Half-Life Boom is an exploit named (but not discovered) by Luigi Auriemma (aluigi). The attack consists of a malformed packet which will crash pre-Steam versions of Half-Life. Both clients and servers are affected; clients however are unlikely to be targeted
At present there are fixes available for all affected versions:
Aluigi provides a file for his Lame Patcher Program which will patch the bug in memory. His patch is available here and fixes Windows and Linux servers of version x.1.1.1e. Windows users of all versions may install a Winsock proxy which prevents the malformed packet from ever reaching the client or server. The files, program sources, and installation instructions may be found *insert link*. Linux users of all versions may compile and preload C code written to prevent the packet from being processed by the server. One such file which includes compiling and preloading instructions exists *insert link*.
Use whichever patch you feel most comfortable using. If you encounter problems please report them in the Support forums.
Neuwon.com
