Wireshark-dev: [Wireshark-dev] PCAPNG: Confusion regarding if_fcslen field in Interface Descrip

From: Jonas Otto <JOtto@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2022 11:24:06 +0000

Hi,

I have some trouble understanding the if_fcslen field in the Interface Description Block of a PCAPNG file.

The PCAPNG specification states the value should specify the FCS length for a given interface in bits, however this seams to lead to lead to problems in Wireshark.

 

I have a monitoring software that dumps frames in a PCAPNG file with a 4 byte long FCS, so I set if_fcslen to 32. When opening the dump in Wireshark, the packets do not display correctly („Malformed Packet: UDP“).

 

I think this is caused by Wireshark interpreting the field as a byte size, because when I set it to 4 instead of 32 everything works fine. I also tried dividing the value by 8 somewhere in the eth or ethertype dissector which worked as well, but I forgot where I applied this hack…

 

Can someone confirm wether this value should be 4 or 32 to depict a 4 byte FCS?


Kind regards
Jonas