CWE-121
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
AI Translation Available
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Status
draft
Abstraction
variant
Likelihood
high
Affected Platforms
C
C++
Technical Details
AI Translation
Common Consequences
availability
integrity
confidentiality
access control
other
Impacts
modify memory
dos: crash, exit, or restart
dos: resource consumption (cpu)
dos: resource consumption (memory)
execute unauthorized code or commands
bypass protection mechanism
other
Detection Methods
fuzzing
automated static analysis
Potential Mitigations
Phases:
operation
build and compilation
architecture and design
implementation
Descriptions:
•
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
•
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
•
Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program's executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as "rebasing" (for Windows) and "prelinking" (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
•
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
•
Do not use dangerous functions such as gets. Use safer, equivalent functions which check for boundary errors.
Functional Areas
memory management