CVE-2003-1143 in Serioussam
Summary
by MITRE
Croteam Serious Sam demo test 2 2.1a, Serious Sam: the First Encounter 1.05, and Serious Sam: the Second Encounter 1.05 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash or freeze) via a TCP packet with an invalid first parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/17/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1143 affects several versions of the Serious Sam game series developed by Croteam including the demo test 2 2.1a, Serious Sam: the First Encounter 1.05, and Serious Sam: the Second Encounter 1.05. This represents a classic denial of service flaw that exploits the game's network protocol handling mechanisms. The vulnerability specifically targets the TCP packet processing functionality within these gaming applications, demonstrating a fundamental weakness in input validation and protocol parsing. The issue manifests when the game receives a TCP packet containing an invalid first parameter, causing the application to crash or freeze during network communication processing.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability falls under the category of improper input validation as defined by CWE-20, where the application fails to properly validate or sanitize incoming network data before processing it. The flaw occurs at the network protocol level where the game engine does not adequately handle malformed TCP packets that contain unexpected parameter values in their initial fields. This type of vulnerability represents a common class of buffer overflow and input validation issues that have plagued networked applications for decades. The specific nature of the invalid first parameter suggests that the game's TCP parser expects certain data formats or ranges that are not properly validated, leading to unexpected behavior when these expectations are violated.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple game crashes to potentially disrupt multiplayer gaming sessions and online connectivity for affected users. When exploited, the vulnerability can cause complete application freezes or forced termination of the gaming process, effectively preventing players from participating in networked gameplay. This denial of service condition affects not only individual users but can also impact online gaming communities and servers that rely on these specific game versions. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in multiplayer environments where such crashes can disrupt ongoing matches or cause server instability. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious TCP packets that trigger the vulnerable code path, making it a straightforward remote attack vector that requires minimal technical expertise to execute.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust network protocol handling in gaming applications, particularly those designed for multiplayer environments. The flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which involves network denial of service attacks, and represents a classic example of how gaming applications can be targeted through network protocol manipulation. Mitigation strategies should include implementing proper input validation for all network data, adding defensive programming measures such as bounds checking, and ensuring that applications gracefully handle malformed packets rather than crashing. Additionally, network administrators should consider implementing firewall rules or network segmentation to limit exposure to such attacks, while game developers should incorporate comprehensive error handling and robust parsing routines in their networking code. The vulnerability underscores the critical need for security testing in networked applications and highlights the importance of following secure coding practices throughout the development lifecycle to prevent such fundamental flaws from reaching production environments.