CVE-2007-1728 in Playstation 3
Summary
by MITRE
The Remote Play feature in Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) 1.60 and Playstation Portable (PSP) 3.10 OE-A allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a flood of UDP packets.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/10/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-1728 affects the Remote Play functionality implemented in Sony's PlayStation 3 console version 1.60 and PlayStation Portable device version 3.10 OE-A. This security flaw resides within the network communication protocols that enable remote control and media streaming capabilities between these gaming devices and other networked systems. The Remote Play feature was designed to allow users to stream gameplay and control their consoles remotely, but this functionality contains a critical design oversight that exposes the affected devices to specific types of network-based attacks.
The technical implementation flaw involves the lack of proper input validation and rate limiting within the UDP packet processing mechanisms of the Remote Play service. When the affected PlayStation devices receive a high volume of UDP packets, the system fails to properly handle the packet flood, leading to system instability and eventual complete service disruption. This vulnerability specifically targets the User Datagram Protocol implementation that handles the remote play communication channels, where the device processes incoming packets without adequate filtering or throttling mechanisms. The flaw represents a classic denial of service condition where legitimate network traffic can be disrupted through the deliberate injection of malformed or excessive UDP packets.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service interruption to potentially compromise the overall user experience and device functionality. Attackers can exploit this weakness to render the affected gaming devices unusable for their intended purpose, forcing users to restart their consoles or devices to restore normal operation. This type of attack can be particularly disruptive for users who rely on remote play functionality for gaming sessions or media streaming, as it can occur without warning and requires manual intervention to resolve. The vulnerability affects both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable devices, indicating a systemic issue within Sony's network implementation across multiple platforms, which increases the potential attack surface and impact scope.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes issues related to resource exhaustion and denial of service conditions. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation practices and inadequate network traffic handling that allows attackers to consume system resources through legitimate network protocols. According to ATT&CK framework, this represents a denial of service attack pattern under the T1499 category, specifically targeting network services and system availability. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be executed through automated tools, making it particularly dangerous as it can be weaponized by threat actors without advanced knowledge of system internals. Organizations and users should implement network segmentation and monitoring to detect unusual UDP traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The recommended mitigations include firmware updates from Sony, network-level filtering to limit UDP packet rates, and monitoring for abnormal traffic spikes that could indicate an ongoing attack against the affected devices.