set to FALSE (the default if not given), MATE will continue to look for
Pdus of other types in the frame. If set to TRUE, it will not try to create
Pdus of other types from the current frame, yet it will continue to try for the
current type.

12.8.1.3. Gop’s configuration actions

12.8.1.3.1. Gop declaration block header

Declares a Gop type and its prematch candidate key.

    Gop name On pduname Match key {
      Start match_avpl; // optional
      Stop match_avpl; // optional
      Extra match_avpl; // optional
      Transform transform_list; // optional
      Expiration time; // optional
      IdleTimeout time; // optional
      Lifetime time; // optional
      DropUnassigned [TRUE|FALSE]; //optional
      ShowTree [NoTree|PduTree|FrameTree|BasicTree]; //optional
      ShowTimes [TRUE|FALSE]; //optional, default TRUE
    };
12.8.1.3.2. Gop name

The name is a mandatory attribute of a Gop declaration. It is chosen
arbitrarily, except that each name may only be used once in MATE’s
configuration, regardless the class of an item it is used for. The name is
used to distinguish between different types of Pdus, Gops, and Gogs. The name
is also used as part of the filterable fields’ names related to this type of
Gop which MATE creates.

12.8.1.3.3. On clause

The name of Pdus which this type of Gop is supposed to be groupping. It is
mandatory.

12.8.1.3.4. Match clause

Defines what AVPs form up the key part of the Gop’s AVPL (the Gop’s key AVPL
or simply the Gop’s key). All Pdus matching the key AVPL of an active Gop
are assigned to that Gop; a Pdu which contains the AVPs whose attribute names
are listed in the Gop’s key AVPL, but they do not strictly match any active
Gop’s key AVPL, will create a new Gop (unless a Start clause is given).
When a Gop is created, the elements of its key AVPL are copied from the creating
Pdu.

12.8.1.3.5. Start clause

If given, it tells MATE what match_avpl must a Pdu’s AVPL match, in addition to
matching the Gop’s key, in order to start a Gop. If not given, any Pdu whose
AVPL matches the Gop’s key AVPL will act as a start for a Gop. The Pdu’s AVPs
matching the match_avpl are not automatically copied into the Gop’s AVPL.

12.8.1.3.6. Stop clause

If given, it tells MATE what match_avpl must a Pdu’s AVPL match, in addition to
matching the Gop’s key, in order to stop a Gop. If omitted, the Gop is
«auto-stopped» — that is, the Gop is marked as stopped as soon as it is created.
The Pdu’s AVPs matching the match_avpl are not automatically copied into the
Gop’s AVPL.

12.8.1.3.7. Extra clause

If given, tells MATE which AVPs from the Pdu’s AVPL are to be copied into the
Gop’s AVPL in addition to the Gop’s key.

12.8.1.3.8. Transform clause

The Transform clause specifies a list of previously declared Transform s to
be performed on the Gop’s AVPL after the AVPs from each new Pdu, specified by
the key AVPL and the Extra clause’s match_avpl, have been merged into it.
The list is always executed completely, left to right. On the contrary, the list
of Match clauses inside each individual Transform is executed only until
the first match succeeds.

12.8.1.3.9. Expiration clause

A (floating) number of seconds after a Gop is Stop ped during which further
Pdus matching the Stop ped Gop’s key but not the Start condition will still
be assigned to that Gop. The default value of zero has an actual meaning of
infinity, as it disables this timer, so all Pdus matching the Stop ped Gop’s
key will be assigned to that Gop unless they match the Start condition.

12.8.1.3.10. IdleTimeout clause

A (floating) number of seconds elapsed from the last Pdu assigned to the Gop
after which the Gop will be considered released. The default value of zero has
an actual meaning of infinity, as it disables this timer, so the Gop won’t be
released even if no Pdus arrive — unless the Lifetime timer expires.

12.8.1.3.11. Lifetime clause

A (floating) of seconds after the Gop Start after which the Gop will be
considered released regardless anything else. The default value of zero has an
actual meaning of infinity.

12.8.1.3.12. DropUnassigned clause

Whether or not a Gop that has not being assigned to any Gog should be discarded.
If TRUE, the Gop is discarded right after creation. If FALSE, the default,
the unassigned Gop is kept. Setting it to TRUE helps save memory and speed up
filtering.

12.8.1.3.13. TreeMode clause

Controls the display of Pdus subtree of the Gop:

  • NoTree: completely suppresses showing the tree
  • PduTree: the tree is shown and shows the Pdus by Pdu Id
  • FrameTree: the tree is shown and shows the Pdus by the frame number in which
    they are
  • BasicTree: needs investigation
12.8.1.3.14. ShowTimes clause

Whether or not to show the times subtree of the Gop. If TRUE, the default,
the subtree with the timers is added to the Gop’s tree. If FALSE, the subtree
is suppressed.

12.8.1.4. Gog’s configuration actions

12.8.1.4.1. Gop declaration block header

Declares a Gog type and its prematch candidate key.

    Gog name {
      Member gopname (key); // mandatory, at least one
      Extra match_avpl; // optional
      Transform transform_list; // optional
      Expiration time; // optional, default 2.0
      GopTree [NoTree|PduTree|FrameTree|BasicTree]; // optional
      ShowTimes [TRUE|FALSE]; // optional, default TRUE
    };
12.8.1.4.2. Gop name

The name is a mandatory attribute of a Gog declaration. It is chosen
arbitrarily, except that each name may only be used once in MATE’s
configuration, regardless the class of an item it is used for. The name is
used to distinguish between different types of Pdus, Gops, and Gogs. The name
is also used as part of the filterable fields’ names related to this type of
Gop which MATE creates.

12.8.1.4.3. Member clause

Defines the key AVPL for the Gog individually for each Gop type gopname.
All gopname type Gops whose key AVPL matches the corresponding key AVPL
of an active Gog are assigned to that Gog; a Gop which contains the AVPs whose
attribute names are listed in the Gog’s corresponding key AVPL, but they do
not strictly match any active Gog’s key AVPL, will create a new Gog. When a
Gog is created, the elements of its key AVPL are copied from the creating Gop.

Although the key AVPLs are specified separately for each of the Member
gopname s, in most cases they are identical, as the very purpose of a Gog is
to group together Gops made of Pdus of different types.

12.8.1.4.4. Extra clause

If given, tells MATE which AVPs from any of the Gop’s AVPL are to be copied
into the Gog’s AVPL in addition to the Gog’s key.

12.8.1.4.5. Expiration clause

A (floating) number of seconds after all the Gops assigned to a Gog have been
released during which new Gops matching any of the session keys should still be
assigned to the existing Gog instead of creating a new one. Its value can range
from 0.0 to infinite. Defaults to 2.0 seconds.

12.8.1.4.6. Transform clause

The Transform clause specifies a list of previously declared Transform s to
be performed on the Gog’s AVPL after the AVPs from each new Gop, specified by
the key AVPL and the Extra clause’s match_avpl, have been merged into it.
The list is always executed completely, left to right. On the contrary, the list
of Match clauses inside each individual Transform is executed only until
the first match succeeds.

12.8.1.4.7. TreeMode clause

Controls the display of Gops subtree of the Gog:

  • NoTree: completely suppresses showing the tree
  • BasicTree: needs investigation
  • FullTree: needs investigation
12.8.1.4.8. ShowTimes clause

Whether or not to show the times subtree of the Gog. If TRUE, the default,
the subtree with the timers is added to the Gog’s tree. If FALSE, the subtree
is suppressed.

12.8.1.5. Settings Config AVPL

The Settings config element is used to pass to MATE various operational
parameters. the possible parameters are

12.8.1.5.1. GogExpiration

How long in seconds after all the gops assigned to a gog have been released new
gops matching any of the session keys should create a new gog instead of being
assigned to the previous one. Its value can range from 0.0 to infinite.
Defaults to 2.0 seconds.

12.8.1.5.2. DiscardPduData

Whether or not the AVPL of every Pdu should be deleted after it was being
processed (saves memory). It can be either TRUE or FALSE. Defaults to TRUE.
Setting it to FALSE can save you from a headache if your config does not work.

12.8.1.5.3. DiscardUnassignedPdu

Whether Pdus should be deleted if they are not assigned to any Gop. It can be
either TRUE or FALSE. Defaults to FALSE. Set it to TRUE to save memory
if unassigned Pdus are useless.

12.8.1.5.4. DiscardUnassignedGop

Whether GoPs should be deleted if they are not assigned to any session. It can
be either TRUE or FALSE. Defaults to FALSE. Setting it to TRUE saves
memory.

12.8.1.5.5. ShowPduTree

12.8.1.5.6. ShowGopTimes

12.8.1.6. Debugging Stuff

The following settings are used to debug MATE and its configuration. All levels
are integers ranging from 0 (print only errors) to 9 (flood me with junk),
defaulting to 0.

12.8.1.6.1. Debug declaration block header

    Debug {
      Filename "path/name"; //optional, no default value
      Level [0-9]; //optional, generic debug level
      Pdu Level [0-9]; //optional, specific debug level for Pdu handling
      Gop Level [0-9]; //optional, specific debug level for Gop handling
      Gog Level [0-9]; //optional, specific debug level for Gog handling
    };
12.8.1.6.2. Filename clause

The {{{path/name}}} is a full path to the file to which debug output is to be
written. Non-existent file will be created, existing file will be overwritten
at each opening of a capture file. If the statement is missing, debug messages
are written to console, which means they are invisible on Windows.

12.8.1.6.3. Level clause

Sets the level of debugging for generic debug messages. It is an integer
ranging from 0 (print only errors) to 9 (flood me with junk).

12.8.1.6.4. Pdu Level clause

Sets the level of debugging for messages regarding Pdu creation. It is an
integer ranging from 0 (print only errors) to 9 (flood me with junk).

12.8.1.6.5. Gop Level clause

Sets the level of debugging for messages regarding Pdu analysis (that is how do
they fit into ?GoPs). It is an integer ranging from 0 (print only errors) to 9
(flood me with junk).

12.8.1.6.6. Gog Level clause

Sets the level of debugging for messages regarding GoP analysis (that is how do
they fit into ?GoGs). It is an integer ranging from 0 (print only errors) to 9
(flood me with junk).

12.8.1.6.7. Settings Example

Action=Settings; SessionExpiration=3.5; DiscardPduData=FALSE;

12.8.1.7. Action=Include

Will include a file to the configuration.

Action=Include; {Filename=filename;|Lib=libname;}
12.8.1.7.1. Filename

The filename of the file to include. If it does not begin with ‘/’ it will look
for the file in the current path.

12.8.1.7.2. Lib

The name of the lib config to include. will look for libname.mate in
wiresharks_dir/matelib.

12.8.1.7.3. Include Example

Action=Include; Filename=rtsp.mate;

This will include the file called «rtsp.mate» into the current config.

Appendix A. Wireshark Messages

Wireshark provides you with additional information generated out of the plain
packet data or it may need to indicate dissection problems. Messages generated
by Wireshark are usually placed in square brackets (“[]”).

A.1. Packet List Messages

These messages might appear in the packet list.

A.1.1. [Malformed Packet]

Malformed packet means that the protocol dissector can’t dissect the contents of
the packet any further. There can be various reasons:

  • Wrong dissector: Wireshark erroneously has chosen the wrong protocol
    dissector for this packet. This will happen e.g., if you are using a protocol
    not on its well known TCP or UDP port. You may try Analyze|Decode As to
    circumvent this problem.
  • Packet not reassembled: The packet is longer than a single frame and it is
    not reassembled, see Section 7.8, “Packet Reassembly” for further details.
  • Packet is malformed: The packet is actually wrong (malformed), meaning
    that a part of the packet is just not as expected (not following the protocol
    specifications).
  • Dissector is buggy: The corresponding protocol dissector is simply buggy
    or still incomplete.

Any of the above is possible. You’ll have to look into the specific situation to
determine the reason. You could disable the dissector by disabling the protocol
on the Analyze menu and check how Wireshark displays the packet then. You could
(if it’s TCP) enable reassembly for TCP and the specific dissector (if possible)
in the Edit|Preferences menu. You could check the packet contents yourself by
reading the packet bytes and comparing it to the protocol specification. This
could reveal a dissector bug. Or you could find out that the packet is indeed
wrong.

A.1.2. [Packet size limited during capture]

The packet size was limited during capture, see “Limit each packet to n bytes”
at the Section 4.5, “The “Capture Options” Dialog Box”. While dissecting, the current protocol dissector
was simply running out of packet bytes and had to give up. There’s nothing else
you can do now, except to repeat the whole capture process again with a higher
(or no) packet size limitation.

A.2. Packet Details Messages

These messages might appear in the packet details.

A.2.1. [Response in frame: 123]

The current packet is the request of a detected request/response pair. You can
directly jump to the corresponding response packet by double clicking on
the message.

A.2.2. [Request in frame: 123]

Same as “Response in frame: 123” above, but the other way round.

A.2.3. [Time from request: 0.123 seconds]

The time between the request and the response packets.

A.2.4. [Stream setup by PROTOCOL (frame 123)]

The session control protocol (SDP, H225, etc.) message which signaled the
creation of this session. You can directly jump to the corresponding packet
by double clicking on this message.

Appendix B. Files and Folders

B.1. Capture Files

To understand which information will remain available after the captured packets
are saved to a capture file, it’s helpful to know a bit about the capture file
contents.

Wireshark uses the
pcapng file
format as the default format to save captured packets. It is very flexible
but other tools may not support it.

Wireshark also supports the
libpcap file
format. This is a much simpler format and is well established. However, it has
some drawbacks: it’s not extensible and lacks some information that would be
really helpful (e.g., being able to add a comment to a packet such as “the
problems start here” would be really nice).

In addition to the libpcap format, Wireshark supports several different capture
file formats. However, the problems described above also applies for these
formats.

B.1.1. Libpcap File Contents

At the start of each libpcap capture file some basic information is stored like
a magic number to identify the libpcap file format. The most interesting
information of this file start is the link layer type (Ethernet, 802.11,
MPLS, etc.).

The following data is saved for each packet:

  • The timestamp with millisecond resolution
  • The packet length as it was “on the wire”
  • The packet length as it’s saved in the file
  • The packet’s raw bytes

A detailed description of the libpcap file format can be found at
https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Development/LibpcapFileFormat

B.1.2. Not Saved in the Capture File

You should also know the things that are not saved in capture files:

  • Current selections (selected packet, …​)
  • Name resolution information. See Section 7.9, “Name Resolution” for details

    Pcapng files can optionally save name resolution information. Libpcap files
    can’t. Other file formats have varying levels of support.

  • The number of packets dropped while capturing
  • Packet marks set with “Edit/Mark Packet”
  • Time references set with “Edit/Time Reference”
  • The current display filter

B.2. Configuration File and Plugin Folders

To match the different policies for Unix-like systems and Windows, and
different policies used on different Unix-like systems, the folders
containing configuration files and plugins are different on different
platforms. We indicate the location of the top-level folders under
which configuration files and plugins are stored here, giving them
placeholder names independent of their actual location, and use those
names later when giving the location of the folders for configuration
files and plugins.

[Tip] Tip

A list of the folders Wireshark actually uses can be found under the Folders
tab in the dialog box shown when you select About Wireshark from the Help
menu.

B.2.1. Folders on Windows

%APPDATA% is the personal application data folder, e.g.:
C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingWireshark (details can be
found at: Section B.5.1, “Windows profiles”).

WIRESHARK is the Wireshark program folder, e.g.: C:Program
FilesWireshark
.

B.2.2. Folders on Unix-like systems

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME is the folder for user-specific configuration files.
It’s usually $HOME/.config, where $HOME is the user’s home folder, which
is usually something such as /home/username, or
/Users/username on macOS.

If you are using macOS and you are running a copy of Wireshark
installed as an application bundle, APPDIR is the top-level directory
of the Wireshark application bundle, which will typically be
/Applications/Wireshark.app. Otherwise, INSTALLDIR is the top-level
directory under which reside the subdirectories in which components of
Wireshark are installed. This will typically be /usr if Wireshark is
bundled with the system (for example, provided as a package with a Linux
distribution) and /usr/local if, for example, you’ve built Wireshark
from source and installed it.

B.3. Configuration Files

Wireshark uses a number of configuration files while it is running. Some of these
reside in the personal configuration folder and are used to maintain information
between runs of Wireshark, while some of them are maintained in system areas.

The content format of the configuration files is the same on all platforms.

On Windows:

  • The personal configuration folder for Wireshark is the
    Wireshark sub-folder of that folder, i.e., %APPDATA%Wireshark.
  • The global configuration folder for Wireshark is the Wireshark program
    folder and is also used as the system configuration folder.

On Unix-like systems:

  • The personal configuration folder is
    $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wireshark. For backwards compatibility with
    Wireshark before 2.2, if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wireshark does not
    exist and $HOME/.wireshark is present, then the latter will be used.
  • If you are using macOS and you are running a copy of Wireshark
    installed as an application bundle, the global configuration folder is
    APPDIR/Contents/Resources/share/wireshark. Otherwise, the
    global configuration folder is INSTALLDIR/share/wireshark.
  • The /etc folder is the system configuration folder. The folder
    actually used on your system may vary, maybe something like:
    /usr/local/etc.

Table B.1. Configuration files overview

File/Folder Description

cfilters

Capture filters.

colorfilters

Coloring rules.

dfilter_buttons

Display filter buttons.

dfilter_macros

Display filter macros.

dfilters

Display filters.

disabled_protos

Disabled protocols.

ethers

Ethernet name resolution.

hosts

IPv4 and IPv6 name resolution.

ipxnets

IPX name resolution.

manuf

Ethernet name resolution.

preferences

Settings from the Preferences dialog box.

recent

Per-profile GUI settings.

recent_common

Common GUI settings.

services

Network services.

ss7pcs

SS7 point code resolution.

subnets

IPv4 subnet name resolution.

vlans

VLAN ID name resolution.

File contents
cfilters

This file contains all the capture filters that you have defined and saved. It
consists of one or more lines, where each line has the following format:

"<filter name>" <filter string>

At program start, if there is a cfilters file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read. If there isn’t a cfilters file in
the personal configuration folder, then, if there is a cfilters file
in the global configuration folder, it is read.

When you press the Save button in the “Capture Filters” dialog box,
all the current capture filters are written to the personal capture
filters file.

colorfilters

This file contains all the color filters that you have defined and saved. It
consists of one or more lines, where each line has the following format:

@<filter name>@<filter string>@[<bg RGB(16-bit)>][<fg RGB(16-bit)>]

At program start, if there is a colorfilters file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read. If there isn’t a colorfilters file
in the personal configuration folder, then, if there is a colorfilters
file in the global configuration folder, it is read.

When you press the Save button in the “Coloring Rules” dialog box,
all the current color filters are written to the personal color filters
file.

dfilter_buttons

This file contains all the display filter buttons that you have defined and
saved. It consists of one or more lines, where each line has the following
format:

"TRUE/FALSE","<button label>","<filter string>","<comment string>"

where the first field is TRUE if the button is enabled (shown).

At program start, if there is a dfilter_buttons file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read. If there isn’t a dfilter_buttons file
in the personal configuration folder, then, if there is a dfilter_buttons
file in the global configuration folder, it is read.

When you save any changes to the filter buttons, all the current display
filter buttons are written to the personal display filter buttons file.

dfilter_macros

This file contains all the display filter macros that you have defined and saved.
It consists of one or more lines, where each line has the following format:

"<macro name>" <filter string>

At program start, if there is a dfilter_macros file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read. If there isn’t a dfilter_macros file
in the personal configuration folder, then, if there is a dfilter_macros
file in the global configuration folder, it is read.

When you press the Save button in the «Display Filter Macros» dialog box,
all the current display filter macros are written to the personal display
filter macros file.

More information about Display Filter Macros is available in
Section 11.8, “Display Filter Macros”

dfilters

This file contains all the display filters that you have defined and saved. It
consists of one or more lines, where each line has the following format:

"<filter name>" <filter string>

At program start, if there is a dfilters file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read. If there isn’t a dfilters file in
the personal configuration folder, then, if there is a dfilters file
in the global configuration folder, it is read.

When you press the Save button in the “Display Filters” dialog box,
all the current display filters are written to the personal display
filters file.

disabled_protos

Each line in this file specifies a disabled protocol name. The following are
some examples:

tcp
udp

At program start, if there is a disabled_protos file in the global
configuration folder, it is read first. Then, if there is a
disabled_protos file in the personal configuration folder, that is
read; if there is an entry for a protocol set in both files, the setting
in the personal disabled protocols file overrides the setting in the
global disabled protocols file.

When you press the Save button in the “Enabled Protocols” dialog box,
the current set of disabled protocols is written to the personal
disabled protocols file.

ethers

When Wireshark is trying to translate a hardware MAC address to
a name, it consults the ethers file in the personal configuration
folder first. If the address is not found in that file, Wireshark
consults the ethers file in the system configuration folder.

This file has the same format as the /etc/ethers file on some Unix-like systems.
Each line in these files consists of one hardware address and name separated by
whitespace. The digits of hardware addresses are separated by colons (:), dashes
(-) or periods(.). The following are some examples:

ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff    Broadcast
c0-00-ff-ff-ff-ff    TR_broadcast
00.2b.08.93.4b.a1    Freds_machine

The settings from this file are read in when a MAC address is to be
translated to a name, and never written by Wireshark.

hosts

Wireshark uses the entries in the hosts files to translate IPv4 and
IPv6 addresses into names.

At program start, if there is a hosts file in the global configuration
folder, it is read first. Then, if there is a hosts file in the
personal configuration folder, that is read; if there is an entry for a
given IP address in both files, the setting in the personal hosts file
overrides the entry in the global hosts file.

This file has the same format as the usual /etc/hosts file on Unix systems.

An example is:

# Comments must be prepended by the # sign!
192.168.0.1 homeserver

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never written by
Wireshark.

ipxnets

When Wireshark is trying to translate an IPX network number to
a name, it consults the ipxnets file in the personal configuration
folder first. If the address is not found in that file, Wireshark
consults the ipxnets file in the system configuration folder.

An example is:

C0.A8.2C.00      HR
c0-a8-1c-00      CEO
00:00:BE:EF      IT_Server1
110f             FileServer3

The settings from this file are read in when an IPX network number is to
be translated to a name, and never written by Wireshark.

manuf

At program start, if there is a manuf file in the global configuration folder, it is read.

The entries in this file are used to translate MAC address prefixes into short and long manufacturer names.
Each line consists of a MAC address prefix followed by an abbreviated manufacturer name and the full manufacturer name.
Prefixes 24 bits long by default and may be followed by an optional length.
Note that this is not the same format as the ethers file.

Examples are:

00:00:01        Xerox   Xerox Corporation
00:50:C2:00:30:00/36      Microsof        Microsoft

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never written by Wireshark.

preferences

This file contains your Wireshark preferences, including defaults for capturing
and displaying packets. It is a simple text file containing statements of the
form:

variable: value

At program start, if there is a preferences file in the global
configuration folder, it is read first. Then, if there is a
preferences file in the personal configuration folder, that is read;
if there is a preference set in both files, the setting in the personal
preferences file overrides the setting in the global preference file.

If you press the Save button in the “Preferences” dialog box, all the
current settings are written to the personal preferences file.

recent

This file contains GUI settings that are specific to the current profile, such as column widths and toolbar visibility.
It is a simple text file containing statements of the form:

variable: value

It is read at program start and written when preferences are saved and at program exit.
It is also written and read whenever you switch to a different profile.

recent_common

This file contains common GUI settings, such as recently opened capture files, recently used filters, and window geometries.
It is a simple text file containing statements of the form:

variable: value

It is read at program start and written when preferences are saved and at program exit.

services

Wireshark uses the services files to translate port numbers into names.

At program start, if there is a services file in the global
configuration folder, it is read first. Then, if there is a services
file in the personal configuration folder, that is read; if there is an
entry for a given port number in both files, the setting in the personal
hosts file overrides the entry in the global hosts file.

An example is:

mydns       5045/udp     # My own Domain Name Server
mydns       5045/tcp     # My own Domain Name Server

The settings from these files are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.

ss7pcs

Wireshark uses the ss7pcs file to translate SS7 point codes to node names.

At program start, if there is a ss7pcs file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read.

Each line in this file consists of one network indicator followed by a dash followed by a point code in decimal and a node name separated by whitespace or tab.

An example is:

2-1234 MyPointCode1

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never written by
Wireshark.

subnets

Wireshark uses the subnets files to translate an IPv4 address into a
subnet name. If no exact match from a hosts file or from DNS is
found, Wireshark will attempt a partial match for the subnet of the
address.

At program start, if there is a subnets file in the personal
configuration folder, it is read first. Then, if there is a subnets
file in the global configuration folder, that is read; if there is a
preference set in both files, the setting in the global preferences file
overrides the setting in the personal preference file.

Each line in one of these files consists of an IPv4 address, a subnet
mask length separated only by a “/” and a name separated by whitespace.
While the address must be a full IPv4 address, any values beyond the
mask length are subsequently ignored.

An example is:

# Comments must be prepended by the # sign!
192.168.0.0/24 ws_test_network

A partially matched name will be printed as “subnet-name.remaining-address”.
For example, “192.168.0.1” under the subnet above would be printed as
“ws_test_network.1”; if the mask length above had been 16 rather than 24, the
printed address would be “ws_test_network.0.1”.

The settings from these files are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.

vlans

Wireshark uses the vlans file to translate VLAN tag IDs into names.

If there is a vlans file in the currently active profile folder, it is used. Otherwise, the vlans file in the personal configuration folder is used.

Each line in this file consists of one VLAN tag ID and a describing name separated by whitespace or tab.

An example is:

123     Server-LAN
2049    HR-Client-LAN

The settings from this file are read in at program start or when changing
the active profile and are never written by Wireshark.

B.4. Plugin folders

Wireshark supports plugins for various purposes. Plugins can either be
scripts written in Lua or code written in C or C++ and compiled to
machine code.

Wireshark looks for plugins in both a personal plugin folder and a
global plugin folder. Lua plugins are stored in the plugin folders;
compiled plugins are stored in subfolders of the plugin folders, with
the subfolder name being the Wireshark minor version number (X.Y). There is
another hierarchical level for each Wireshark plugin type (libwireshark,
libwiretap and codecs). So for example the location for a libwireshark plugin
foo.so (foo.dll on Windows) would be PLUGINDIR/X.Y/epan
(libwireshark used to be called libepan; the other folder names are codecs
and wiretap).

On Windows:

  • The personal plugin folder is %APPDATA%Wiresharkplugins.
  • The global plugin folder is WIRESHARKplugins.

On Unix-like systems:

  • The personal plugin folder is ~/.local/lib/wireshark/plugins.
[Note] Note

To provide better support for binary plugins this folder changed in Wireshark 2.5.
It is recommended to use the new folder but for lua scripts only you may
continue to use $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wireshark/plugins for backward-compatibility.
This is useful to have older versions of Wireshark installed side-by-side. In case
of duplicate file names between old and new the new folder wins.

  • If you are running on macOS and Wireshark is installed as an
    application bundle, the global plugin folder is
    %APPDIR%/Contents/PlugIns/wireshark, otherwise it’s
    INSTALLDIR/lib/wireshark/plugins.

B.5. Windows folders

Here you will find some details about the folders used in Wireshark on different
Windows versions.

As already mentioned, you can find the currently used folders in the “About
Wireshark” dialog.

B.5.1. Windows profiles

Windows uses some special directories to store user configuration files which
define the “user profile”. This can be confusing, as the default directory
location changed from Windows version to version and might also be different for
English and internationalized versions of Windows.

[Note] Note

If you’ve upgraded to a new Windows version, your profile might be kept in the
former location. The defaults mentioned here might not apply.

The following guides you to the right place where to look for Wireshark’s
profile data.

Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and associated server editions
C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingWireshark.
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 [1]
C:Documents and SettingsusernameApplication Data. “Documents and
Settings” and “Application Data” might be internationalized.

B.5.2. Windows roaming profiles

Some larger Windows environments use roaming profiles. If this is the case the
configurations of all programs you use won’t be saved on your local hard drive.
They will be stored on the domain server instead.

Your settings will travel with you from computer to computer with one exception.
The “Local Settings” folder in your profile data (typically something like:
C:Documents and SettingsusernameLocal Settings) will not be
transferred to the domain server. This is the default for temporary capture
files.

B.5.3. Windows temporary folder

Wireshark uses the folder which is set by the TMPDIR or TEMP environment
variable. This variable will be set by the Windows installer.

Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and associated server editions
C:UsersusernameAppDataLocalTemp
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 [1]
C:Documents and SettingsusernameLocal SettingsTemp

Appendix C. Protocols and Protocol Fields

Wireshark distinguishes between protocols (e.g., tcp) and protocol fields (e.g.,
tcp.port).

A comprehensive list of all protocols and protocol fields can be found
in the “Display Filter Reference” at
https://www.wireshark.org/docs/dfref/

Appendix D. Related command line tools

D.1. Introduction

Wireshark comes with an array of
command line tools which can be helpful for packet analysis. Some of
these tools are described in this chapter. You can find more
information about all of Wireshark’s command line tools on
the web site.

D.2. tshark: Terminal-based Wireshark

TShark is a terminal oriented version of Wireshark designed for capturing and
displaying packets when an interactive user interface isn’t necessary or
available. It supports the same options as wireshark. For more information on
tshark consult your local manual page (man tshark) or
the online version.

Help information available from tshark

TShark (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-1991-g04aed725ef4c)
Dump and analyze network traffic.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: tshark [options] ...

Capture interface:
  -i <interface>, --interface <interface>
                           name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback)
  -f <capture filter>      packet filter in libpcap filter syntax
  -s <snaplen>, --snapshot-length <snaplen>
                           packet snapshot length (def: appropriate maximum)
  -p, --no-promiscuous-mode
                           don't capture in promiscuous mode
  -I, --monitor-mode       capture in monitor mode, if available
  -B <buffer size>, --buffer-size <buffer size>
                           size of kernel buffer (def: 2MB)
  -y <link type>, --linktype <link type>
                           link layer type (def: first appropriate)
  --time-stamp-type <type> timestamp method for interface
  -D, --list-interfaces    print list of interfaces and exit
  -L, --list-data-link-types
                           print list of link-layer types of iface and exit
  --list-time-stamp-types  print list of timestamp types for iface and exit
  --update-interval        interval between updates with new packets (def: 100ms)

Capture stop conditions:
  -c <packet count>        stop after n packets (def: infinite)
  -a <autostop cond.> ..., --autostop <autostop cond.> ...
                           duration:NUM - stop after NUM seconds
                           filesize:NUM - stop this file after NUM KB
                              files:NUM - stop after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - stop after NUM packets
Capture output:
  -b <ringbuffer opt.> ..., --ring-buffer <ringbuffer opt.>
                           duration:NUM - switch to next file after NUM secs
                           filesize:NUM - switch to next file after NUM KB
                              files:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - switch to next file after NUM packets
                           interval:NUM - switch to next file when the time is
                                          an exact multiple of NUM secs
Input file:
  -r <infile>, --read-file <infile>
                           set the filename to read from (or '-' for stdin)

Processing:
  -2                       perform a two-pass analysis
  -M <packet count>        perform session auto reset
  -R <read filter>, --read-filter <read filter>
                           packet Read filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
                           (requires -2)
  -Y <display filter>, --display-filter <display filter>
                           packet displaY filter in Wireshark display filter
                           syntax
  -n                       disable all name resolutions (def: "mNd" enabled, or
                           as set in preferences)
  -N <name resolve flags>  enable specific name resolution(s): "mnNtdv"
  -d <layer_type>==<selector>,<decode_as_protocol> ...
                           "Decode As", see the man page for details
                           Example: tcp.port==8888,http
  -H <hosts file>          read a list of entries from a hosts file, which will
                           then be written to a capture file. (Implies -W n)
  --enable-protocol <proto_name>
                           enable dissection of proto_name
  --disable-protocol <proto_name>
                           disable dissection of proto_name
  --enable-heuristic <short_name>
                           enable dissection of heuristic protocol
  --disable-heuristic <short_name>
                           disable dissection of heuristic protocol
Output:
  -w <outfile|->           write packets to a pcapng-format file named "outfile"
                           (or '-' for stdout)
  --capture-comment <comment>
                           add a capture file comment, if supported
  -C <config profile>      start with specified configuration profile
  -F <output file type>    set the output file type, default is pcapng
                           an empty "-F" option will list the file types
  -V                       add output of packet tree        (Packet Details)
  -O <protocols>           Only show packet details of these protocols, comma
                           separated
  -P, --print              print packet summary even when writing to a file
  -S <separator>           the line separator to print between packets
  -x                       add output of hex and ASCII dump (Packet Bytes)
  --hexdump <hexoption>    add hexdump, set options for data source and ASCII dump
     all                   dump all data sources (-x default)
     frames                dump only frame data source
     ascii                 include ASCII dump text (-x default)
     delimit               delimit ASCII dump text with '|' characters
     noascii               exclude ASCII dump text
     help                  display help for --hexdump and exit
  -T pdml|ps|psml|json|jsonraw|ek|tabs|text|fields|?
                           format of text output (def: text)
  -j <protocolfilter>      protocols layers filter if -T ek|pdml|json selected
                           (e.g. "ip ip.flags text", filter does not expand child
                           nodes, unless child is specified also in the filter)
  -J <protocolfilter>      top level protocol filter if -T ek|pdml|json selected
                           (e.g. "http tcp", filter which expands all child nodes)
  -e <field>               field to print if -Tfields selected (e.g. tcp.port,
                           _ws.col.Info)
                           this option can be repeated to print multiple fields
  -E<fieldsoption>=<value> set options for output when -Tfields selected:
     bom=y|n               print a UTF-8 BOM
     header=y|n            switch headers on and off
     separator=/t|/s|<char> select tab, space, printable character as separator
     occurrence=f|l|a      print first, last or all occurrences of each field
     aggregator=,|/s|<char> select comma, space, printable character as
                           aggregator
     quote=d|s|n           select double, single, no quotes for values
  -t (a|ad|adoy|d|dd|e|r|u|ud|udoy)[.[N]]|.[N]
                           output format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)
  -u s|hms                 output format of seconds (def: s: seconds)
  -l                       flush standard output after each packet
  -q                       be more quiet on stdout (e.g. when using statistics)
  -Q                       only log true errors to stderr (quieter than -q)
  -g                       enable group read access on the output file(s)
  -W n                     Save extra information in the file, if supported.
                           n = write network address resolution information
  -X <key>:<value>         eXtension options, see the man page for details
  -U tap_name              PDUs export mode, see the man page for details
  -z <statistics>          various statistics, see the man page for details
  --export-objects <protocol>,<destdir>
                           save exported objects for a protocol to a directory
                           named "destdir"
  --export-tls-session-keys <keyfile>
                           export TLS Session Keys to a file named "keyfile"
  --color                  color output text similarly to the Wireshark GUI,
                           requires a terminal with 24-bit color support
                           Also supplies color attributes to pdml and psml formats
                           (Note that attributes are nonstandard)
  --no-duplicate-keys      If -T json is specified, merge duplicate keys in an object
                           into a single key with as value a json array containing all
                           values
  --elastic-mapping-filter <protocols> If -G elastic-mapping is specified, put only the
                           specified protocols within the mapping file
  --temp-dir <directory>   write temporary files to this directory
                           (default: /tmp)

Diagnostic output:
  --log-level <level>      sets the active log level ("critical", "warning", etc.)
  --log-fatal <level>      sets level to abort the program ("critical" or "warning")
  --log-domains <[!]list>  comma-separated list of the active log domains
  --log-fatal-domains <list>
                           list of domains that cause the program to abort
  --log-debug <[!]list>    list of domains with "debug" level
  --log-noisy <[!]list>    list of domains with "noisy" level
  --log-file <path>        file to output messages to (in addition to stderr)

Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help               display this help and exit
  -v, --version            display version info and exit
  -o <name>:<value> ...    override preference setting
  -K <keytab>              keytab file to use for kerberos decryption
  -G [report]              dump one of several available reports and exit
                           default report="fields"
                           use "-G help" for more help

Dumpcap can benefit from an enabled BPF JIT compiler if available.
You might want to enable it by executing:
 "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable"
Note that this can make your system less secure!

D.3. tcpdump: Capturing with “tcpdump” for viewing with Wireshark

It’s often more useful to capture packets using tcpdump rather than
wireshark. For example, you might want to do a remote capture and either don’t
have GUI access or don’t have Wireshark installed on the remote machine.

Older versions of tcpdump truncate packets to 68 or 96 bytes. If this is the case,
use -s to capture full-sized packets:

$ tcpdump -i <interface> -s 65535 -w <file>

You will have to specify the correct interface and the name of a file to
save into. In addition, you will have to terminate the capture with ^C when you
believe you have captured enough packets.

tcpdump is not part of the Wireshark distribution. You can get it from
https://www.tcpdump.org/ or as a standard package in most Linux distributions.
For more information on tcpdump consult your local manual page (man
tcpdump
) or the online version.

D.4. dumpcap: Capturing with “dumpcap” for viewing with Wireshark

Dumpcap is a network traffic dump tool. It captures packet data from a live
network and writes the packets to a file. Dumpcap’s native capture file format
is pcapng, which is also the format used by Wireshark.

By default, Dumpcap uses the pcap library to capture traffic
from the first available network interface and writes the received raw
packet data, along with the packets’ time stamps into a pcapng file. The
capture filter syntax follows the rules of the pcap library. For more
information on dumpcap consult your local manual page (man dumpcap)
or the online version.

Help information available from dumpcap

Dumpcap (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-1991-g04aed725ef4c)
Capture network packets and dump them into a pcapng or pcap file.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: dumpcap [options] ...

Capture interface:
  -i <interface>, --interface <interface>
                           name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback),
                           or for remote capturing, use one of these formats:
                               rpcap://<host>/<interface>
                               [email protected]<host>:<port>
  --ifname <name>          name to use in the capture file for a pipe from which
                           we're capturing
  --ifdescr <description>
                           description to use in the capture file for a pipe
                           from which we're capturing
  -f <capture filter>      packet filter in libpcap filter syntax
  -s <snaplen>, --snapshot-length <snaplen>
                           packet snapshot length (def: appropriate maximum)
  -p, --no-promiscuous-mode
                           don't capture in promiscuous mode
  -I, --monitor-mode       capture in monitor mode, if available
  -B <buffer size>, --buffer-size <buffer size>
                           size of kernel buffer in MiB (def: 2MiB)
  -y <link type>, --linktype <link type>
                           link layer type (def: first appropriate)
  --time-stamp-type <type> timestamp method for interface
  -D, --list-interfaces    print list of interfaces and exit
  -L, --list-data-link-types
                           print list of link-layer types of iface and exit
  --list-time-stamp-types  print list of timestamp types for iface and exit
  --update-interval        interval between updates with new packets (def: 100ms)
  -d                       print generated BPF code for capture filter
  -k <freq>,[<type>],[<center_freq1>],[<center_freq2>]
                           set channel on wifi interface
  -S                       print statistics for each interface once per second
  -M                       for -D, -L, and -S, produce machine-readable output

Stop conditions:
  -c <packet count>        stop after n packets (def: infinite)
  -a <autostop cond.> ..., --autostop <autostop cond.> ...
                           duration:NUM - stop after NUM seconds
                           filesize:NUM - stop this file after NUM kB
                              files:NUM - stop after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - stop after NUM packets
Output (files):
  -w <filename>            name of file to save (def: tempfile)
  -g                       enable group read access on the output file(s)
  -b <ringbuffer opt.> ..., --ring-buffer <ringbuffer opt.>
                           duration:NUM - switch to next file after NUM secs
                           filesize:NUM - switch to next file after NUM kB
                              files:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM files
                            packets:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM packets
                           interval:NUM - switch to next file when the time is
                                          an exact multiple of NUM secs
                          printname:FILE - print filename to FILE when written
                                           (can use 'stdout' or 'stderr')
  -n                       use pcapng format instead of pcap (default)
  -P                       use libpcap format instead of pcapng
  --capture-comment <comment>
                           add a capture comment to the output file
                           (only for pcapng)
  --temp-dir <directory>   write temporary files to this directory
                           (default: /tmp)

Diagnostic output:
  --log-level <level>      sets the active log level ("critical", "warning", etc.)
  --log-fatal <level>      sets level to abort the program ("critical" or "warning")
  --log-domains <[!]list>  comma-separated list of the active log domains
  --log-fatal-domains <list>
                           list of domains that cause the program to abort
  --log-debug <[!]list>    list of domains with "debug" level
  --log-noisy <[!]list>    list of domains with "noisy" level
  --log-file <path>        file to output messages to (in addition to stderr)

Miscellaneous:
  -N <packet_limit>        maximum number of packets buffered within dumpcap
  -C <byte_limit>          maximum number of bytes used for buffering packets
                           within dumpcap
  -t                       use a separate thread per interface
  -q                       don't report packet capture counts
  -v, --version            print version information and exit
  -h, --help               display this help and exit

Dumpcap can benefit from an enabled BPF JIT compiler if available.
You might want to enable it by executing:
 "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable"
Note that this can make your system less secure!

Example: dumpcap -i eth0 -a duration:60 -w output.pcapng
"Capture packets from interface eth0 until 60s passed into output.pcapng"

Use Ctrl-C to stop capturing at any time.

D.5. capinfos: Print information about capture files

capinfos can print information about capture files including the file
type, number of packets, date and time information, and file hashes.
Information can be printed in human and machine readable formats. For
more information on capinfos consult your local manual page (man
capinfos
) or the online
version.

Help information available from capinfos

Capinfos (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-1461-g89188380ae44)
Print various information (infos) about capture files.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: capinfos [options] <infile> ...

General infos:
  -t display the capture file type
  -E display the capture file encapsulation
  -I display the capture file interface information
  -F display additional capture file information
  -H display the SHA256 and SHA1 hashes of the file
  -k display the capture comment

Size infos:
  -c display the number of packets
  -s display the size of the file (in bytes)
  -d display the total length of all packets (in bytes)
  -l display the packet size limit (snapshot length)

Time infos:
  -u display the capture duration (in seconds)
  -a display the capture start time
  -e display the capture end time
  -o display the capture file chronological status (True/False)
  -S display start and end times as seconds

Statistic infos:
  -y display average data rate (in bytes/sec)
  -i display average data rate (in bits/sec)
  -z display average packet size (in bytes)
  -x display average packet rate (in packets/sec)

Metadata infos:
  -n display number of resolved IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
  -D display number of decryption secrets

Output format:
  -L generate long report (default)
  -T generate table report
  -M display machine-readable values in long reports

Table report options:
  -R generate header record (default)
  -r do not generate header record

  -B separate infos with TAB character (default)
  -m separate infos with comma (,) character
  -b separate infos with SPACE character

  -N do not quote infos (default)
  -q quote infos with single quotes (')
  -Q quote infos with double quotes (")

Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help               display this help and exit
  -v, --version            display version info and exit
  -C cancel processing if file open fails (default is to continue)
  -A generate all infos (default)
  -K disable displaying the capture comment

Options are processed from left to right order with later options superseding
or adding to earlier options.

If no options are given the default is to display all infos in long report
output format.

D.6. rawshark: Dump and analyze network traffic.

Rawshark reads a stream of packets from a file or pipe, and prints a
line describing its output, followed by a set of matching fields for
each packet on stdout. For more information on rawshark consult your
local manual page (man rawshark) or
the online version.

Help information available from rawshark

Rawshark (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-2069-g25ff48a96ac0)
Dump and analyze network traffic.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: rawshark [options] ...

Input file:
  -r <infile>              set the pipe or file name to read from

Processing:
  -d <encap:linktype>|<proto:protoname>
                           packet encapsulation or protocol
  -F <field>               field to display
  -m                       virtual memory limit, in bytes
  -n                       disable all name resolutions (def: "mNd" enabled, or
                           as set in preferences)
  -N <name resolve flags>  enable specific name resolution(s): "mnNtdv"
  -p                       use the system's packet header format
                           (which may have 64-bit timestamps)
  -R <read filter>         packet filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
  -s                       skip PCAP header on input
  --enable-protocol <proto_name>
                           enable dissection of proto_name
  --disable-protocol <proto_name>
                           disable dissection of proto_name
  --enable-heuristic <short_name>
                           enable dissection of heuristic protocol
  --disable-heuristic <short_name>
                           disable dissection of heuristic protocol

Output:
  -l                       flush output after each packet
  -S                       format string for fields
                           (%D - name, %S - stringval, %N numval)
  -t (a|ad|adoy|d|dd|e|r|u|ud|udoy)[.[N]]|.[N]
                           output format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)
  -u s|hms                 output format of seconds (def: s: seconds)

Diagnostic output:
  --log-level <level>      sets the active log level ("critical", "warning", etc.)
  --log-fatal <level>      sets level to abort the program ("critical" or "warning")
  --log-domains <[!]list>  comma-separated list of the active log domains
  --log-fatal-domains <list>
                           list of domains that cause the program to abort
  --log-debug <[!]list>    list of domains with "debug" level
  --log-noisy <[!]list>    list of domains with "noisy" level
  --log-file <path>        file to output messages to (in addition to stderr)


Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help               display this help and exit
  -v, --version            display version info and exit
  -o <name>:<value> ...    override preference setting
  -K <keytab>              keytab file to use for kerberos decryption

D.7. editcap: Edit capture files

editcap is a general-purpose utility for modifying capture files. Its
main function is to remove packets from capture files, but it can also
be used to convert capture files from one format to another, as well as
to print information about capture files. For more information on
editcap consult your local manual page (man editcap) or
the online version.

Help information available from editcap. 

Editcap (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-1347-g840a0d302513)
Edit and/or translate the format of capture files.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: editcap [options] ... <infile> <outfile> [ <packet#>[-<packet#>] ... ]

<infile> and <outfile> must both be present; use '-' for stdin or stdout.
A single packet or a range of packets can be selected.

Packet selection:
  -r                     keep the selected packets; default is to delete them.
  -A <start time>        only read packets whose timestamp is after (or equal
                         to) the given time.
  -B <stop time>         only read packets whose timestamp is before the
                         given time.
                         Time format for -A/-B options is
                         YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss[.nnnnnnnnn][Z|+-hh:mm]
                         Unix epoch timestamps are also supported.

Duplicate packet removal:
  --novlan               remove vlan info from packets before checking for duplicates.
  -d                     remove packet if duplicate (window == 5).
  -D <dup window>        remove packet if duplicate; configurable <dup window>.
                         Valid <dup window> values are 0 to 1000000.
                         NOTE: A <dup window> of 0 with -V (verbose option) is
                         useful to print MD5 hashes.
  -w <dup time window>   remove packet if duplicate packet is found EQUAL TO OR
                         LESS THAN <dup time window> prior to current packet.
                         A <dup time window> is specified in relative seconds
                         (e.g. 0.000001).
           NOTE: The use of the 'Duplicate packet removal' options with
           other editcap options except -V may not always work as expected.
           Specifically the -r, -t or -S options will very likely NOT have the
           desired effect if combined with the -d, -D or -w.
  --skip-radiotap-header skip radiotap header when checking for packet duplicates.
                         Useful when processing packets captured by multiple radios
                         on the same channel in the vicinity of each other.
  --set-unused           set unused byts to zero in sll link addr.

Packet manipulation:
  -s <snaplen>           truncate each packet to max. <snaplen> bytes of data.
  -C [offset:]<choplen>  chop each packet by <choplen> bytes. Positive values
                         chop at the packet beginning, negative values at the
                         packet end. If an optional offset precedes the length,
                         then the bytes chopped will be offset from that value.
                         Positive offsets are from the packet beginning,
                         negative offsets are from the packet end. You can use
                         this option more than once, allowing up to 2 chopping
                         regions within a packet provided that at least 1
                         choplen is positive and at least 1 is negative.
  -L                     adjust the frame (i.e. reported) length when chopping
                         and/or snapping.
  -t <time adjustment>   adjust the timestamp of each packet.
                         <time adjustment> is in relative seconds (e.g. -0.5).
  -S <strict adjustment> adjust timestamp of packets if necessary to ensure
                         strict chronological increasing order. The <strict
                         adjustment> is specified in relative seconds with
                         values of 0 or 0.000001 being the most reasonable.
                         A negative adjustment value will modify timestamps so
                         that each packet's delta time is the absolute value
                         of the adjustment specified. A value of -0 will set
                         all packets to the timestamp of the first packet.
  -E <error probability> set the probability (between 0.0 and 1.0 incl.) that
                         a particular packet byte will be randomly changed.
  -o <change offset>     When used in conjunction with -E, skip some bytes from the
                         beginning of the packet. This allows one to preserve some
                         bytes, in order to have some headers untouched.
  --seed <seed>          When used in conjunction with -E, set the seed to use for
                         the pseudo-random number generator. This allows one to
                         repeat a particular sequence of errors.
  -I <bytes to ignore>   ignore the specified number of bytes at the beginning
                         of the frame during MD5 hash calculation, unless the
                         frame is too short, then the full frame is used.
                         Useful to remove duplicated packets taken on
                         several routers (different mac addresses for
                         example).
                         e.g. -I 26 in case of Ether/IP will ignore
                         ether(14) and IP header(20 - 4(src ip) - 4(dst ip)).
  -a <framenum>:<comment> Add or replace comment for given frame number

Output File(s):
  -c <packets per file>  split the packet output to different files based on
                         uniform packet counts with a maximum of
                         <packets per file> each.
  -i <seconds per file>  split the packet output to different files based on
                         uniform time intervals with a maximum of
                         <seconds per file> each.
  -F <capture type>      set the output file type; default is pcapng.
                         An empty "-F" option will list the file types.
  -T <encap type>        set the output file encapsulation type; default is the
                         same as the input file. An empty "-T" option will
                         list the encapsulation types.
  --inject-secrets <type>,<file>  Insert decryption secrets from <file>. List
                         supported secret types with "--inject-secrets help".
  --discard-all-secrets  Discard all decryption secrets from the input file
                         when writing the output file.  Does not discard
                         secrets added by "--inject-secrets" in the same
                         command line.
  --capture-comment <comment>
                         Add a capture file comment, if supported.
  --discard-capture-comment
                         Discard capture file comments from the input file
                         when writing the output file.  Does not discard
                         comments added by "--capture-comment" in the same
                         command line.

Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help             display this help and exit.
  -V                     verbose output.
                         If -V is used with any of the 'Duplicate Packet
                         Removal' options (-d, -D or -w) then Packet lengths
                         and MD5 hashes are printed to standard-error.
  -v, --version          print version information and exit.

Capture file types available from editcap -F

editcap: The available capture file types for the "-F" flag are:
    pcap - Wireshark/tcpdump/... - pcap
    pcapng - Wireshark/... - pcapng
    5views - InfoVista 5View capture
    btsnoop - Symbian OS btsnoop
    commview-ncf - TamoSoft CommView NCF
    commview-ncfx - TamoSoft CommView NCFX
    dct2000 - Catapult DCT2000 trace (.out format)
    erf - Endace ERF capture
    eyesdn - EyeSDN USB S0/E1 ISDN trace format
    k12text - K12 text file
    lanalyzer - Novell LANalyzer
    logcat - Android Logcat Binary format
    logcat-brief - Android Logcat Brief text format
    logcat-long - Android Logcat Long text format
    logcat-process - Android Logcat Process text format
    logcat-tag - Android Logcat Tag text format
    logcat-thread - Android Logcat Thread text format
    logcat-threadtime - Android Logcat Threadtime text format
    logcat-time - Android Logcat Time text format
    modpcap - Modified tcpdump - pcap
    netmon1 - Microsoft NetMon 1.x
    netmon2 - Microsoft NetMon 2.x
    nettl - HP-UX nettl trace
    ngsniffer - Sniffer (DOS)
    ngwsniffer_1_1 - NetXray, Sniffer (Windows) 1.1
    ngwsniffer_2_0 - Sniffer (Windows) 2.00x
    nokiapcap - Nokia tcpdump - pcap
    nsecpcap - Wireshark/tcpdump/... - nanosecond pcap
    nstrace10 - NetScaler Trace (Version 1.0)
    nstrace20 - NetScaler Trace (Version 2.0)
    nstrace30 - NetScaler Trace (Version 3.0)
    nstrace35 - NetScaler Trace (Version 3.5)
    observer - Viavi Observer
    rf5 - Tektronix K12xx 32-bit .rf5 format
    rh6_1pcap - RedHat 6.1 tcpdump - pcap
    snoop - Sun snoop
    suse6_3pcap - SuSE 6.3 tcpdump - pcap
    visual - Visual Networks traffic capture

Encapsulation types available from editcap -T

editcap: The available encapsulation types for the "-T" flag are:
    alp - ATSC Link-Layer Protocol (A/330) packets
    ap1394 - Apple IP-over-IEEE 1394
    arcnet - ARCNET
    arcnet_linux - Linux ARCNET
    ascend - Lucent/Ascend access equipment
    atm-pdus - ATM PDUs
    atm-pdus-untruncated - ATM PDUs - untruncated
    atm-rfc1483 - RFC 1483 ATM
    auerlog - Auerswald Log
    autosardlt - AUTOSAR DLT
    ax25 - Amateur Radio AX.25
    ax25-kiss - AX.25 with KISS header
    bacnet-ms-tp - BACnet MS/TP
    bacnet-ms-tp-with-direction - BACnet MS/TP with Directional Info
    ber - ASN.1 Basic Encoding Rules
    bluetooth-bredr-bb-rf - Bluetooth BR/EDR Baseband RF
    bluetooth-h4 - Bluetooth H4
    bluetooth-h4-linux - Bluetooth H4 with linux header
    bluetooth-hci - Bluetooth without transport layer
    bluetooth-le-ll - Bluetooth Low Energy Link Layer
    bluetooth-le-ll-rf - Bluetooth Low Energy Link Layer RF
    bluetooth-linux-monitor - Bluetooth Linux Monitor
    can20b - Controller Area Network 2.0B
    chdlc - Cisco HDLC
    chdlc-with-direction - Cisco HDLC with Directional Info
    cosine - CoSine L2 debug log
    dbus - D-Bus
    dct2000 - Catapult DCT2000
    docsis - Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
    docsis31_xra31 - DOCSIS with Excentis XRA pseudo-header
    dpauxmon - DisplayPort AUX channel with Unigraf pseudo-header
    dpnss_link - Digital Private Signalling System No 1 Link Layer
    dvbci - DVB-CI (Common Interface)
    ebhscr - Elektrobit High Speed Capture and Replay
    enc - OpenBSD enc(4) encapsulating interface
    epon - Ethernet Passive Optical Network
    erf - Extensible Record Format
    eri_enb_log - Ericsson eNode-B raw log
    ether - Ethernet
    ether-mpacket - IEEE 802.3br mPackets
    ether-nettl - Ethernet with nettl headers
    etw - Event Tracing for Windows messages
    fc2 - Fibre Channel FC-2
    fc2sof - Fibre Channel FC-2 With Frame Delimiter
    fddi - FDDI
    fddi-nettl - FDDI with nettl headers
    fddi-swapped - FDDI with bit-swapped MAC addresses
    fira-uci - FiRa UWB Controller Interface (UCI) protocol.
    flexray - FlexRay
    frelay - Frame Relay
    frelay-with-direction - Frame Relay with Directional Info
    gcom-serial - GCOM Serial
    gcom-tie1 - GCOM TIE1
    gfp-f - ITU-T G.7041/Y.1303 Generic Framing Procedure Frame-mapped mode
    gfp-t - ITU-T G.7041/Y.1303 Generic Framing Procedure Transparent mode
    gprs-llc - GPRS LLC
    gsm_um - GSM Um Interface
    hhdlc - HiPath HDLC
    i2c-linux - I2C with Linux-specific pseudo-header
    ieee-802-11 - IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
    ieee-802-11-avs - IEEE 802.11 plus AVS radio header
    ieee-802-11-netmon - IEEE 802.11 plus Network Monitor radio header
    ieee-802-11-prism - IEEE 802.11 plus Prism II monitor mode radio header
    ieee-802-11-radio - IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN with radio information
    ieee-802-11-radiotap - IEEE 802.11 plus radiotap radio header
    ieee-802-16-mac-cps - IEEE 802.16 MAC Common Part Sublayer
    infiniband - InfiniBand
    ios - Cisco IOS internal
    ip-ib - IP over IB
    ip-over-fc - RFC 2625 IP-over-Fibre Channel
    ip-over-ib - IP over InfiniBand
    ipfix - RFC 5655/RFC 5101 IPFIX
    ipmb-kontron - Intelligent Platform Management Bus with Kontron pseudo-header
    ipmi-trace - IPMI Trace Data Collection
    ipnet - Solaris IPNET
    irda - IrDA
    isdn - ISDN
    iso14443 - ISO 14443 contactless smartcard standards
    ixveriwave - IxVeriWave header and stats block
    jfif - JPEG/JFIF
    json - JavaScript Object Notation
    juniper-atm1 - Juniper ATM1
    juniper-atm2 - Juniper ATM2
    juniper-chdlc - Juniper C-HDLC
    juniper-ether - Juniper Ethernet
    juniper-frelay - Juniper Frame-Relay
    juniper-ggsn - Juniper GGSN
    juniper-mlfr - Juniper MLFR
    juniper-mlppp - Juniper MLPPP
    juniper-ppp - Juniper PPP
    juniper-pppoe - Juniper PPPoE
    juniper-st - Juniper Secure Tunnel Information
    juniper-svcs - Juniper Services
    juniper-vn - Juniper VN
    juniper-vp - Juniper Voice PIC
    k12 - K12 protocol analyzer
    lapb - LAPB
    lapd - LAPD
    layer1-event - EyeSDN Layer 1 event
    lin - Local Interconnect Network
    linux-atm-clip - Linux ATM CLIP
    linux-lapd - LAPD with Linux pseudo-header
    linux-sll - Linux cooked-mode capture v1
    linux-sll2 - Linux cooked-mode capture v2
    log_3GPP - 3GPP Phone Log
    logcat - Android Logcat Binary format
    logcat_brief - Android Logcat Brief text format
    logcat_long - Android Logcat Long text format
    logcat_process - Android Logcat Process text format
    logcat_tag - Android Logcat Tag text format
    logcat_thread - Android Logcat Thread text format
    logcat_threadtime - Android Logcat Threadtime text format
    logcat_time - Android Logcat Time text format
    loop - OpenBSD loopback
    loratap - LoRaTap
    ltalk - Localtalk
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture2_v4 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture2 v4
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture2_v6 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture2 v6
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture_auth_v4 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture Auth v4
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture_auth_v6 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture Auth v6
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture_v4 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture v4
    message_analyzer_wfp_capture_v6 - Message Analyzer WFP Capture v6
    mime - MIME
    most - Media Oriented Systems Transport
    mp2ts - ISO/IEC 13818-1 MPEG2-TS
    mp4 - MP4 files
    mpeg - MPEG
    mtp2 - SS7 MTP2
    mtp2-with-phdr - MTP2 with pseudoheader
    mtp3 - SS7 MTP3
    mux27010 - MUX27010
    netanalyzer - Hilscher netANALYZER
    netanalyzer-transparent - Hilscher netANALYZER-Transparent
    netlink - Linux Netlink
    netmon_event - Network Monitor Network Event
    netmon_filter - Network Monitor Filter
    netmon_header - Network Monitor Header
    netmon_network_info - Network Monitor Network Info
    nfc-llcp - NFC LLCP
    nflog - NFLOG
    nordic_ble - nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE
    nstrace10 - NetScaler Encapsulation 1.0 of Ethernet
    nstrace20 - NetScaler Encapsulation 2.0 of Ethernet
    nstrace30 - NetScaler Encapsulation 3.0 of Ethernet
    nstrace35 - NetScaler Encapsulation 3.5 of Ethernet
    null - NULL/Loopback
    packetlogger - Apple Bluetooth PacketLogger
    pflog - OpenBSD PF Firewall logs
    pflog-old - OpenBSD PF Firewall logs, pre-3.4
    pktap - Apple PKTAP
    ppi - Per-Packet Information header
    ppp - PPP
    ppp-with-direction - PPP with Directional Info
    pppoes - PPP-over-Ethernet session
    raw-icmp-nettl - Raw ICMP with nettl headers
    raw-icmpv6-nettl - Raw ICMPv6 with nettl headers
    raw-telnet-nettl - Raw telnet with nettl headers
    rawip - Raw IP
    rawip-nettl - Raw IP with nettl headers
    rawip4 - Raw IPv4
    rawip6 - Raw IPv6
    redback - Redback SmartEdge
    rfc7468 - RFC 7468 file
    rtac-serial - RTAC serial-line
    ruby_marshal - Ruby marshal object
    s4607 - STANAG 4607
    s5066-dpdu - STANAG 5066 Data Transfer Sublayer PDUs(D_PDU)
    sccp - SS7 SCCP
    sctp - SCTP
    sdh - SDH
    sdjournal - systemd journal
    sdlc - SDLC
    silabs-dch - Silabs Debug Channel
    sita-wan - SITA WAN packets
    slip - SLIP
    socketcan - SocketCAN
    symantec - Symantec Enterprise Firewall
    tnef - Transport-Neutral Encapsulation Format
    tr - Token Ring
    tr-nettl - Token Ring with nettl headers
    tzsp - Tazmen sniffer protocol
    unknown - Unknown
    unknown-nettl - Unknown link-layer type with nettl headers
    usb-20 - USB 2.0/1.1/1.0 packets
    usb-20-full - Full-Speed USB 2.0/1.1/1.0 packets
    usb-20-high - High-Speed USB 2.0 packets
    usb-20-low - Low-Speed USB 2.0/1.1/1.0 packets
    usb-darwin - USB packets with Darwin (macOS, etc.) headers
    usb-freebsd - USB packets with FreeBSD header
    usb-linux - USB packets with Linux header
    usb-linux-mmap - USB packets with Linux header and padding
    usb-usbpcap - USB packets with USBPcap header
    user0 - USER 0
    user1 - USER 1
    user2 - USER 2
    user3 - USER 3
    user4 - USER 4
    user5 - USER 5
    user6 - USER 6
    user7 - USER 7
    user8 - USER 8
    user9 - USER 9
    user10 - USER 10
    user11 - USER 11
    user12 - USER 12
    user13 - USER 13
    user14 - USER 14
    user15 - USER 15
    v5-ef - V5 Envelope Function
    vpp - Vector Packet Processing graph dispatch trace
    vsock - Linux vsock
    whdlc - Wellfleet HDLC
    wireshark-upper-pdu - Wireshark Upper PDU export
    wpan - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN
    wpan-nofcs - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN with FCS not present
    wpan-nonask-phy - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN non-ASK PHY
    wpan-tap - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless with TAP pseudo-header
    x2e-serial - X2E serial line capture
    x2e-xoraya - X2E Xoraya
    x25-nettl - X.25 with nettl headers
    xeth - Xerox 3MB Ethernet
    zbncp - ZBOSS NCP
    zwave-serial - Z-Wave Serial API packets

D.8. mergecap: Merging multiple capture files into one

Mergecap is a program that combines multiple saved capture files into a single
output file specified by the -w argument. Mergecap can read libpcap
capture files, including those of tcpdump. In addition, Mergecap can read
capture files from snoop (including Shomiti) and atmsnoop, LanAlyzer, Sniffer
(compressed or uncompressed), Microsoft Network Monitor, AIX’s iptrace, NetXray,
Sniffer Pro, RADCOM’s WAN/LAN analyzer, Lucent/Ascend router debug output,
HP-UX’s nettl, and the dump output from Toshiba’s ISDN routers. There is no need
to tell Mergecap what type of file you are reading; it will determine the file
type by itself. Mergecap is also capable of reading any of these file formats if
they are compressed using gzip. Mergecap recognizes this directly from the
file; the “.gz” extension is not required for this purpose.

By default, Mergecap writes all of the packets in the input capture files to a
pcapng file. The -F flag can be used
to specify the capture file’s output format ; it can write the file
in libpcap format (standard libpcap format, a modified format used by some
patched versions of libpcap, the format used by Red Hat Linux 6.1, or the format
used by SuSE Linux 6.3), snoop format, uncompressed Sniffer format, Microsoft
Network Monitor 1.x format, and the format used by Windows-based versions of the
Sniffer software.

Packets from the input files are merged in chronological order based on each
frame’s timestamp, unless the -a flag is specified. Mergecap assumes that
frames within a single capture file are already stored in chronological order.
When the -a flag is specified, packets are copied directly from each input
file to the output file, independent of each frame’s timestamp.

If the -s flag is used to specify a snapshot length, frames in the input file
with more captured data than the specified snapshot length will have only the
amount of data specified by the snapshot length written to the output file. This
may be useful if the program that is to read the output file cannot handle
packets larger than a certain size (for example, the versions of snoop in
Solaris 2.5.1 and Solaris 2.6 appear to reject Ethernet frames larger than the
standard Ethernet MTU, making them incapable of handling gigabit Ethernet
captures if jumbo frames were used).

If the -T flag is used to specify an encapsulation type, the encapsulation
type of the output capture file will be forced to the specified type, rather
than being the type appropriate to the encapsulation type of the input capture
file. Note that this merely forces the encapsulation type of the output file to
be the specified type; the packet headers of the packets will not be translated
from the encapsulation type of the input capture file to the specified
encapsulation type (for example, it will not translate an Ethernet capture to an
FDDI capture if an Ethernet capture is read and -T fddi is specified).

For more information on mergecap consult your local manual page (man
mergecap
) or the online
version.

Help information available from mergecap

Mergecap (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-55-gccf720d95daf)
Merge two or more capture files into one.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: mergecap [options] -w <outfile>|- <infile> [<infile> ...]

Output:
  -a                concatenate rather than merge files.
                    default is to merge based on frame timestamps.
  -s <snaplen>      truncate packets to <snaplen> bytes of data.
  -w <outfile>|-    set the output filename to <outfile> or '-' for stdout.
  -F <capture type> set the output file type; default is pcapng.
                    an empty "-F" option will list the file types.
  -I <IDB merge mode> set the merge mode for Interface Description Blocks; default is 'all'.
                    an empty "-I" option will list the merge modes.

Miscellaneous:
  -h, --help        display this help and exit.
  -V                verbose output.
  -v, --version     print version information and exit.

A simple example merging dhcp-capture.pcapng and imap-1.pcapng into
outfile.pcapng is shown below.

Simple example of using mergecap. 

$ mergecap -w outfile.pcapng dhcp-capture.pcapng imap-1.pcapng

D.9. text2pcap: Converting ASCII hexdumps to network captures

There may be some occasions when you wish to convert a hex dump of some network
traffic into a capture file.

text2pcap is a program that reads in an ASCII hex dump and writes the data
described into any capture file format supported by libwiretap. text2pcap can
read hexdumps with multiple packets in them, and build a capture file of
multiple packets.
text2pcap is also capable of generating dummy Ethernet, IP, UDP, TCP or SCTP
headers, in order to build fully processable packet dumps from hexdumps of
application-level data only.

text2pcap understands a hexdump of the form generated by od -A x -t x1. In
other words, each byte is individually displayed and surrounded with a space.
Each line begins with an offset describing the position in the packet, each new
packet starts with an offset of 0 and there is a space separating the offset
from the following bytes. The offset
is a hex number (can also be octal — see -o), of more than two hex digits. Here
is a sample dump that text2pcap can recognize:

000000 00 e0 1e a7 05 6f 00 10 ........
000008 5a a0 b9 12 08 00 46 00 ........
000010 03 68 00 00 00 00 0a 2e ........
000018 ee 33 0f 19 08 7f 0f 19 ........
000020 03 80 94 04 00 00 10 01 ........
000028 16 a2 0a 00 03 50 00 0c ........
000030 01 01 0f 19 03 80 11 01 ........

There is no limit on the width or number of bytes per line. Also the text dump
at the end of the line is ignored. Bytes/hex numbers can be uppercase or
lowercase. Any text before the offset is ignored, including email forwarding
characters “>”. Any lines of text between the bytestring lines is ignored.
The offsets are used to track the bytes, so offsets must be correct. Any line
which has only bytes without a leading offset is ignored. An offset is
recognized as being a hex number longer than two characters. Any text after the
bytes is ignored (e.g., the character dump). Any hex numbers in this text are
also ignored. An offset of zero is indicative of starting a new packet, so a
single text file with a series of hexdumps can be converted into a packet
capture with multiple packets. Packets may be preceded by a timestamp. These
are interpreted according to the format given on the command line. If not, the
first packet is timestamped with the current time the conversion takes place.
Multiple packets are written with timestamps differing by one microsecond each.
In general, short of these restrictions, text2pcap
is pretty liberal about reading in hexdumps and has been tested with a variety
of mangled outputs (including being forwarded through email multiple times, with
limited line wrap etc.)

There are a couple of other special features to note. Any line where the first
non-whitespace character is “#” will be ignored as a comment. Any line beginning
with #TEXT2PCAP is a directive and options can be inserted after this command to
be processed by text2pcap. Currently there are no directives implemented; in the
future, these may be used to give more fine-grained control on the dump and the
way it should be processed e.g., timestamps, encapsulation type etc.

text2pcap also allows the user to read in dumps of application-level data, by
inserting dummy L2, L3 and L4 headers before each packet. Possibilities include
inserting headers such as Ethernet, Ethernet + IP, Ethernet + IP + UDP, or TCP,
or SCTP before each packet. This allows Wireshark or any other full-packet
decoder to handle these dumps.

For more information on text2pcap consult your local manual page (man
text2pcap
) or the online
version.

Help information available from text2pcap. 

Text2pcap (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-428-g517d2be1494f)
Generate a capture file from an ASCII hexdump of packets.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: text2pcap [options] <infile> <outfile>

where  <infile> specifies input  filename (use - for standard input)
      <outfile> specifies output filename (use - for standard output)

Input:
  -o hex|oct|dec|none    parse offsets as (h)ex, (o)ctal, (d)ecimal, or (n)one;
                         default is hex.
  -t <timefmt>           treat the text before the packet as a date/time code;
                         <timefmt> is a format string supported by strptime,
                         with an optional %f descriptor for fractional seconds.
                         Example: The time "10:15:14.5476" has the format code
                         "%H:%M:%S.%f"
                         The special format string ISO supports ISO-8601 times.
                         NOTE: Date/time fields from the current date/time are
                         used as the default for unspecified fields.
  -D                     the text before the packet starts with an I or an O,
                         indicating that the packet is inbound or outbound.
                         This is used when generating dummy headers if the
                         output format supports it (e.g. pcapng).
  -a                     enable ASCII text dump identification.
                         The start of the ASCII text dump can be identified
                         and excluded from the packet data, even if it looks
                         like a HEX dump.
                         NOTE: Do not enable it if the input file does not
                         contain the ASCII text dump.
  -r <regex>             enable regex mode. Scan the input using <regex>, a Perl
                         compatible regular expression matching a single packet.
                         Named capturing subgroups are used to identify fields:
                         <data> (mand.), and <time>, <dir>, and <seqno> (opt.)
                         The time field format is taken from the -t option
                         Example: -r '^(?<dir>[<>])s(?<time>d+:dd:dd.d+)s(?<data>[0-9a-fA-F]+)$'
                         could match a file with lines like
                         > 0:00:00.265620 a130368b000000080060
                         < 0:00:00.295459 a2010800000000000000000800000000
  -b 2|8|16|64           encoding base (radix) of the packet data in regex mode
                         (def: 16: hexadecimal) No effect in hexdump mode.

Output:
  -F <capture type>      set the output file type; default is pcapng.
                         an empty "-F" option will list the file types.
  -E <encap type>        set the output file encapsulation type; default is
                         ether (Ethernet). An empty "-E" option will list
                         the encapsulation types.
  -l <typenum>           set the output file encapsulation type via link-layer
                         type number; default is 1 (Ethernet). See
                         https://www.tcpdump.org/linktypes.html for a list of
                         numbers.
                         Example: -l 7 for ARCNet packets.
  -m <max-packet>        max packet length in output; default is 262144
  -N <intf-name>         assign name to the interface in the pcapng file.

Prepend dummy header:
  -e <l3pid>             prepend dummy Ethernet II header with specified L3PID
                         (in HEX).
                         Example: -e 0x806 to specify an ARP packet.
  -i <proto>             prepend dummy IP header with specified IP protocol
                         (in DECIMAL).
                         Automatically prepends Ethernet header as well if
                         link-layer type is Ethernet.
                         Example: -i 46
  -4 <srcip>,<destip>    prepend dummy IPv4 header with specified
                         dest and source address.
                         Example: -4 10.0.0.1,10.0.0.2
  -6 <srcip>,<destip>    prepend dummy IPv6 header with specified
                         dest and source address.
                         Example: -6 2001:db8::b3ff:fe1e:8329,2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334
  -u <srcp>,<destp>      prepend dummy UDP header with specified
                         source and destination ports (in DECIMAL).
                         Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
                         Example: -u 1000,69 to make the packets look like
                         TFTP/UDP packets.
  -T <srcp>,<destp>      prepend dummy TCP header with specified
                         source and destination ports (in DECIMAL).
                         Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
                         Example: -T 50,60
  -s <srcp>,<dstp>,<tag> prepend dummy SCTP header with specified
                         source/dest ports and verification tag (in DECIMAL).
                         Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
                         Example: -s 30,40,34
  -S <srcp>,<dstp>,<ppi> prepend dummy SCTP header with specified
                         source/dest ports and verification tag 0.
                         Automatically prepends a dummy SCTP DATA
                         chunk header with payload protocol identifier ppi.
                         Example: -S 30,40,34
  -P <dissector>         prepend EXPORTED_PDU header with specified dissector
                         as the payload DISSECTOR_NAME tag.
                         Automatically sets link type to Upper PDU Export.
                         EXPORTED_PDU payload defaults to "data" otherwise.

Diagnostic output:
  --log-level <level>      sets the active log level ("critical", "warning", etc.)
  --log-fatal <level>      sets level to abort the program ("critical" or "warning")
  --log-domains <[!]list>  comma-separated list of the active log domains
  --log-fatal-domains <list>
                           list of domains that cause the program to abort
  --log-debug <[!]list>    list of domains with "debug" level
  --log-noisy <[!]list>    list of domains with "noisy" level
  --log-file <path>        file to output messages to (in addition to stderr)

Miscellaneous:
  -h                     display this help and exit
  -v                     print version information and exit
  -q                     don't report processed packet counts

D.10. reordercap: Reorder a capture file

reordercap lets you reorder a capture file according to the packets
timestamp. For more information on reordercap consult your local
manual page (man reordercap) or
the online version.

Help information available from reordercap. 

Reordercap (Wireshark) 4.1.0 (v4.1.0rc0-55-gccf720d95daf)
Reorder timestamps of input file frames into output file.
See https://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Usage: reordercap [options] <infile> <outfile>

Options:
  -n        don't write to output file if the input file is ordered.
  -h        display this help and exit.
  -v        print version information and exit.

Chapter 13. This Document’s License (GPL)

As with the original license and documentation distributed
with Wireshark, this document is covered by the GNU General Public
License (GNU GPL).

If you haven’t read the GPL before, please do so. It
explains all the things that you are allowed to do with this
code and documentation.

		    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
		       Version 2, June 1991

 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

			    Preamble

  The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change it.  By contrast, the GNU General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it.  (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.)  You can apply it to
your programs, too.

  When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price.  Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

  To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

  For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
you have.  You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code.  And you must show them these terms so they know their
rights.

  We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
distribute and/or modify the software.

  Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software.  If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
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  0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains
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	    How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

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Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

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The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
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  Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
  `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.

  <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
  Ty Coon, President of Vice

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consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
library.  If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
Public License instead of this License.

Системные администраторы используют массу программ для анализа трафика и поиска причин сбоев. Одной из самых популярных утилит для анализа сетевого трафика является Wireshark. Возможности программы безграничны – от захвата пакетов, передаваемых в сети, до извлечения отдельных файлов для их изучения и проверки.

Поговорим об этой программе подробнее. 

Назначение программы Wireshark

Программный продукт Wireshark перехватывает входящие и исходящие TCP-пакеты. И благодаря встроенным функциям мониторит содержимое, ищет ошибки. Заметно упрощает использование программы система фильтров, а также простой и логичный графический интерфейс на фреймворке GTK+ с поддержкой открытого API (внешне окна похожи на Windows).

Wireshark

Особенности программы:

  1. Кроссплатформенность – выпускаются версии под Linux, Windows, macOS.
  2. Бесплатность – распространяется под лицензией GNU GPL v2.
  3. Простота – инсталляция заключается в нескольких нажатиях кнопки «Next».

Изначально разработчики назвали проект Ethereal, и предназначался он исключительно для Ethernet-сетей. В 2006 году из-за проблем с торговой маркой произошло переименование. По функционалу программа схожа с tcpdump, но получила большую популярность за счет интерфейса и богатых возможностей сортировки и фильтрации.

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Основные возможности Wireshark

Сетевой трафик преобразуется буквально «на лету». В программу «заложена» структура различных протоколов, поэтому пользователь работает с перехватываемым информационным потоком. Единственное ограничение заключается в списке поддерживаемых стандартов – он ограничивается возможностями библиотеки pcap. Правда, функционал легко расширяется скриптами на языке Lua.

Wireshark анализ сети

Востребованные функции сетевого анализатора Wireshark:

  1. Захват пакетов в реальном времени или при чтении из файла.
  2. Поддержка проводного интерфейса Ethernet, беспроводных IEEE 802.11, PPP и локальных виртуальных интерфейсов.
  3. Отсеивание сетевых пакетов по большому количеству установленных фильтров, включая расшифровку только VoIP-звонков, HTTPS-трафика.
  4. Подсвечивание разных протоколов при смешанном трафике, выделение TCP, HTTP, FTP, DNS, ICMP и т.д.
  5. Расшифровка WEP-, WPA-трафика беспроводных сетей при наличии ключа безопасности и Handshake.

Параллельно программа фиксирует нагрузку на сеть, сохраняет статистику, отображает в реальном времени отправку и получение пакетов, но это уже второстепенные функции. Основной остается перехват трафика. Здесь нужно уточнить, что использование приложения должно согласовываться с владельцем подсети, иначе это вполне сойдет за «хакерскую атаку» с вытекающими последствиями для специалиста.

Интерфейс программы

Еще одно преимущество Wireshark – русскоязычный интерфейс. Правда, встроенная справка идет только на английском, поэтому самостоятельно разбираться в программе без знания языка придется при помощи переводчика. Или ориентироваться на наименования пунктов меню, которые также переведены на русский. Главное, понимать принцип работы программы и не бояться огромного массива данных, поступающего при сниффинге трафика.

Анализ сетевого трафика

Пункты меню:

  1. Файл – содержит команды для открытия, сохранения, импорта/экспорта дампов данных.
  2. Редактирование – изменение общих параметров программы, включая интерфейс.
  3. Просмотр – настройка отображения отдельных блоков, масштаб, цветовое выделение.
  4. Запуск – подсказка по управлению работой программы при помощи клавиш.
  5. Захват – старт, остановка, перезапуск сниффинга трафика указанной сети.
  6. Анализ – система фильтров протоколов, декодирование, проверка содержимого.
  7. Статистика – отчеты по перехваченному трафику, детально по каждому протоколу.
  8. Телефония – отдельный блок функциональных модулей для расшифровки IP-телефонии.

Также выделены опции для работы с сетями Wi-Fi и Bluetooth (пункт «Беспроводные»). Если для анализа сетевого трафика понадобилось подключение дополнительных скриптов, поддержка Lua активируется в разделе «Инструменты». Тестовый запуск перехватчика затруднений не вызывает, достаточно выбрать нужную сеть и нажать «Запуск». Процесс будет идти непрерывно до ручного закрытия программы или нажатия «Стоп».

Как пользоваться Wireshark

В большинстве случаев анализ перехваченного трафика происходит в офлайн-режиме. Сначала его сохраняют в файл (дамп) и только потом проводят исследование. Такой подход позволяет снизить риск ошибок, приводящих к потере важной информации (например, когда неправильно настроили в Wireshark встроенные фильтры или была неверно поставлена задача по перехвату). Сохраненный файл доступен для повторного анализа без ограничений.

Wireshark - интерфейс

Основные приемы:

  1. Поиск по пакетам. Открывается панель поиска стандартной комбинацией клавиш Ctrl+F. После активации режима доступно несколько вариантов поиска. Наиболее востребованный режим «Дисплейный фильтр», он предназначен для обнаружения пакетов, отвечающих заданному выражению. Второй интересный вариант – «Строка».
  2. Отметка пакетов. Все интересующие нас пакеты помечаются цветовым выделением с помощью комбинации кнопок Ctrl+M (или через пункт выпадающего меню после нажатия правой кнопки мыши «Выполнить/Отменить пометку пакета»). Перемещение между ними работает комбинациями Shift+Ctrl+N (следующий) и Shift+Ctrl+B (предыдущий).
  3. Фильтры. Задают критерии исключения и включения в анализируемую подборку пакетов. Чем больше анализируемый дамп, тем детальнее фильтруется информация. Это упрощает работу с потоком данных и снижает риски механических ошибок пользователя.

Проще всего изучать функционал программы в «родной» сети, будет полезно попрактиковаться в переключении режимов сетевых адаптеров. Программа поддерживает 4 разных формата: управляемый, прямого подключения, ведущий и режим мониторинга. Их выбор позволяет менять способ подключения в зависимости от типа адаптера и поставленной задачи.

В любом случае оптимально сначала опробовать все возможности и лишь затем пытаться применять утилиту по прямому назначению.

VDS Timeweb арендовать

What to Know

  • Wireshark is an open-source application that captures and displays data traveling back and forth on a network.
  • Because it can drill down and read the contents of each packet, it’s used to troubleshoot network problems and test software.

Instructions in this article apply to Wireshark 3.0.3 for Windows and Mac.

What Is Wireshark?

Originally known as Ethereal, Wireshark displays data from hundreds of different protocols on all major network types. Data packets can be viewed in real-time or analyzed offline. Wireshark supports dozens of capture/trace file formats, including CAP and ERF. Integrated decryption tools display the encrypted packets for several common protocols, including WEP and WPA/WPA2.

How to Download and Install Wireshark

Wireshark can be downloaded at no cost from the Wireshark Foundation website for both macOS and Windows. You’ll see the latest stable release and the current developmental release. Unless you’re an advanced user, download the stable version.

During the Windows setup process, choose to install WinPcap or Npcap if prompted as these include libraries required for live data capture.

You must be logged in to the device as an administrator to use Wireshark. In Windows 10, search for Wireshark and select Run as administrator. In macOS, right-click the app icon and select Get Info. In the Sharing & Permissions settings, give the admin Read & Write privileges.

The application is also available for Linux and other UNIX-like platforms including Red Hat, Solaris, and FreeBSD. The binaries required for these operating systems can be found toward the bottom of the Wireshark download page under the Third-Party Packages section. You can also download Wireshark’s source code from this page.

How to Capture Data Packets With Wireshark

When you launch Wireshark, a welcome screen lists the available network connections on your current device. Displayed to the right of each is an EKG-style line graph that represents live traffic on that network.

To begin capturing packets with Wireshark:

  1. Select one or more of networks, go to the menu bar, then select Capture.

    To select multiple networks, hold the Shift key as you make your selection.

  2. In the Wireshark Capture Interfaces window, select Start.

    There are other ways to initiate packet capturing. Select the shark fin on the left side of the Wireshark toolbar, press ​Ctrl+E, or double-click the network.

  3. Select File > Save As or choose an Export option to record the capture.

  4. To stop capturing, press Ctrl+E. Or, go to the Wireshark toolbar and select the red Stop button that’s located next to the shark fin.

How to View and Analyze Packet Contents

The captured data interface contains three main sections:

  • The packet list pane (the top section)
  • The packet details pane (the middle section)
  • The packet bytes pane (the bottom section)

Packet List

The packet list pane, located at the top of the window, shows all packets found in the active capture file. Each packet has its own row and corresponding number assigned to it, along with each of these data points:

  • No: This field indicates which packets are part of the same conversation. It remains blank until you select a packet.
  • Time: The timestamp of when the packet was captured is displayed in this column. The default format is the number of seconds or partial seconds since this specific capture file was first created.
  • Source: This column contains the address (IP or other) where the packet originated.
  • Destination: This column contains the address that the packet is being sent to.
  • Protocol: The packet’s protocol name, such as TCP, can be found in this column.
  • Length: The packet length, in bytes, is displayed in this column.
  • Info: Additional details about the packet are presented here. The contents of this column can vary greatly depending on packet contents.

To change the time format to something more useful (such as the actual time of day), select View > Time Display Format.

When a packet is selected in the top pane, you may notice one or more symbols appear in the No. column. Open or closed brackets and a straight horizontal line indicate whether a packet or group of packets are part of the same back-and-forth conversation on the network. A broken horizontal line signifies that a packet is not part of the conversation.

Packet Details

The details pane, found in the middle, presents the protocols and protocol fields of the selected packet in a collapsible format. In addition to expanding each selection, you can apply individual Wireshark filters based on specific details and follow streams of data based on protocol type by right-clicking the desired item.

Packet Bytes

At the bottom is the packet bytes pane, which displays the raw data of the selected packet in a hexadecimal view. This hex dump contains 16 hexadecimal bytes and 16 ASCII bytes alongside the data offset.

Selecting a specific portion of this data automatically highlights its corresponding section in the packet details pane and vice versa. Any bytes that cannot be printed are represented by a period.

To display this data in bit format as opposed to hexadecimal, right-click anywhere within the pane and select as bits.

How to Use Wireshark Filters

Capture filters instruct Wireshark to only record packets that meet specified criteria. Filters can also be applied to a capture file that has been created so that only certain packets are shown. These are referred to as display filters.

Wireshark provides a large number of predefined filters by default. To use one of these existing filters, enter its name in the Apply a display filter entry field located below the Wireshark toolbar or in the Enter a capture filter field located in the center of the welcome screen.

For example, if you want to display TCP packets, type tcp. The Wireshark autocomplete feature shows suggested names as you begin typing, making it easier to find the correct moniker for the filter you’re seeking.

Another way to choose a filter is to select the bookmark on the left side of the entry field. Choose Manage Filter Expressions or Manage Display Filters to add, remove, or edit filters.

You can also access previously used filters by selecting the down arrow on the right side of the entry field to display a history drop-down list.

Capture filters are applied as soon as you begin recording network traffic. To apply a display filter, select the right arrow on the right side of the entry field.

Wireshark Color Rules

While Wireshark’s capture and display filters limit which packets are recorded or shown on the screen, its colorization function takes things a step further: It can distinguish between different packet types based on their individual hue. This quickly locates certain packets within a saved set by their row color in the packet list pane.

Wireshark comes with about 20 default coloring rules, each can be edited, disabled, or deleted. Select View > Coloring Rules for an overview of what each color means. You can also add your own color-based filters.

Select View > Colorize Packet List to toggle packet colorization on and off.

Statistics in Wireshark

Other useful metrics are available through the Statistics drop-down menu. These include size and timing information about the capture file, along with dozens of charts and graphs ranging in topic from packet conversation breakdowns to load distribution of HTTP requests.

Display filters can be applied to many of these statistics via their interfaces, and the results can be exported to common file formats, including CSV, XML, and TXT.

Wireshark Advanced Features

Wireshark also supports advanced features, including the ability to write protocol dissectors in the Lua programming language.

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Что нужно знать

  • Wireshark — это приложение с открытым исходным кодом, которое собирает и отображает данные, перемещающиеся взад и вперед по сети.
  • Поскольку он может детализировать и читать содержимое каждого пакета, он используется для устранения проблем с сетью и тестирования программного обеспечения.

Инструкции в этой статье относятся к Wireshark 3.0.3 для Windows и Mac.

Первоначально известный как Ethereal, Wireshark отображает данные из сотен различных протоколов во всех основных типах сетей. Пакеты данных можно просматривать в режиме реального времени или анализировать в автономном режиме. Wireshark поддерживает десятки форматов файлов захвата / трассировки, включая CAP и ERF. Интегрированные инструменты дешифрования отображают зашифрованные пакеты для нескольких распространенных протоколов, включая WEP и WPA / WPA2.

Как скачать и установить Wireshark

Wireshark можно бесплатно загрузить с веб-сайта Wireshark Foundation как для macOS, так и для Windows. Вы увидите последний стабильный выпуск и текущий выпуск для разработки. Если вы не опытный пользователь, загрузите стабильную версию.

В процессе установки Windows выберите установку WinPcap or Npcap при появлении запроса, поскольку они включают библиотеки, необходимые для сбора данных в реальном времени.

Вы должны войти на устройство как администратор, чтобы использовать Wireshark. В Windows 10 найдите Wireshark и выберите Запуск от имени администратора. В macOS щелкните правой кнопкой мыши значок приложения и выберите Получите сведения о. В Обмен и права настройки, дайте админу Читайте и Написать привилегии.

Приложение также доступно для Linux и других UNIX-подобных платформ, включая Red Hat, Solaris и FreeBSD. Двоичные файлы, необходимые для этих операционных систем, можно найти в нижней части страницы загрузки Wireshark под Сторонние пакеты раздел. Вы также можете скачать исходный код Wireshark с этой страницы.

Как захватить пакеты данных с помощью Wireshark

Когда вы запускаете Wireshark, на экране приветствия отображаются доступные сетевые подключения на вашем текущем устройстве. Справа от каждого отображается линейный график в стиле ЭКГ, который представляет текущий трафик в этой сети.

Чтобы начать захват пакетов с помощью Wireshark:

  1. Выберите одну или несколько сетей, перейдите в строку меню и выберите захват.

    Чтобы выбрать несколько сетей, удерживайте сдвиг при выборе.

  2. в Интерфейсы Wireshark Capture окно, выберите Start.

    Есть и другие способы начать захват пакетов. Выберите акулий плавник в левой части панели инструментов Wireshark нажмитеCtrl + Eили дважды щелкните сеть.

  3. Выбрать Отправьте > Сохранить как или выберите экспорт возможность записи захвата.

  4. Чтобы остановить захват, нажмите Ctrl + E. Или перейдите на панель инструментов Wireshark и выберите красный Стоп кнопка, которая находится рядом с плавником акулы.

Как просматривать и анализировать содержимое пакета

Интерфейс захваченных данных состоит из трех основных разделов:

  • Панель списка пакетов (верхний раздел)
  • Панель сведений о пакете (средний раздел)
  • Панель байтов пакета (нижняя часть)

Список пакетов

Панель списка пакетов, расположенная в верхней части окна, показывает все пакеты, найденные в активном файле захвата. Каждый пакет имеет свою собственную строку и соответствующий ему номер, а также каждую из этих точек данных:

  • Нет: Это поле указывает, какие пакеты являются частью одного разговора. Он остается пустым, пока вы не выберете пакет.
  • Время: В этом столбце отображается метка времени захвата пакета. Формат по умолчанию — это количество секунд или неполных секунд с момента первого создания этого конкретного файла захвата.
  • источник: Этот столбец содержит адрес (IP или другой), откуда был отправлен пакет.
  • Пункт назначения: Этот столбец содержит адрес, на который отправляется пакет.
  • Протокол: В этом столбце можно найти имя протокола пакета, например TCP.
  • Длина: В этом столбце отображается длина пакета в байтах.
  • Информация о: Дополнительные сведения о пакете представлены здесь. Содержимое этого столбца может сильно различаться в зависимости от содержимого пакета.

Чтобы изменить формат времени на более удобный (например, фактическое время дня), выберите Просмотр > Формат отображения времени.

Когда пакет выбран в верхней панели, вы можете заметить, что один или несколько символов появляются в Нет. столбец. Открытые или закрытые скобки и прямая горизонтальная линия указывают, являются ли пакет или группа пакетов частью одного и того же двустороннего диалога в сети. Прерывистая горизонтальная линия означает, что пакет не является частью разговора.

Сведения о пакете

Панель сведений, расположенная посередине, представляет протоколы и поля протокола выбранного пакета в сворачиваемом формате. В дополнение к расширению каждого выбора вы можете применять отдельные фильтры Wireshark на основе определенных деталей и отслеживать потоки данных на основе типа протокола, щелкая правой кнопкой мыши нужный элемент.

Пакетные байты

Внизу находится панель байтов пакета, которая отображает необработанные данные выбранного пакета в шестнадцатеричном виде. Этот шестнадцатеричный дамп содержит 16 шестнадцатеричных байтов и 16 байтов ASCII вместе со смещением данных.

При выборе определенной части этих данных автоматически выделяется соответствующий раздел на панели сведений о пакете и наоборот. Любые байты, которые нельзя распечатать, обозначаются точкой.

Чтобы отобразить эти данные в битовом формате, а не в шестнадцатеричном, щелкните правой кнопкой мыши в любом месте панели и выберите как биты.

Как использовать фильтры Wireshark

Фильтры захвата предписывают Wireshark записывать только те пакеты, которые соответствуют указанным критериям. Фильтры также могут применяться к файлу захвата, который был создан таким образом, чтобы показывались только определенные пакеты. Они называются фильтрами отображения.

Wireshark по умолчанию предоставляет большое количество предопределенных фильтров. Чтобы использовать один из этих существующих фильтров, введите его имя в поле Применить фильтр отображения поле ввода, расположенное под панелью инструментов Wireshark или в Введите фильтр захвата поле, расположенное в центре экрана приветствия.

Например, если вы хотите отображать TCP-пакеты, введите TCP. Функция автозаполнения Wireshark показывает предлагаемые имена, когда вы начинаете вводить текст, что упрощает поиск правильного имени для фильтра, который вы ищете.

Другой способ выбрать фильтр — выбрать закладка в левой части поля ввода. выберите Управление выражениями фильтров or Управление фильтрами отображения для добавления, удаления или редактирования фильтров.

Вы также можете получить доступ к ранее используемым фильтрам, щелкнув стрелку вниз в правой части поля ввода, чтобы отобразить раскрывающийся список истории.

Фильтры захвата применяются, как только вы начинаете запись сетевого трафика. Чтобы применить фильтр отображения, щелкните стрелку вправо в правой части поля ввода.

Правила цвета Wireshark

В то время как фильтры захвата и отображения Wireshark ограничивают то, какие пакеты записываются или отображаются на экране, его функция раскрашивания идет дальше: он может различать разные типы пакетов на основе их индивидуального оттенка. Это позволяет быстро находить определенные пакеты в сохраненном наборе по цвету их строк в панели списка пакетов.

Wireshark имеет около 20 правил окраски по умолчанию, каждое из которых можно редактировать, отключать или удалять. Выбрать Просмотр > Правила раскраски для обзора значения каждого цвета. Вы также можете добавить свои собственные цветные фильтры.

Выбрать Просмотр > Раскрасить список пакетов для включения и выключения раскрашивания пакетов.

Статистика в Wireshark

Другие полезные показатели доступны через Статистика выпадающее меню. Сюда входит информация о размере и времени для файла захвата, а также десятки диаграмм и графиков, варьирующихся по темам, от сбоев в диалоге пакетов до распределения нагрузки HTTP-запросов.

Фильтры отображения могут применяться ко многим из этих статистических данных через их интерфейсы, а результаты можно экспортировать в общие форматы файлов, включая CSV, XML и TXT.

Расширенные функции Wireshark

Wireshark также поддерживает расширенные функции, в том числе возможность писать анализаторы протоколов на языке программирования Lua.

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