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HydraIRC - DCC Denial Of Service

Portcullis Security Advisory      07_008


 
Vulnerable System: 

HydraIRC


 
Vulnerability Title:  

Denial of service due to format string vulnerability in DCC file transfer 
negotiation.

Vulnerability Discovery and Development: 

Portcullis Security Testing Services


Credit for Discovery


Nico Leidecker of Portcullis Computer Security Ltd discovered this 
vulnerability. Further research was then carried out.

Vendor Status: 

The vendor has been informed and the vulnerability has been fixed.


Affected systems: 

Version 0.3.151 was tested to be vulnerable.

 
Details:

HydraIRC is an IRC client supporting DCC file transfers. The client is prone 
to a format string vulnerability as it passes user input to a function 
expecting a format string. This only occurs, when the DCC file transfer 
negotiation fails.



Impact:

By sending a special crafted DCC file transfer request to the victim, an
attacker is then able to conduct a Denial of Service attack against them.



Exploit:

Proof of concept exploit code is available.


Copyright: 
 
Copyright © Portcullis Computer Security Limited 2007, All rights reserved 
worldwide.   Permission is hereby granted for the electronic redistribution of this 
information. It is not to be edited or altered in any way without the express 
written consent of Portcullis Computer Security Limited.


Disclaimer: 
 
The information herein contained may change without notice. Use of this 
information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are 
NO warranties, implied or otherwise, with regard to this information or its 
use. Any use of this information is at the user's risk. In no event shall the 
author/distributor (Portcullis Computer Security Limited) be held liable for 
any damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the use or spread 
of this information.