what is a buffer overflow?

Question

Why do I keep getting these pop ups from Mcafee that they've blocked a buffer overflow? Do I need to do something?

Answer 1

A buffer overflow is where a program/software is trying to access an area of memory where it shouldn't. Sometimes this is malicious, other times it's unintentional.



McAfee is doing its job.

Answer 2

while records is copied from place to place that's saved quickly in a buffer. A buffer many times has a fastened length and could save no extra effective than that quantity. A buffer overflow is while extra effective than the buffer can carry is saved in it. the cost of this is that the surplus records gets placed in reminiscence outdoors of the buffer. Buffer overflows are the end results of programming bugs. If engineered properly a buffer overflow could be engineered to inject undesirable code right into a working laptop or workstation, this is to assert infect it with an epidemic.

Answer 3

In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to store data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer. The result is that the extra data overwrites adjacent memory locations. The overwritten data may include other buffers, variables and program flow data, and may result in erratic program behavior, a memory access exception, program termination (a crash), incorrect results or ― especially if deliberately caused by a malicious user ― a possible breach of system security.



Buffer overflows can be triggered by inputs specifically designed to execute malicious code or to make the program operate in an unintended way. As such, buffer overflows cause many software vulnerabilities and form the basis of many exploits. Sufficient bounds checking by either the programmer, the compiler or the runtime can prevent buffer overflows.



Programming languages C and C++ are most commonly associated with buffer overflows, because they provide no built-in protection against accessing or overwriting data in any part of memory and do not check that data written to an array (the built-in buffer type) is within the boundaries of that array.





Attackers use buffer overflows to corrupt the execution stack of a web application. By sending carefully crafted input to a web application, an attacker can cause the web application to execute arbitrary code – effectively taking over the machine.



Buffer overflow flaws can be present in both the web server or application server products that serve the static and dynamic aspects of the site, or the web application itself. Buffer overflows found in widely used server products are likely to become widely known and can pose a significant risk to users of these products. When web applications use libraries, such as a graphics library to generate images, they open themselves to potential buffer overflow attacks.



Buffer overflows can also be found in custom web application code, and may even be more likely given the lack of scrutiny that web applications typically go through. Buffer overflow flaws in custom web applications are less likely to be detected because there will normally be far fewer hackers trying to find and exploit such flaws in a specific application. If discovered in a custom application, the ability to exploit the flaw (other than to crash the application) is significantly reduced by the fact that the source code and detailed error messages for the application are normally not available to the hacker.