Unreal Tournament 2003/2004: Buffer overflow in 'secure' queries

1.  Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Version Information

Related bugreports: #54726

Synopsis

Game servers based on the Unreal engine are vulnerable to remote code execution through malformed 'secure' queries.

2.  Impact Information

Background

Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 are popular first-person-shooter games. They are both based on the Unreal engine, and can be used in a game server / client setup.

Description

The Unreal-based game servers support a specific type of query called 'secure'. Part of the Gamespy protocol, this query is used to ask if the game server is able to calculate an exact response using a provided string. Luigi Auriemma found that sending a long 'secure' query triggers a buffer overflow in the game server.

Impact

By sending a malicious UDP-based 'secure' query, an attacker could execute arbitrary code on the game server.

3.  Resolution Information

Workaround

Users can avoid this vulnerability by not using Unreal Tournament to host games as a server. All users running a server should upgrade to the latest versions.

Resolution

All Unreal Tournament users should upgrade to the latest available versions:

# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=games-fps/ut2003-2225-r3"
# emerge ">=games-fps/ut2003-2225-r3"
# emerge -pv ">=games-server/ut2003-ded-2225-r2"
# emerge ">=games-server/ut2003-ded-2225-r2"
# emerge -pv ">=games-fps/ut2004-3236"
# emerge ">=games-fps/ut2004-3236"
# emerge -pv ">=games-fps/ut2004-demo-3120-r4"
# emerge ">=games-fps/ut2004-demo-3120-r4"

4.  References

• Luigi Auriemma advisory
• CAN-2004-0608