Buffer
Overflow Intro. ©2002, Jedidiah R. Crandall, Susan L. Gerhart, Jan G.
Hogle.
http://sfsecurity.pr.erau.edu
Glossary
Buffer – A buffer is an area in a
computers memory to store data. If
it is a single piece of data, such as a
number or a single character, then its storage space is usually not referred to as a buffer.
The real definition of a buffer is somewhere where data is stored temporarily, but the term buffer is often used more
loosely.
Pointer – Pointers point to something
in the computers memory.
Everything stored in a computer is
stored as a number, including pointers.
A pointer is a number that is the references
another place in memory by its address.
Denial-of-service – Sometimes if a
program is needed by multiple users (on a network, for example) and an attacker crashes it, no one else can
access it.
Core dump – A core dump occurs
sometimes when a program crashes.
Basically, everything that was in
that program’s memory is written out to an unprotected file, and sometimes this data is security-sensitive.
Address – An address in a computer’s
memory is the same as the address in a mailbox. If your box number in the
mailroom is 232, then 232 is called your address. The same is true for data
and programs stored in a computer’s memory.
Bit – A computer stores
numbers using bits. A bit can be
only one of two things: a 1 or a 0.
Byte – A byte is an 8 bit number,
such as 10011110. A byte can store
a number from 0 through 255, or 00000000
through 11111111 in binary.