Executive brief
A security vulnerability exists in the multiplayer component of the Rainbow Six video game. By sending a specially crafted, overly long nickname command, a remote user can crash the game server or potentially take control of the underlying system. This could lead to service disruptions for players or unauthorized access to the hosting machine.
Technical details
A classic buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Rainbow Six Multiplayer engine's handling of the 'nick' command. The application fails to properly validate the length of the nickname string provided by a remote client before copying it into a fixed-size memory buffer. An attacker can exploit this by sending an excessively long nickname, leading to memory corruption. This can result in a denial of service (application crash) or potentially the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the game server process. The attack is reachable over the network without prior authentication.
Affected products
- Red Storm Entertainment Rainbow Six Multiplayer
Timeline
- 1997-10-24: disclosed