CVE-2005-0370 in Armagetron
Summary
by MITRE
Armagetron 0.2.6.0 and earlier and Armagetron Advanced 0.2.7.0 and earlier allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (network disconnection) via an empty UDP packet, which is not properly distinguished from the "no new packets" state of the associated socket.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/06/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-0370 affects the Armagetron game client and its advanced variant, specifically versions 0.2.6.0 and earlier for the original Armagetron, and 0.2.7.0 and earlier for Armagetron Advanced. This represents a classic denial of service flaw that exploits how the software handles network communication through UDP protocol. The issue stems from the application's inability to properly differentiate between legitimate empty UDP packets and the absence of new packets on a socket connection, creating a condition where malicious actors can trigger service disruption through carefully crafted network traffic.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the network packet processing logic within the Armagetron applications. When the software receives a UDP packet, it fails to properly validate whether the packet contains actual data or is simply an empty packet. This lack of proper packet validation causes the application to incorrectly interpret empty packets as indicating that no new packets are being transmitted on the socket. The software's state management system treats these empty packets as a signal to close or reset the network connection, effectively causing a denial of service condition that disconnects users from the game server or multiplayer session.
This vulnerability operates at the network protocol level and represents a weakness in the application's input validation and state management mechanisms. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the software's packet handling routine by sending empty UDP packets to the affected system, which then triggers an improper state transition that results in network disconnection. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as it can affect multiplayer gaming sessions, potentially leading to game session termination and user experience degradation. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability demonstrates poor defensive programming practices and inadequate error handling in networked applications.
The operational impact of CVE-2005-0370 is significant for users participating in online gaming environments where Armagetron is utilized. Network administrators and game server operators may find their services disrupted by this vulnerability, particularly in multiplayer scenarios where persistent connection stability is crucial. The vulnerability can be exploited by anyone with network access to the affected system, making it a particularly concerning issue for publicly accessible game servers or networked gaming environments. This type of denial of service vulnerability can be leveraged to degrade service availability and potentially impact gaming communities that rely on stable network connections.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper packet validation and state management within the affected applications. The most effective approach involves updating to versions of Armagetron that have addressed this issue, as newer releases would contain proper handling for empty UDP packets and distinguish them from socket disconnection states. Additionally, network-level protections such as packet filtering rules can be implemented to drop empty UDP packets at the firewall level, though this approach provides only partial protection and does not address the root cause within the application itself. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses unchecked error conditions in software, and could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1498 for network denial of service attacks.