CVE-2003-1432 in Unreal Tournament 2003
Summary
by MITRE
Epic Games Unreal Engine 226f through 436 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption or crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via (1) a packet with a negative size value, which is treated as a large positive number during memory allocation, or (2) a negative size value in a package file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/29/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1432 affects Epic Games Unreal Engine versions 226f through 436, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to compromise system integrity and availability. This vulnerability manifests through two primary attack vectors that exploit fundamental memory management mechanisms within the engine's packet processing and file handling components. The flaw resides in the engine's failure to properly validate size parameters during memory allocation operations, creating opportunities for malicious actors to manipulate system resources through crafted input data.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation mechanisms that fail to check for negative size values in both network packets and package files. When a malicious packet containing a negative size value is processed, the engine treats this value as a large positive number during memory allocation operations, leading to excessive CPU consumption and potential system crashes. This behavior directly maps to CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of array indices and buffer limits, and CWE-190, which covers integer overflow and wraparound conditions. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with buffer overflow conditions where the system attempts to allocate memory based on malformed input data, resulting in resource exhaustion or program termination.
The operational impact of CVE-2003-1432 extends beyond simple denial of service to potentially enable arbitrary code execution, making it particularly dangerous for systems running affected Unreal Engine versions. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to consume excessive CPU resources through memory allocation attempts that exceed available system capacity, causing legitimate processes to be starved of computational resources. The potential for arbitrary code execution emerges when attackers can manipulate the memory allocation process to overwrite critical program structures or inject malicious code into the execution flow. This vulnerability affects systems where Unreal Engine is deployed as a server application or when the engine processes untrusted network data, creating exposure points for remote exploitation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of input validation controls and memory allocation boundary checks within the Unreal Engine components. System administrators should prioritize updating to patched versions of the Unreal Engine where available, as Epic Games would have addressed the underlying integer validation issues in subsequent releases. Network-level protections such as packet filtering and rate limiting can help reduce exposure by preventing malicious packets from reaching vulnerable systems. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499, which covers network denial of service attacks, and T1059, which covers command and script injection techniques that could be leveraged through the arbitrary code execution capability. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring to detect unusual CPU consumption patterns and memory allocation behaviors that could indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of all systems running affected Unreal Engine versions to identify and remediate potential exposure points that could be exploited through this or similar memory corruption vulnerabilities.