Unauthenticated DoS in Podgrab via WebSocket Race Condition

Executive Summary

This is an unauthenticated denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Podgrab caused by unsynchronized concurrent access to shared maps in its WebSocket handler. Multiple goroutines read and write to activePlayers and allConnections maps without a mutex, leading to a Go runtime data race that crashes the process when an attacker sends repeated messages via multiple WebSocket connections to the /ws endpoint.

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Detection Guidance

Monitor for excessive WebSocket connections to the /ws endpoint. Check for repeated messages from the same source. Look for Go runtime crashes or panics in logs. Use tools like netstat or ss to track active connections to /ws.

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Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to crash the Podgrab service, causing downtime and requiring manual intervention to restore service. Since the /ws endpoint is unauthenticated, anyone can trigger this issue without needing credentials, making it easy to abuse.

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Mitigation Strategies

Restrict access to the /ws endpoint by requiring authentication. Add mutex locks to the shared maps (activePlayers and allConnections) in the WebSocket handler code. Update to the latest version of Podgrab if a patch is available.

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