CVE-2005-0849 in 4X4 Off-road Adventure III
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple games developed by FUN labs, including 4X4 Off-road Adventure III, Big Game Hunter, Dangerous Hunts, Deer Hunt, Revolution, Secret Service, Shadow Force, and US Most Wanted, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash from invalid memory access) via a malformed join packet with values that cause the server to copy more memory than was actually provided in the packet.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/22/2017
The vulnerability described in CVE-2005-0849 represents a classic buffer overflow condition that affects multiple gaming applications developed by FUN labs. This issue manifests as a remote denial of service attack where malicious actors can exploit improperly validated network packet data to trigger invalid memory access conditions within the game servers. The vulnerability specifically targets the join packet handling mechanism used during multiplayer game sessions, where the server fails to properly validate the size and content of incoming data before attempting memory operations. This type of flaw falls under the CWE-121 category of stack-based buffer overflow, though it could also be classified as CWE-787 for out-of-bounds write conditions, as the server attempts to copy more data than the allocated buffer space can accommodate.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can be exploited by remote attackers without requiring authentication or specialized privileges. When a malformed join packet is received, the game server processes the invalid data and attempts to allocate or copy memory based on the deceptive values contained within the packet. This results in the server crashing or becoming unresponsive, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing the game service. The attack vector demonstrates a fundamental flaw in input validation and memory management practices, where the system assumes that incoming network data adheres to expected formats without proper sanitization checks. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks, where adversaries leverage application-level flaws to disrupt services.
The affected applications span multiple game titles within the FUN labs portfolio, indicating a systemic issue in the development practices or code reuse patterns across these products. The vulnerability affects games that rely on multiplayer connectivity and server-based matchmaking, making it particularly dangerous for online gaming communities. The exploitation requires only the ability to send network packets to the target server, making it accessible to anyone with network access to the game service. Security researchers would classify this as a remote code execution risk in the context of buffer overflow vulnerabilities, though the immediate impact is limited to denial of service rather than arbitrary code execution. The flaw demonstrates poor secure coding practices where developers failed to implement proper bounds checking mechanisms before memory allocation operations, a common pattern seen in legacy codebases that were not designed with security in mind. Organizations should consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring for unusual packet patterns to detect potential exploitation attempts, while developers should prioritize input validation and memory safety mechanisms in all network-facing applications.