CVE-2006-6663 in Marathon Aleph One
Summary
by MITRE
The server component in Marathon Aleph One before 0.17.1 and 2006-12-17 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via unspecified vectors related to "gathering net games."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-6663 affects the server component of Marathon Aleph One, a first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and later maintained by the community. This issue exists in versions prior to 0.17.1 and was published on December 17, 2006, representing a significant security flaw that impacts the game's network functionality and overall stability. The vulnerability specifically targets the network game gathering mechanisms that allow players to discover and connect to multiplayer sessions across the internet. Marathon Aleph One operates as a client-server application where the server component manages network connections and game sessions, making this flaw particularly concerning for multiplayer gaming environments where server stability is paramount for user experience and game integrity.
The technical nature of this vulnerability lies within the server's handling of network game gathering operations, where unspecified vectors allow remote attackers to trigger application crashes that result in denial of service conditions. This type of vulnerability typically arises from inadequate input validation or improper error handling within network protocols, particularly when processing data from external sources. The flaw manifests during the process of collecting and organizing network game information, suggesting that the server component fails to properly sanitize or validate data received from remote clients attempting to participate in or discover multiplayer sessions. Such issues often stem from buffer overflows, memory corruption, or improper state management within the networking subsystem, creating opportunities for malicious actors to exploit the application's network handling code through carefully crafted network packets or connection attempts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it fundamentally compromises the availability and reliability of Marathon Aleph One's multiplayer gaming infrastructure. Remote attackers can intentionally cause servers to crash and become unavailable to legitimate players, effectively preventing them from participating in multiplayer games or accessing networked gaming sessions. This denial of service condition can be particularly damaging in competitive gaming environments where server stability directly affects player experience and game fairness. The vulnerability affects not only individual servers but potentially entire gaming communities that rely on stable network infrastructure for multiplayer coordination. The impact is exacerbated by the fact that the flaw exists in widely distributed versions of the software, meaning that many players and game administrators may be unknowingly running vulnerable server instances that can be easily exploited by attackers.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily involve updating to Marathon Aleph One version 0.17.1 or later, which contains patches addressing the network gathering mechanism flaws. System administrators should implement regular update schedules to ensure all gaming servers remain protected against known vulnerabilities. Network monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect unusual traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while firewall rules can be configured to limit access to gaming servers from untrusted networks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and error handling in networked applications, aligning with common weakness enumerations such as CWE-121 for buffer overflow conditions and CWE-20 for input validation issues. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability would fall under ATT&CK technique T1499 for endpoint disruption, specifically targeting the availability aspect of networked gaming services through application-level attacks. Organizations maintaining legacy gaming infrastructure should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities, while maintaining detailed logging of network activities to detect and respond to exploitation attempts effectively.