Buffer-overflow attacks

Buffer overflows are a favorite exploit for hackers. The vast majority of Microsoft's available patches fix unchecked buffer problems -- but what about applications developed in-house? They are just as susceptible as commercial applications to buffer-overflow attack. It is therefore critical that you understand how they work and perform vulnerability testing on your home-grown applications prior to deployment.

A buffer overflow is an exploit that takes advantage of a program that is waiting on a user's input. There are two main types of buffer overflow attacks: stack based and heap based. Heap-based attacks flood the memory space reserved for a program, but the difficulty involved with performing such an attack makes them rare. Stack-based buffer overflows are by far the most common.

Reference:

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/1048483/Buffer-overflow-attacks-How-do-they-work

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