About Wireshark – A Packet Sniffer and its Components

The purpose of this article is to introduce the most popular packet sniffer i.e. WIRESHARK. The basic tool for observing the messages exchanged between executing protocol entities is called a packet sniffer. As the name suggests, a packet sniffer captures (“sniffs“) messages being sent/received from/by your computer; it will also typically store and/or display the contents of the various protocol fields in these captured messages.

A packet sniffer itself is passive. It observes messages being sent and received by applications and protocols running on your computer, but never sends packets itself. Similarly, received packets are never explicitly addressed to the packet sniffer. Instead, a packet sniffer receives a copy of packets that are sent / received from/by application and protocols executing on your machine.

At the right of above image are the protocols (in this case, Internet protocols) and applications (such as a web browser or ftp client) that normally run on your computer. The packet sniffer, shown within the dashed rectangle in above image is an addition to the usual software in your computer, and consists of two parts.

The packet capture library receives a copy of every link-layer frame that is sent from or received by your computer. Messages exchanged by higher layer protocols such as HTTP, FTP, TCP, UDP, DNS, or IP all are eventually encapsulated in link-layer frames that are transmitted over physical media such as an Ethernet cable.

Here we assumed that, the physical media is an Ethernet, and so all upper layer protocols are eventually encapsulated within an Ethernet frame. Capturing all link-layer frames thus gives you all messages sent/received from/by all protocols and applications executing in your computer.

The second component of a packet sniffer is the packet analyzer, which displays the contents of all fields within a protocol message. In order to do so, the packet analyzer must “understand” the structure of all messages exchanged by protocols. For example, suppose we are interested in displaying the various fields in messages exchanged by the HTTP protocol. The packet analyzer understands the format of Ethernet frames, and so can identify the IP datagram within an Ethernet frame. It also understands the IP datagram format, so that it can extract the TCP segment within the IP datagram.

Finally, it understands the TCP segment structure, so it can extract the HTTP message contained in the TCP segment. Finally, it understands the HTTP protocol and so, for example, knows that the first bytes of an HTTP message will contain the string “GET“, “POST“, or “HEAD“.

We will be using the Wireshark packet sniffer, allowing us to display the contents of messages being sent/received from/by protocols at different levels of the protocol stack. (Technically speaking, Wireshark is a packet
analyzer that uses a packet capture library in your computer).

Wireshark is a free network protocol analyzer that runs on Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac computers. It’s an ideal packet analyzer for a pentester – it is stable, has a large user base and well-documented support that includes a user-guide, man pages, and a detailed FAQ, rich functionality that includes the capability to analyze hundreds of protocols, and a well-designed user interface. It operates in computers using Ethernet, Token-Ring, FDDI, serial (PPP and SLIP), 802.11 wireless LANs, and ATM connections (if the OS on which it’s running allows Wireshark to do so).

Getting Wireshark

You can easily download the Wireshark from their official website i.e. Wireshark.org. If you are using Kali Linux, then the Wireshark is already pre-installed in it.

When you run the Wireshark program, the Wireshark graphical user interface will be displayed where you need to select the interface first, suppose here we selected Wi-Fi because we are connected to a Wi-Fi network at this stage.

Initially, no data will be displayed in various windows but as soon as some one opens any site or sent any request (GET or POST) Wireshark immediately captures that request along with all the details as per below screenshot.

The Wireshark interface has five major components:

The command menus are standard pull down menus located at the top of the window. Of interest to us now are the File and Capture menus. The File menu allows you to save captured packet data or open a file containing previously captured packet data, and exit the Wireshark application. The Capture menu allows you to begin packet capture.
The packet-listing window displays a one-line summary for each packet captured, including the packet number (assigned by Wireshark; this is not a packet number contained in any protocol’s header), the time at which the packet was captured, the packet’s source and destination addresses, the protocol type, and protocol-specific information contained in the packet. The packet listing can be sorted according to any of these categories by clicking on a column name. The protocol type field lists the highest level protocol that sent or received this packet, i.e., the protocol that is the source or ultimate sink for this packet.
The packet-header details window provides details about the packet selected (highlighted) in the packet listing window. (To select a packet in the packet listing window, place the cursor over the packet’s one-line summary in the packet listing window and click with the left mouse button.). These details include information about the Ethernet frame and IP datagram that contains this packet. The amount of Ethernet and IP-layer detail displayed can be expanded or minimized by clicking on the right-pointing or down-pointing arrowhead to the left of the Ethernet frame or IP datagram line in the packet details window. If the packet has been carried over TCP or UDP, TCP or UDP details will also be displayed, which can similarly be expanded or minimized. Finally, details about the highest level protocol that sent or received this packet are also provided.
The packet-contents window displays the entire contents of the captured frame, in both ASCII and hexadecimal format.
Towards the top of the Wireshark graphical user interface, is the packet display filter field, into which a protocol name or other information can be entered in order to filter the information displayed in the packet-listing window (and hence the packet-header and packet-contents windows).

Wireshark Online Tools

The following tools are available online:

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Getting Wireshark

Wireshark Online Tools

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