Terraria Server Crash Exploit 1.3.5.2
Terraria 1.3.5.2 Server Crash Exploit.
Requires multiplayer.
Uses modded Terraria solely for convenience. All bugs fully functional in unmodded as of 1.3.5.2.
Not functional on TShock servers, as it forces client tile updates in such a way that regular clients cannot desync from the server in useful ways.
Standard corrupted chest setup, allowing a player to place arbitrary objects under a chest, which allows them to be preserved after breaking.
It is possible to also skip the later steps, and simply place any block where the boulder is, creating infinite boulders and crashing the server. This however cannot be automated, as it requires a player client to attempt placing a block into a boulder through desync.
The infinite loop goes something like
Player toggles campfire
Forces update to tiles in area
Server realizes campfire is in an invalid state (no ground under it)
Campfire breaks (but a portion of the campfire cannot be broken as it is under a chest, and is preserved, allowing it to be "broken" again)
Campfire breaking causes a tile update in the area
Server realizes campfire is in an invalid state...
Anything which updates tiles near the campfire, will cause it to go through this infinite loop, which causes a stack overflow on the server.
There can be various mechanisms in order to ensure a player does not need to be present in order to crash the server, such as grassy tiles having a chance of growing grass, which can be used to randomly update the tiles near the bonfire.
Other fun mechanisms include, very long chained countdown timers, or chained random logic gates on a periodic timer. This allows players to crash servers without being connected to said server, thus evading suspicion.