dumpcap.exe
Summary
Wireshark packet capture engine. Performs the actual network packet capture that Wireshark or tshark displays. Requires elevated privileges for raw packet capture.
dumpcap.exe is the 112th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 195,580 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Program Files\Wireshark and it is most often launched by Wireshark.exe.
Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Program Files\Wireshark99.92%
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark0.08%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 99dfc4d82e656c638f766b02b3eb5318d002d5d632201d5b3288dfd580f23c9e98.32%
- 4eb291c3ee6382da0a0ac5c076c9dd53eb0a4f749e45efcacdedeaaf327f9afe0.5%
- 8bb153d7de08fbad1f93be4a48ab0597cdab41a8f33b0555322ae6f3f3ed31a80.27%
- 59de7bbaf5656a66efb7a1b76fd51618efe659b4afd3b07c2a7d15723edc7e1e0.15%
- 73c26c15455a2cf909d2680af11b3d8fb56c465c2a7d53d05b3c22e8e8a6ec830.09%
- 569d2f210520cf615cc28e903f05f2b7aaf2604b53e5e0b35e1a7a0a49374f2d0.08%
- 662b84f9b6c90de1b0c52cd99cc1bf7f06c0aa680e0ab987b9c45a6b55e3cec50.08%
- b618f47f24909ed8cef7e163cb55957915468b6dd97b69e8950a6b9a8a9281160.07%
- 5bd71a3eaddcca831b39c98bebd60936e6ea7c33714df38f30025702db82a8790.06%
- 6ff5edd705d97a879e2c7504fe9d28e712ffff47546d556a393ecd69f27bdf300.05%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- explorer.exe99.65%
- chrome.exe0.12%
- OUTLOOK.EXE0.07%
- rundll32.exe0.02%
- WinRAR.exe0.02%
- OpenWith.exe0.02%
- firefox.exe0.01%
- iexplore.exe0.01%
- RuntimeBroker.exe0.01%
- lync.exe<0.01%
Top Parents
- Wireshark.exe99.98%
Top Children
- conhost.exe100%
Rare or environment-specific process names are omitted from ancestry tables. Percentages are of all observed relationships.
Security Analysis
What does dumpcap.exe normally do?
Part of Wireshark Foundation software.
When is dumpcap.exe suspicious?
Running from unexpected paths.
How do attackers abuse dumpcap.exe?
Not commonly abused.
Detection guidance
No specific detection needed.
False positive notes
Normal operation.
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Data from EchoTrail's dataset of ~346M Windows process executions. Last extracted 2026-08-04.