CVE-2004-1493
Description
Master of Orion III 1.2.5 and earlier crashes when a remote attacker sends multiple connections with long nicknames, causing a denial of service.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Master of Orion III 1.2.5 and earlier crashes when a remote attacker sends multiple connections with long nicknames, causing a denial of service.
Vulnerability
Master of Orion III versions 1.2.5 and earlier contain a denial-of-service vulnerability triggered by a remote attacker sending multiple consecutive connections (between 1 and 10) using long nicknames. The game has anti-buffer-overflow protections, but the combination of multiple connections with oversized nicknames causes a crash. This affects both Windows and MacOS platforms [1].
Exploitation
An attacker does not need authentication or prior access; only network connectivity to the server is required. The attacker opens multiple client connections to the game server, each using a very long nickname (no specific length given in the reference). The repeated connections with long nicknames cause the server to crash after 1 to 10 such attempts [1].
Impact
Successful exploitation causes the game server to crash, resulting in a denial of service. No code execution or data compromise is mentioned; only server availability is affected [1].
Mitigation
The reference indicates no official fix was released. The affected version is 1.2.5 and earlier. Users should consider limiting network exposure or discontinuing use of the game's multiplayer features. As of this writing, the product is likely end-of-life and no patch is available [1].
AI Insight generated on May 24, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1- Range: <=1.2.5
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"The server does not properly validate the size of nicknames, allowing for excessively long nicknames that can lead to a buffer overflow."
Attack vector
An unauthenticated remote attacker can establish multiple connections to the game server. For each connection, the attacker sends a long nickname, which triggers a buffer overflow. This can be repeated up to a maximum of 15 times to cause a denial of service.
This is achieved by sending a specific packet containing a large nickname, which the server attempts to process, leading to a crash. The exploit code demonstrates this by opening multiple sockets and sending the malformed nickname data [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The vulnerability is related to how the server handles client connections and processes nickname data. Specifically, the code responsible for receiving and processing player nicknames appears to lack sufficient bounds checking, as indicated by the exploit's method of sending excessively long nicknames to cause a crash [ref_id=1].
What the fix does
The advisory does not provide information about a patch or specific remediation steps. Therefore, the exact fix is not detailed. However, the vulnerability is described as a denial of service caused by long nicknames, suggesting that a fix would involve validating nickname lengths before processing them to prevent buffer overflows.
Preconditions
- networkThe attacker must be able to reach the target server over the network.
- inputThe attacker must be able to send specially crafted network packets containing long nicknames.
Reproduction
``` Master of Orion III <= 1.2.5 server crash 0.1 by Luigi Auriemma e-mail: aluigi@altervista.org web: http://aluigi.altervista.org/
Usage: ./master_of_orion3_dos <attack> <server> [port(25711)]
Attack: 1 = fast allocation exit 2 = multiple big nicknames crash
- target <server_ip>:25711 - make max 15 connections sending a big nickname Connection: 1 - send join ping - send join data - check if server is crashed
Server IS vulnerable!!! ```
Generated on Jun 5, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
5- www.securityfocus.com/bid/11550nvdExploit
- packetstormsecurity.nl/0410-advisories/masterOrionIII.txtnvdVendor Advisory
- secunia.com/advisories/13008nvdVendor Advisory
- marc.infonvd
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/17884nvd
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.