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 (5471)
Qualisys C++ SDK commit a32a21a was discovered to contain multiple stack buffer overflows via the GetCurrentFrame, SaveCapture, and LoadProject functions. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A heap buffer overflow in the XML Text Escaping component of Qualisys C++ SDK commit a32a21a allows attackers to cause Denial of Service (DoS) via escaping special XML characters. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pktgen: Avoid out-of-bounds access in get_imix_entries Passing a sufficient amount of imix entries leads to invalid access to the. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Silicon Labs Gecko OS. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Silicon Labs Gecko OS. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of ChargePoint Home Flex charging stations. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of ChargePoint Home Flex charging stations. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sante PACS Server URL path Memory Corruption Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sante PACS Server Web Portal DCM File Parsing Memory Corruption Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sante PACS Server Web Portal DCM File Parsing Memory Corruption Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sante PACS Server DCM File Parsing Memory Corruption Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sante PACS Server DCM File Parsing Memory Corruption Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
AutomationDirect C-More EA9 EAP9 File Parsing Memory Corruption Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
AutomationDirect C-More EA9 EAP9 File Parsing Memory Corruption Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
AutomationDirect C-More EA9 EAP9 File Parsing Stack-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Out-of-bounds write in some Zoom Workplace Apps may allow an authorized user to conduct a loss of integrity via network access. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
Out-of-bounds write in the Zoom Workplace App for Linux before version 6.2.5 may allow an unauthorized user to conduct a denial of service via network access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Contec Health CMS8000 Patient Monitor is vulnerable to an out-of-bounds write, which could allow an attacker to send specially formatted UDP requests in order to write arbitrary data. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in Axiomatic Bento4 up to 1.6.0-641. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
In some cases, the ktrace facility will log the contents of kernel structures to userspace. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
On 64-bit systems, the implementation of VOP_VPTOFH() in the cd9660, tarfs and ext2fs filesystems overflows the destination FID buffer by 4 bytes, a stack buffer overflow. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in Tenda A18 up to 15.13.07.09. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A floating-point exception (FPE) vulnerability exists in the AP4_TfraAtom::AP4_TfraAtom function in Bento4. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in Bento4 mp42avc v.3bdc891602d19789b8e8626e4a3e613a937b4d35 allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via the AP4_MemoryByteStream::WritePartial. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in Bento4 mp42avc v.3bdc891602d19789b8e8626e4a3e613a937b4d35 allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via the AP4_File::ParseStream and related functions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in GNU Binutils up to 2.43. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available.
Multiple switches are affected by an out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
D-Link DSR series business routers (DSR-150, DSR-150N, DSR-250, DSR-250N, DSR-500N, DSR-1000N) with firmware 3.13 through 3.17B901C contain a buffer overflow that allows unauthenticated remote code execution. The entire DSR business router product line is affected.
In validateSsid of WifiConfigurationUtil.java, there is a possible way to overflow a system configuration file due to a logic error in the code. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A malformed packet can cause a buffer overflow in the NWK/APS layer of the Ember ZNet stack and lead to an assert. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
NVIDIA GPU display driver for Windows and Linux contains a vulnerability where data is written past the end or before the beginning of a buffer. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability which could allow an attacker unauthorized access to files. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
NVIDIA vGPU software contains a vulnerability in the Virtual GPU Manager, where a malicious guest could cause memory corruption. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Buffer overflow in XPS data font processing of Small Office Multifunction Printers and Laser Printers(*) which may allow an attacker on the network segment to trigger the affected product being. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Buffer overflow in TIFF data EXIF tag processing of Small Office Multifunction Printers and Laser Printers(*) which may allow an attacker on the network segment to trigger the affected product being. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Buffer overflow in CPCA font download processing of Small Office Multifunction Printers and Laser Printers(*) which may allow an attacker on the network segment to trigger the affected product being. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed through improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An integer overflow was addressed through improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds write was addressed with improved input validation. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), 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 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. 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 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A downgrade issue affecting Intel-based Mac computers was addressed with additional code-signing restrictions. 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 memory handling. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Epss exploitation probability 27.0% and no vendor patch available.
A path handling issue was addressed with improved validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved data protection. 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 memory handling. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved bounds checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds access issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Axiomatic Bento4 up to 1.6.0. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Axiomatic Bento4 up to 1.6.0. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Edimax AC1200 Wi-Fi 5 Dual-Band Router BR-6476AC 1.06 is vulnerable to Buffer Overflow via /goform/getWifiBasic. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Edimax AC1200 Wi-Fi 5 Dual-Band Router BR-6476AC 1.06 is vulnerable to Buffer Overflow via /goform/fromSetLanDhcpsClientbinding. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in Microword eScan Antivirus 7.0.32 on Linux. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IBM Analytics Content Hub 2.0 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow due to improper return length checking. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
SunGrow WiNet-SV200.001.00.P027 and earlier versions is vulnerable to heap-based buffer overflow due to bounds checks of the MQTT message content. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In SunGrow WiNet-SV200.001.00.P027 and earlier versions, when decrypting MQTT messages, the code that parses specific TLV fields does not have sufficient bounds checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
SunGrow WiNet-SV200.001.00.P027 and earlier versions is vulnerable to stack-based buffer overflow when parsing MQTT messages, due to missing MQTT topic bounds checks. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In SunGrow WiNet-SV200.001.00.P027 and earlier versions, when copying the timestamp read from an MQTT message, the underlying code does not check the bounds of the buffer that is used to store the. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in GPAC v0.8.0, as demonstrated by MP4Box. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Heap buffer overflow in the server site handshake implementation in Real Time Logic LLC's SharkSSL version (from 05/05/24) commit 64808a5e12c83b38f85c943dee0112e428dc2a43 allows a remote attacker to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
OpenImageIO v3.1.0.0dev was discovered to contain a heap overflow via the component /OpenImageIO/fmath.h. 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.
OpenImageIO v3.1.0.0dev was discovered to contain a heap overflow via the component OpenImageIO_v3_1_0::farmhash::inlined::Fetch64(char const*). 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.
gpac 2.4 contains a heap-buffer-overflow at isomedia/sample_descs.c:1799 in gf_isom_new_mpha_description in gpac/MP4Box. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Out of bounds memory access in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 132.0.6834.110 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Object corruption in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 132.0.6834.110 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
D-Link DSL-3782 v1.01 is vulnerable to Buffer Overflow in /New_GUI/ParentalControl.asp. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in the Object Linking and Embedding 2 (OLE2) decryption routine of ClamAV could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
When the assert() function in the GNU C Library versions 2.13 to 2.40 fails, it does not allocate enough space for the assertion failure message string and size information, which may lead to a. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.2), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In DGifSlurp of dgif_lib.c, there is a possible out of bounds write due to an integer overflow. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In gatts_process_primary_service_req of gatt_sr.cc, 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.
In gatts_process_read_by_type_req of gatt_sr.cc, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a logic error in the code. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In growData of Parcel.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds write due to an incorrect bounds check. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In writeInplace of Parcel.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds write. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In gatts_process_read_req of gatt_sr.cc, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In gatts_process_find_info of gatt_sr.cc, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In build_read_multi_rsp of gatt_sr.cc, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the decode_esm_message_container function at. 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.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a stack overflow in the decode_protocol_configuration_options function at. 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.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the decode_traffic_flow_template_packet_filter. 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.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the decode_pdn_address function at. 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.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the decode_protocol_configuration_options function. 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.
The Linux Foundation Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) was discovered to contain a buffer overflow in the decode_access_point_name_ie function at. 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 sctp_server::sctp_receiver_thread component of OpenAirInterface CN5G AMF (oai-cn5g-amf) up to v2.0.0 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by repeatedly. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Vulnerability in the PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools product of Oracle PeopleSoft (component: Panel Processor). Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.