CVE-2004-2705 in PvPGN
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Player vs. Player Gaming Network (PvPGN) before 1.6.4 allows remote attackers to obtain attributes of arbitrary accounts, including the password hash, via certain statsreq packets.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/30/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-2705 represents a critical security flaw within the Player vs. Player Gaming Network PvPGN software ecosystem. This unspecified weakness existed in versions prior to 1.6.4 and created a significant vector for remote attackers to compromise user account integrity. The vulnerability specifically manifests through malformed statsreq packets that are processed by the gaming network infrastructure, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive account attributes.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves crafting and transmitting specially formatted statsreq packets to the PvPGN server. These packets, when processed by the vulnerable software, trigger an improper handling of account data retrieval mechanisms. The flaw enables attackers to extract not only basic account information but more critically, obtain password hash values that represent the core authentication mechanism for user accounts. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the server's access control and data protection measures, as legitimate account attributes become accessible through unauthorized means.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as password hashes provide attackers with the foundation for potential account compromise and unauthorized access to gaming environments. This weakness creates opportunities for credential stuffing attacks, where compromised hash values can be used to gain unauthorized access to user accounts within the gaming network. The vulnerability affects the entire user base of PvPGN installations running vulnerable versions, making it a widespread concern for network administrators and security practitioners.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which addresses the exposure of sensitive information to an unauthorized actor, and demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and access control mechanisms. The flaw also corresponds to ATT&CK technique T1566, which involves the initial access phase through social engineering or exploitation of software vulnerabilities. Network security professionals should consider this vulnerability as part of a broader attack surface assessment, particularly in environments where legacy gaming networks or similar infrastructure remains operational.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2004-2705 require immediate deployment of PvPGN version 1.6.4 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the improper handling of statsreq packets. Network administrators should implement additional monitoring of network traffic for suspicious statsreq packet patterns and consider implementing rate limiting or access control measures to prevent abuse of the affected functionality. Security teams must also conduct comprehensive assessments of all PvPGN installations and ensure that users have been notified to change their passwords, particularly if the vulnerability was exploited in the past. The remediation process should include verification that the patched version properly handles all account attribute requests and that no unauthorized access has occurred through this vector.