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How do I add support for a new protocol to Wireshark?

asked 2025-10-05 09:38:27 +0000

pyrodigy gravatar image

updated 2025-10-05 16:08:48 +0000

Guy Harris gravatar image

Hello wireshark community, We are a hardware developer and we have created a simple UDP Ethernet protocol to stream with our own devices.

And It would be great to publish it on Wireshark.

I have a few questions:

  • Does the protocol have to be a standard? Is there a specification like port number, header count, etc..? Lets say We would like use UDP port: 7256 and our main header 20 byte long.
  • What do I need to do to publish and support it in Wireshark?

Thank you for your answers.

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answered 2025-10-05 11:40:26 +0000

Jaap gravatar image

To answer your questions:

  1. No, any protocol may be included if there's an interest to doing so
  2. To get a dissector (written in C) included, you would have to create a Merge Request on the GitLab Wireshark repository.

But there are a few other questions you may want to consider, among which.

  1. Do you want to create a dissector written in C, to be included in the Wireshark repository and be 'fixed' in a stable release, or you want to create a dissector written in Lua, which you maintain and distribute yourself? The first gives wider reach, but less flexibility, the later vice versa.

Go through the Developer's Guide and doc/README.dissector, and take inspiration from the other dissectors that are already build in.

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Asked: 2025-10-05 09:38:27 +0000

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Last updated: 2 hours ago