# CVE-2008-3286: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the SWAT 4 game server by sending specific commands before session initialization, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Jul 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c4qg-278v-p8ch

## What is CVE-2008-3286?

CVE-2008-3286 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Jul 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

SWAT 4 1.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a (1) VERIFYCONTENT or (2) GAMECONFIG command sent to the server before user session initialization, which triggers a NULL pointer dereference; or (3) a GAMESPYRESPONSE command followed by a long RS string.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-3286?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Sierra Swat 4.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-3286?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-3286 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-3286 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-3286 exists.

Public exploit code:

- SWAT 4 - Multiple Denial of Service Vulnerabilities (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-3286 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-3286 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Jul 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-3286 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3286/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3286/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-3286
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-3286
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-3286

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3286/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.