Buffer Overflow
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
How It Works
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions. This overwrites whatever data or code exists there, corrupting program state and potentially giving attackers control over execution flow.
Stack-based overflows are the most common variant. When a function allocates a fixed-size buffer on the stack and then copies user-controlled input without proper bounds checking, attackers can overflow past the buffer to overwrite the function's return address. When the function completes, instead of returning to legitimate code, execution jumps to attacker-specified memory containing malicious shellcode. Heap-based overflows work differently—they corrupt heap metadata like chunk size fields or free list pointers, leading to arbitrary memory writes when the allocator processes the corrupted structures.
Modern exploitation bypasses defensive mechanisms through techniques like Return-Oriented Programming (ROP), which chains together existing code snippets to avoid non-executable memory protections. Attackers may also use heap spraying to reliably position shellcode at predictable addresses, defeating address randomization.
Impact
- Remote code execution — attacker gains ability to run arbitrary commands with the privileges of the vulnerable process
- Privilege escalation — exploiting kernel or setuid program overflows to gain root/SYSTEM access
- Denial of service — crashes and memory corruption that render systems unusable
- Information disclosure — reading sensitive data from adjacent memory regions that should be inaccessible
- Authentication bypass — overwriting security-critical variables like permission flags or user IDs
Real-World Examples
Fortinet FortiOS suffered a critical buffer overflow (CVE-2025-32756) that allowed unauthenticated remote attackers to execute code as root on firewalls and VPN gateways. Attackers actively exploited this to compromise enterprise network perimeters before patches were available.
The Slammer worm from 2003 exploited a stack overflow in Microsoft SQL Server, spreading to 75,000 hosts in ten minutes by sending a single malformed UDP packet that overwrote the return address with shellcode. No authentication was required.
OpenSSH historically contained a heap overflow in challenge-response authentication that allowed pre-authentication remote root compromise on Unix systems, demonstrating how memory corruption in privileged network services creates maximum impact scenarios.
Mitigation
- Memory-safe languages — Rust, Go, and modern managed languages prevent buffer overflows by design through automatic bounds checking
- Stack canaries — random values placed before return addresses that detect corruption before control transfer
- Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) — randomizes memory locations making exploitation less reliable
- Data Execution Prevention (DEP/NX) — marks memory regions as non-executable, preventing direct shellcode execution
- Bounds checking — validate input sizes before copying, use safe functions like
strncpyinstead ofstrcpy - Fuzzing and static analysis — automated testing to discover overflows before deployment
Recent CVEs (36602)
In BuildSetRadioNode of protocolmiscbuilder.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing null check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In StoreAdbSerialNumber of protocolmiscbuilder.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In Do_AIMS_SET_CALL_WAITING of imsservice.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In FaceStatsAnalyzer::InterpolateWeightList of face_stats_analyzer.cc, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In the Google BMS kernel module, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a heap buffer overflow. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In handle_set_parameters_ctrl of hal_socket.c, there is a possible out of bounds read due to an incorrect bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In BuildSetConfig of protocolimsbuilder.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing null check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In cd_CodeMsg of cd_codec.c, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a heap buffer overflow. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the UpdateSnat function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the UpdateMacClone function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the AddWlanMacList function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the Edit_BasicSSID_5G function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the UpdateWanParams function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the UpdateWanMode function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the EditWlanMacList function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the EditMacList function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the AddMacList function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A stack overflow in the Edit_BasicSSID function of H3C Magic B1STV100R012 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via a crafted POST request. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A Buffer Overflow vulnerability in importshp plugin in LibreCAD 2.2.0 allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via a crafted DBF file. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A maliciously crafted file consumed through pskernel.dll file could lead to memory corruption vulnerabilities. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
H3C Magic B1STW B1STV100R012 was discovered to contain a stack overflow via the function SetAPInfoById. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A potential vulnerability in the LenovoFlashDeviceInterface SMI handler may allow an attacker with local access and elevated privileges to execute arbitrary code. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The OCB feature in libnettle in Nettle 3.9 before 3.9.1 allows memory corruption. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability could allow attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes.
A maliciously crafted pskernel.dll file in Autodesk AutoCAD 2023 and Maya 2022 may be used to trigger out-of-bound read write / read vulnerabilities. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved redaction of sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated low severity (CVSS 2.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved redaction of sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A privacy issue was addressed with improved handling of temporary files. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A buffer overflow was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A permissions issue was addressed by removing vulnerable code and adding additional checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An authentication issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
LibreDWG v0.11 to v0.12.5 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the function bit_write_TF at bits.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
LibreDWG v0.12.5 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the function bit_calc_CRC at bits.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
LibreDWG v0.10 to v0.12.5 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the function bit_utf8_to_TU at bits.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
LibreDWG v0.10 to v0.12.5 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the function bit_wcs2nlen at bits.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in coap_send function in libcoap library 4.3.1-103-g52cfd56 fixed in 4.3.1-120-ge242200 allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via malformed pdu. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Dell BIOS contains an Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Gifsicle v1.9.3 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the ambiguity_error component at /src/clp.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Sngrep v1.6.0 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow via the function capture_ws_check_packet at /src/capture.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
TP-Link TL-WR940N V4, TL-WR841N V8/V10, TL-WR940N V2/V3 and TL-WR941ND V5/V6 were discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the component /userRpm/QoSRuleListRpm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
TP-Link TL-WR940N V2/V3/V4, TL-WR941ND V5/V6, TL-WR743ND V1 and TL-WR841N V8 were discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the component /userRpm/AccessCtrlAccessTargetsRpm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
TP-Link TL-WR940N V2/V4/V6, TL-WR841N V8, TL-WR941ND V5, and TL-WR740N V1/V2 were discovered to contain a buffer read out-of-bounds via the component /userRpm/VirtualServerRpm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
TP-Link TL-WR940N V4 was discovered to contain a buffer overflow via the ipStart parameter at /userRpm/WanDynamicIpV6CfgRpm. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
TP-Link TL-WR940N V4, TL-WR841N V8/V10, TL-WR740N V1/V2, TL-WR940N V2/V3, and TL-WR941ND V5/V6 were discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the component /userRpm/AccessCtrlTimeSchedRpm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Fortra Globalscape EFT versions before 8.1.0.16 suffer from an out of bounds memory read in their administration server, which can allow an attacker to crash the service or bypass authentication if. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
FLVMeta v1.2.1 was discovered to contain a buffer overflow via the xml_on_metadata_tag_only function at dump_xml.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
libming listswf 0.4.7 was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the parseSWF_DEFINEFONTINFO() function at parser.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The VMware vCenter Server contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
The VMware vCenter Server contains a memory corruption vulnerability in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability could allow attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes.
The VMware vCenter Server contains an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
The vCenter Server contains a heap overflow vulnerability due to the usage of uninitialized memory in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability could allow attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes.
Description: A vulnerability in SiLabs Unify Gateway 1.3.1 and earlier allows an unauthenticated attacker within Z-Wave range to overflow a stack buffer, leading to arbitrary code execution. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
libtiff 4.5.0 is vulnerable to Buffer Overflow via extractContigSamplesShifted8bits() at /libtiff/tools/tiffcrop.c:3753. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Description: A vulnerability in SiLabs Z/IP Gateway 7.18.01 and earlier allows an unauthenticated attacker within Z-Wave range to overflow a stack buffer, leading to arbitrary code execution. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Multiple buffer overflow vulnerabilities in SiLabs Z/IP Gateway SDK version 7.18.01 and earlier allow an attacker with invasive physical access to a Z-Wave controller device to overwrite global. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in SiLabs Z/IP Gateway 7.18.01 and earlier allows an authenticated attacker within Z-Wave range to manipulate an array pointer to disclose the contents of global memory. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
If the `recursive-clients` quota is reached on a BIND 9 resolver configured with both `stale-answer-enable yes;` and `stale-answer-client-timeout 0;`, a sequence of serve-stale-related lookups could. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability could allow attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes.
netgear R6250 Firmware Version 1.0.4.48 is vulnerable to Buffer Overflow after authentication. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 113. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 113, Firefox ESR 102.11, and Thunderbird 102.12. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Mozilla developers and community members Ronald Crane, Andrew McCreight, Randell Jesup and the Mozilla Fuzzing Team reported memory safety bugs present in Firefox 112. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A maliciously crafted favicon could have led to an out of memory crash. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An attacker could have caused an out of bounds memory access using WebGL APIs, leading to memory corruption and a potentially exploitable crash. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
libcoap 4.3.1 contains a buffer over-read via the function coap_parse_oscore_conf_mem at coap_oscore.c. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Access of memory location after end of buffer issue exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in TELLUS v4.0.15.0 and TELLUS Lite v4.0.15.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in V-Server v4.0.15.0 and V-Server Lite v4.0.15.0 and earlier allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code by having user open a specially crafted VPR file. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.