How can integer overflow attacks and buffer overflow attacks work together? a. A

Question

How can integer overflow attacks and buffer overflow attacks work together?

a. An integer overflow could utilize a buffer to change the value from a positive to a negative by wrapping a large positive value around in a bank transfer b. An integer overflow is imported during the buffer length calculation which could result in a buffer overflow attack c. A buffer overflow attack relies on an integer overflow to change the return address in the memory of the system to the address of the attacker d. An integer could reverse the number of units sold when accumulating a total cost of a transaction, allowing a buffer overflow to manipulate the direction of cash flow

Explanation / Answer

integer overflow attacks and buffer overflow attacks work together using options 'a', 'b' and 'D'

a. An integer overflow could utilize a buffer to change the value from a positive to a negative by wrapping a large positive value around in a bank transfer

b. An integer overflow is imported during the buffer length calculation which could result in a buffer overflow attack

d. An integer could reverse the number of units sold when accumulating a total cost of a transaction, allowing a buffer overflow to manipulate the direction of cash flow

Integer Overflows

An Integer Overflow is the condition that occurs when the result of an arithmetic operation, such as multiplication or addition, exceeds the maximum size of the integer type used to store it. When an integer overflow occurs, the interpreted value will appear to have “wrapped around” the maximum value and started again at the minimum value, similar to a clock that represents 13:00 by pointing at 1:00.

For example, an 8-bit signed integer on most common computer architectures has a maximum value of 127 and a minimum value of -128. If a programmer stores the value 127 in such a variable and adds 1 to it, the result should be 128. However, this value exceeds the maximum for this integer type, so the interpreted value will “wrap around” and become -128.

Integer Overflow Example

In C and C++ programming, Integer Overflows often occur when calculating the size of a buffer to be allocated. When this occurs, the calculated size of the buffer will be smaller than the amount of data to be copied to it. This can lead to a buffer overflow,

buffer overflow

A buffer overflow occurs when a program or process attempts to write more data to a fixed length block of memory, or buffer, than the buffer is allocated to hold. Since buffers are created to contain a defined amount of data, the extra data can overwrite data values in memory addresses adjacent to the destination buffer unless the program includes sufficient bounds checking to flag or discard data when too much is sent to a memory buffer.

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