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The techniques to exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability vary by architecture, operating system, and memory region. For example, exploitation on the heap (used for dynamically allocated memory), differs markedly from exploitation on the call stack. In general, heap exploitation depends on the heap manager used on the target system, while stack ...
Buffer overflow protection is any of various techniques used during software development to enhance the security of executable programs by detecting buffer overflows on stack-allocated variables, and preventing them from causing program misbehavior or from becoming serious security vulnerabilities. A stack buffer overflow occurs when a program ...
Stack buffer overflow is a type of the more general programming malfunction known as buffer overflow (or buffer overrun). [1] Overfilling a buffer on the stack is more likely to derail program execution than overfilling a buffer on the heap because the stack contains the return addresses for all active function calls.
A NOP-sled is the oldest and most widely known technique for exploiting stack buffer overflows. [2] It solves the problem of finding the exact address of the buffer by effectively increasing the size of the target area. To do this, much larger sections of the stack are corrupted with the no-op machine instruction.
Eventually, operating systems began to combat the exploitation of buffer overflow bugs by marking the memory where data is written as non-executable, a technique known as executable-space protection. With this enabled, the machine would refuse to execute any code located in user-writable areas of memory, preventing the attacker from placing ...
Developments were mostly theoretical until the Morris worm, which exploited a buffer overflow in fingerd. [5] The field of computer security developed quickly thereafter, escalating with multitudes of new attacks such as the return-to-libc attack and defense techniques such as the non-executable stack [6] and address space layout randomization.
Often it is easy to confuse a new exploit with a new attack. New exploits are created all the time for the same attack patterns. The Buffer Overflow Attack Pattern is a good example. There are many known exploits and viruses that take advantage of a Buffer Overflow vulnerability. But they all follow the same pattern.
Address space layout randomization (ASLR) is a computer security technique involved in preventing exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities. [1] In order to prevent an attacker from reliably redirecting code execution to, for example, a particular exploited function in memory, ASLR randomly arranges the address space positions of key data areas of a process, including the base of the ...