GNU Chess Command Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID:	3949
Class:	Boundary Condition Error
CVE:	CVE-2002-0204
Remote:	No
Local:	No
Published:	Jan 22 2002 12:00AM
Updated:	Jul 11 2009 09:56AM
Credit:	This vulnerability was submitted to BugTraq by Bernhard Kuemel <[email protected]> on January 22nd, 2002.
Vulnerable:	GNU Chess 5.0 2 - Debian Linux 2.2 r3 unstable
Not Vulnerable:	GNU Chess 5.0 3beta

GNU Chess Command Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

GNU Chess is a freely available, open-source Chess engine that will run on most Unix and Linux variants.

GNU Chess does not perform sufficient bounds checking on commands. This is theoretically a security concern depending on the type of interface that is being used with the engine, if any. In situations where data can be supplied from an external source, this may become an exploitable security issue.

If the buffer can be overrun by an attacker via a maliciously constructed command which is passed through an interface, then it is possible to overwrite stack variables (including the return address) with attacker-supplied instructions.

GNU Chess Command Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Currently the SecurityFocus staff are not aware of any exploits for this issue. If you feel we are in error or are aware of more recent information, please mail us at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

GNU Chess Command Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Solution:
The vendor has addressed this issue in v5.03beta of the software.


GNU Chess 5.0 2

• GNU chess-5.03beta.tar.gz
  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/chess/chess-5.03beta.tar.gz

GNU Chess Command Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

References:

• GNU Chess Homepage (GNU)