How security flaws work: the buffer overflow

[J65nko]

From http://arstechnica.com/security/2015...ffer-overflow/

The buffer overflow has long been a feature of the computer security landscape. In fact the first self-propagating Internet worm—1988's Morris Worm—used a buffer overflow in the Unix finger daemon to spread from machine to machine. Twenty-seven years later, buffer overflows remain a source of problems. Windows infamously revamped its security focus after two buffer overflow-driven exploits in the early 2000s. And just this May, a buffer overflow found in a Linux driver left (potentially) millions of home and small office routers vulnerable to attack.