CVE-2007-5249 in America's Army
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple buffer overflows in the logging function in the Unreal engine, as used by America s Army and America s Army Special Forces 2.8.2 and earlier, when Punkbuster (PB) is enabled, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a long (1) PB_Y packet to the YPG server on UDP port 1716 or (2) PB_U packet to UCON on UDP port 1716, different vectors than CVE-2007-4442. NOTE: this issue might be in Punkbuster itself, but there are insufficient details to be certain.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/26/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2007-5249 represents a critical buffer overflow condition within the Unreal engine's logging functionality that affects specific versions of America's Army and America's Army Special Forces game clients. This flaw manifests when Punkbuster anti-cheat software is enabled, creating a scenario where remote attackers can exploit the system through carefully crafted network packets. The vulnerability specifically targets UDP port 1716, which serves as the primary communication channel for both YPG (Yardmaster Player Gateway) and UCON (Unreal Console) services within the game infrastructure. The buffer overflow conditions occur when processing PB_Y packets destined for the YPG server and PB_U packets directed at the UCON service, making this an attack vector that leverages the game's authentication and logging mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the logging subsystem of the Unreal engine. When Punkbuster is active, the engine processes authentication and game state information through its logging functions, which fail to properly bounds-check incoming packet data. This allows malicious actors to craft packets containing excessive data payloads that exceed the allocated buffer space, causing memory corruption and subsequent application crashes. The vulnerability operates at the network protocol level, where attackers can send malformed packets without requiring any authentication or privileged access, making it particularly dangerous for server administrators who must maintain continuous service availability. This issue falls under CWE-121, which specifically addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and represents a classic example of improper input validation leading to memory corruption vulnerabilities.
The operational impact of CVE-2007-5249 extends beyond simple denial of service conditions to potentially compromise entire game server infrastructures. When exploited successfully, these buffer overflows cause daemon crashes that can result in complete service interruption for players attempting to access affected servers. Server administrators may experience frequent outages and increased maintenance overhead as they must continuously restart services and investigate crash patterns. The vulnerability's exploitation does not require elevated privileges or complex attack chains, making it accessible to virtually any network attacker with basic packet crafting capabilities. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which describes network denial of service attacks that leverage protocol-level vulnerabilities. The impact is particularly severe for competitive gaming environments where server uptime and reliability are critical factors for player engagement and community retention.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of affected game versions, as the original issue exists within the Unreal engine's core logging functions. Server administrators should implement network-level filtering to restrict incoming UDP traffic on port 1716, particularly when Punkbuster is enabled, though this approach provides only partial protection. The most effective long-term solution involves upgrading to patched versions of America's Army and America's Army Special Forces that address the buffer overflow conditions in the logging subsystem. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and bounds checking within the Punkbuster component itself would provide defense-in-depth protection against similar issues. Network monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect anomalous packet patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while maintaining detailed logs of server crash events to identify attack vectors. Organizations should also consider implementing rate limiting for incoming network connections to reduce the effectiveness of automated exploitation attempts, though this approach may impact legitimate user experience during high-traffic periods. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper memory management and input validation in networked applications, particularly those serving real-time gaming environments where reliability is paramount.