CVE-2008-3410 in Unreal Tournament 3
Summary
by MITRE
Unreal Tournament 3 1.3beta4 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via a UDP packet in which the value of a certain size field is greater than the total packet length, aka attack 2 in ut3mendo.c.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/20/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-3410 affects Unreal Tournament 3 version 1.3beta4 and earlier implementations, representing a critical denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely through maliciously crafted UDP packets. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the network protocol handling mechanisms of the game's daemon process, specifically when processing UDP packet structures that contain malformed size field values.
The technical flaw manifests as a NULL pointer dereference condition that occurs when the game daemon encounters a UDP packet where a particular size field value exceeds the actual total packet length. This discrepancy in packet structure causes the application to attempt to access memory at a NULL address, leading to an immediate crash of the daemon process and subsequent denial of service for legitimate players attempting to access the game server. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be triggered without authentication and requires minimal network access to exploit.
From an operational perspective this vulnerability creates significant security implications for game server administrators and network operators who maintain Unreal Tournament 3 servers. The remote exploitation capability means that malicious actors can disrupt service availability for any server running vulnerable versions of the game, potentially affecting multiplayer gaming experiences and competitive tournaments. The daemon crash results in complete service interruption until manual restart procedures are performed, creating operational overhead and potential revenue loss for game operators.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-476 which describes NULL pointer dereference conditions in software implementations, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with attack patterns found in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the service stop or disable category. Network-based attacks exploiting this weakness can be executed from any location with network connectivity to the affected server, making it particularly attractive to attackers seeking to disrupt gaming services. The specific nature of the exploit in ut3mendo.c suggests this was likely discovered through systematic analysis of the game's network protocol implementation.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to the latest available version of Unreal Tournament 3, as this vulnerability was addressed in subsequent releases. Network-level protections such as UDP packet filtering and rate limiting can provide temporary defensive measures while patches are deployed. Server administrators should also implement monitoring to detect unusual packet patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and maintain regular backup procedures to ensure rapid recovery from service disruptions. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls can limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts against game servers.