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| − | {{Template:Vulnerability}}
| + | #REDIRECT [[Buffer_Overflows]] |
| − | {{Template:SecureSoftware}}
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| − | ==Overview==
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| − | A buffer overflow condition exists when a program attempts to put more data in a buffer than it can hold or when a program attempts to put data in a memory area past a buffer. In this case, a buffer is a sequential section of memory allocated to contain anything from a character string to an array of integers.
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| − | ==Consequences ==
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| − | * Category:Availability: Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
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| − | * Access control (instruction processing): Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program’s implicit security policy.
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| − | * Other: When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.
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| − | ==Exposure period ==
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| − | * Requirements specification: The choice could be made to use a language that is not susceptible to these issues.
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| − | * Design: Mitigating technologies such as safe-string libraries and container abstractions could be introduced.
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| − | * Implementation: Many logic errors can lead to this condition. It can be exacerbated by lack of or mis¬use of mitigating technologies.
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| − | ==Platform ==
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| − | * Languages: C, C++, Fortran, Assembly
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| − | * Operating platforms: All, although partial preventative measures may be deployed, depending on environment.
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| − | ==Required resources ==
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| − | Any
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| − | ==Severity ==
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| − | Very High
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| − | ==Likelihood of exploit ==
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| − | High to Very High
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| − | ==Avoidance and mitigation ==
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| − | * Pre-design: Use a language or compiler that performs automatic bounds checking.
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| − | * Design: Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
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| − | * Pre-design through Build: Compiler-based canary mechanisms such as StackGuard, ProPolice and the Microsoft Visual Studio / GS flag. Unless this provides automatic bounds checking, it is not a complete solution.
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| − | * Operational: Use OS-level preventative functionality. Not a complete solution.
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| − | ==Discussion ==
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| − | Buffer overflows are one of the best known types of security problem. The best solution is enforced run-time bounds checking of array access, but many C/C++ programmers assume this is too costly or do not have the technology available to them. Even this problem only addresses failures in access control — as an out-of-bounds access is still an exception condition and can lead to an availability problem if not addressed.
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| − | Some platforms are introducing mitigating technologies at the compiler or OS level. All such technologies to date address only a subset of buffer overflow problems and rarely provide complete protection against even that subset. It is more common to make the workload of an attacker much higher — for example, by leaving the attacker to guess an unknown value that changes every program execution.
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| − | ==Examples ==
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| − | There are many real-world examples of buffer overflows, including many popular “industrial” applications, such as e-mail servers (Sendmail) and web servers (Microsoft IIS Server).
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| − | In code, here is a simple, if contrived example:
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| − | <pre>void example(char *s) {
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| − | char buf[1024];
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| − | strcpy(buf, s);
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| − | }
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| − | int main(int argc, char **argv) {
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| − | example(argv[1]);
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| − | }</pre>
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| − | Since argv[1] can be of any length, more than 1024 characters can be copied into the variable buf.
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| − | ==Related problems ==
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| − | * [[Stack overflow]]
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| − | * [[Heap overflow]]
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| − | * [[Integer overflow]]
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| − | ==How to test ==
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| − | [[Testing for buffer overflow]]
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| − | [[Category:Vulnerability]]
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| − | [[Category:Range and Type Error Vulnerability]]
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| − | [[Category:OWASP_CLASP_Project]]
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