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 (36389)
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JP2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JP2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JPG File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JP2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PNG File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PSD File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF TGA File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF TIF 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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JP2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Heap-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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PSD File Parsing Heap-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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Heap-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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF BMP File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF 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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF 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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF JPF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Heap-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.
Tungsten Automation Power PDF PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trimble SketchUp Viewer SKP 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.
Trimble SketchUp Viewer SKP 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.
Trimble SketchUp Viewer SKP 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.
Trimble SketchUp Viewer SKP File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trimble SketchUp Viewer SKP File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor AcroForm Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor AcroForm Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor Doc Object Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor TIF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor TIF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor TIF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor EMF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor EMF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor EMF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor PPM File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor XPS File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor PDF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor JB2 File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D 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.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PDF-XChange Editor U3D File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Luxion KeyShot JT File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Luxion KeyShot ABC File Parsing Heap-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.
Luxion KeyShot OBJ File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Luxion KeyShot 3DS 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.
Luxion KeyShot SKP File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Luxion KeyShot 3DS File Parsing Heap-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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView CGM File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DWG 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.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView CGM File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Read Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF 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.
IrfanView DXF File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DWG File Parsing Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IrfanView DXF 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.