CVE-2005-1775 in Terminator 3 War Of The Machines
Summary
by MITRE
Terminator 3: War of the Machines 1.16 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a large nickname.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/24/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-1775 affects Terminator 3: War of the Machines version 1.16 and earlier, representing a classic buffer overflow condition within networked gaming applications. This flaw manifests when the game processes user nicknames during multiplayer sessions, specifically when attackers submit excessively long nickname strings that exceed the application's allocated buffer space. The vulnerability operates at the application layer of the network stack, exploiting insufficient input validation mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize user-provided data before processing.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper boundary checking within the game's network communication protocol handler. When a malicious user submits a nickname exceeding the predefined buffer limits, typically measured in bytes or characters, the application fails to handle the overflow gracefully. This results in memory corruption that ultimately leads to application termination and system instability. The vulnerability maps to CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow scenarios. The flaw represents a fundamental weakness in input validation and memory management practices within the game's networking code.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks against gaming sessions without requiring any privileged access or authentication. The impact extends beyond simple application crashes to potentially disrupting entire multiplayer gaming experiences, affecting both legitimate players and the gaming community's social interactions. Attackers can exploit this weakness by simply connecting to a game server and submitting a specially crafted nickname containing thousands of characters, causing the application to crash and forcing users to reconnect. This vulnerability particularly affects online gaming environments where multiple players participate simultaneously, as it can be used to disrupt gameplay for extended periods.
The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper input validation and boundary checking mechanisms within the application's network processing code. Developers should enforce maximum length limits on user-provided nicknames and implement robust error handling procedures that prevent buffer overflow conditions from causing application crashes. Additionally, the implementation of defensive programming practices such as stack canaries, address space layout randomization, and input sanitization routines would significantly reduce the exploitability of similar vulnerabilities. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level filtering to limit the size of incoming data packets and deploy intrusion detection systems that can identify and block suspicious nickname submissions. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and represents a common pattern of exploitation in legacy gaming applications that lack modern security hardening measures.