Dam buffer overflow
Chris Anley · Information Professional · 2005
From the infamous Morris worm in 1988, to the Zotob worm in August 2005, the buffer overflow has been the issue causing most of network administrators' security headaches. Yet three key issues remain misunderstood: how buffer overflows happen, how attackers use them to break into networks, and what can be done about them from the perspective of network administrators, developers and management. Several attempts have been made to cure the problem - no remedies have proved totally effective. For simplicity, this technical discussion is limited to the Intel x86 processors, since the mechanics of buffer overflows can vary significantly for different types of processor. A buffer overflow occurs when data is copied into a buffer that is too small to hold it.