PocketMine-MP Resource Exhaustion via Explode Function

Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects PocketMine-MP versions before 5.25.2. It involves a failure to limit the explode() function during packet parsing, allowing malicious clients to waste server resources by sending crafted packets with excessive delimiters. This can lead to CPU and memory exhaustion through sign editing, JWT parsing, and command parsing endpoints.

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Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check if your PocketMine-MP server is running a version before 5.25.2. Use the command: grep -r 'explode(' /path/to/pocketmine | grep -v 'limit=' to find unchecked explode() calls. Monitor server resource usage for unexpected CPU or memory spikes during packet processing.

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Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to cause a denial-of-service by consuming excessive server resources, leading to degraded performance or server crashes. This impacts server availability and could disrupt services relying on PocketMine-MP.

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Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily causes resource exhaustion (CPU and memory) through crafted packets, which could lead to service disruption. While not directly violating GDPR or HIPAA, such disruptions may impact availability of systems handling personal or health data, potentially violating requirements for secure and reliable processing under these regulations.

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Mitigation Strategies

Immediately upgrade PocketMine-MP to version 5.25.2 or later. If upgrading is not possible, implement network-level protections to filter malformed packets. Disable or restrict access to vulnerable endpoints like sign editing and command parsing until patched.

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