Linux Journal: Buffer Overflow Attacks and Their Countermeasures

"Buffer overflow problems always have been associated with security vulnerabilities. In the past, lots of security breaches have occurred due to buffer overflow. This article attempts to explain what buffer overflow is, how it can be exploited and what countermeasures can be taken to avoid it.

"Knowledge of C or any other high level language is essential to this discussion. Basic knowledge of process memory layout is useful, but not necessary. Also, all the discussions are based on Linux running on x86 platform. The basic concepts of buffer overflow, however, are the same no matter what platform and operating system is used..."

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Related Stories:

• ZDNET: Blame it on Buffer Overflows(Aug 09, 2001)
• Technocrat.net: Are buffer-overflow security exploits really Intel and OS makers fault?(Jul 29, 2000)
• Christopher A Shepherd: Buffer Overflows and the PowerPC(Jun 20, 2000)