Buffer overflow attack

Buffer Overflow Attack
(Software security)
Krishantha Dinesh

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What is it
• Buffers are areas of memory set aside to hold data, often while moving it from one section of a program
to another, or between programs. Buffer overflows can often be triggered by malformed inputs.
• if one assumes all inputs will be smaller than a certain size and the buffer is created to be that size, if an
anomalous transaction produces more data it could cause it to write past the end of the buffer. If this
overwrites adjacent data or executable code, this may result in erratic program behavior, including
memory access errors, incorrect results, and crashes.

Buffer overflow types
• Stack overflow
• Heap overflow
• Off By One overflow
• Function pointers
• Integer overflow
• Format string overflow
• Unicode overflow

Example (Format String attack)
If the user passes %X as value, then printf() will receive
a pointer to a string with “%X” in it on the stack
Printf() will see the %X and assume there is another
parameter above it on the stack
Whatever is above it on the stack will be printed in
hexadecimal

Who are vulnerable
• Applications written in Java, PHP, C#, ASP.NET, Ruby-on-rails, server-side javascript and JSP are
managed applications, and are not lead to memory corruption vulnerabilities such as stack buffer
overflows or heap buffer overflows caused by bad web-application code
• Buffer overflows tend to be the preserve of C/C++ applications.

How it comes
• Pushing data more than the capacity of a buffer
• buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer,
overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory.
• For example:
• - strcpy(target_buffer, large_string)
• - printf(str_ptr)

example

./sample.out hello

./sample.out AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Unsafe C functions
• strcpy (char *dest, const char *src)
• strcat (char *dest, const char *src)
• gets (char *s)
• scanf ( const char *format, … )
• printf (conts char *format, … )

How to prevent
• never use printf(buffer) for any function in the printf family
• Review loop bounds for off-by-one errors
• Avoid unsafe C functions (e.g. strcpy(), strcat(), sprintf(), gets(), scanf()) and learn how to use
alternatives (e.g. strncpy(), strncat(), snprintf())
• Insert bounds checking code
• Avoid unsafe programming languages (C, C++) and use type safe languages like java

records
• The earliest documented hostile exploitation of a buffer overflow was in 1988. It was one of several
exploits used by the Morris worm to propagate itself over the Internet. The program exploited was a
service on Unix called finger.The Ping of death
• The Morris (Internet worm of November 2, 1988) worm spread in part by exploiting a stack buffer
overflow in the Unix finger server.
• The Witty worm (2004) spread by exploiting a stack buffer overflow in the Internet Security Systems
BlackICE Desktop Agent. The Witty worm is a computer worm that attacks the firewall and other
computer security products written by a particular company, Internet Security Systems (ISS) now IBM
Internet Security Systems.

• The Slammer worm (January 25, 2003) spread by exploiting a stack buffer overflow in Microsoft's SQL
server.
• The Blaster worm spread by exploiting a stack buffer overflow in Microsoft DCOM service. The Blaster
Worm (also known as Lovsan, Lovesan or MSBlast) was a computer worm that spread on computers
running the Microsoft operating systems Windows XP and Windows 2000, during August 2003.The
earliest documented hostile exploitation of a buffer overflow was in 1988. It was one of several exploits
used by the Morris worm to propagate itself over the Internet. The program exploited was a service on
Unix called finger.
•

• 1995, Thomas Lopatic independently rediscovered the buffer overflow and published his findings on the
Bugtraq security mailing list. A year later, in 1996, Elias Levy (also known as Aleph One) published in
Phrack magazine the paper "Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit”, a step-by-step introduction to
exploiting stack-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities. Since then, at least two major internet worms
have exploited buffer overflows to compromise a large number of systems. In 2001, the Code Red worm
exploited a buffer overflow in Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 and in 2003 the SQL
Slammer worm compromised machines running Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

• In 2003, buffer overflows present in licensed Xbox games have been exploited to allow unlicensed
software, including homebrew games, to run on the console without the need for hardware
modifications, known as modchips. The PS2 Independence Exploit also used a buffer overflow to
achieve the same for the PlayStation 2. The Twilight hack accomplished the same with the Wii, using a
buffer overflow in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Buffer overflow attack

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