KsIRC 1.3.12 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a long PRIVMSG string when connecting to an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server, which causes an assertion failure and results in a NULL pointer dereference. NOTE: this issue was originally reported as a buffer overflow.
The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ksirc | Kde | 1.3.12 (including) | 1.3.12 (including) |
While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, it can still lead to a denial of service. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, and an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this is a reachable assertion that leads to a denial of service.