buffer overflow

Bufferoverflowsare program errors that occur due to insufficient memory management within the software. Buffer overflows occur when long data blocks are sent to the buffer memory, which cannot store them completely because its memory capacity is exceeded.

Each program must reserve buffer space with the operating system for the data it is to process. The memory areas defined for this purpose have a certain size. If data is loaded into these areas without taking the buffer size into account, they may overflow. The program then writes the excess data to adjacent buffers that have not been reserved for this purpose. This can damage or overwrite other data and programs in the buffer.

Buffer overflow programs are often used for attacks. Hackers cause buffer overflows by sending long blocks of data. They copy their own malware into the memory to infiltrate the target system and gain access to the computer system.