Which term denotes the vulnerability that occurs when input exceeds the buffer and may overwrite adjacent memory?

Which term denotes the vulnerability that occurs when input exceeds the buffer and may overwrite adjacent memory?

• A. Buffer
• B. Stack
• C. Heap memory
• D. Buffer Overflow

Answer: (D)

A buffer overflow occurs when input is larger than the allocated space for a buffer, causing the extra data to spill into adjacent memory. This bound violation can corrupt data, crash the program, or let an attacker alter the program’s control flow by overwriting things like return addresses or function pointers. The term describes the vulnerability itself, whether the overflow happens on the stack or the heap. A buffer is just the storage area, and stack memory or heap memory are common places where buffers live, but the security issue is the overflow. So the best term is buffer overflow.

A buffer overflow occurs when input is larger than the allocated space for a buffer, causing the extra data to spill into adjacent memory. This bound violation can corrupt data, crash the program, or let an attacker alter the program’s control flow by overwriting things like return addresses or function pointers. The term describes the vulnerability itself, whether the overflow happens on the stack or the heap. A buffer is just the storage area, and stack memory or heap memory are common places where buffers live, but the security issue is the overflow. So the best term is buffer overflow.