Weakness (CWE)
CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary.
How to prevent it (7 mitigations)
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Requirements
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
For example, many languages that perform their own memory management, such as Java and Perl, are not subject to buffer overflows. Other languages, such as Ada and C#, typically provide overflow protection, but the protection can be disabled by the programmer.
Be wary that a language's interface to native code may still be subject to overflows, even if the language itself is theoretically safe.
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Architecture and Design
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Examples include the Safe C String Library (SafeStr) by Messier and Viega [REF-57], and the Strsafe.h library from Microsoft [REF-56]. These libraries provide safer versions of overflow-prone string-handling functions.
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Operation, Build and Compilation
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
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Implementation
Consider adhering to the following rules when allocating and managing an application's memory:
- Double check that the buffer is as large as specified.
- When using functions that accept a number of bytes to copy, such as strncpy(), be aware that if the destination buffer size is equal to the source buffer size, it may not NULL-terminate the string.
- Check buffer boundaries if accessing the buffer in a loop and make sure there is no danger of writing past the allocated space.
- If necessary, truncate all input strings to a reasonable length before passing them to the copy and concatenation functions.
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Operation, Build and Compilation
Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program's executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as "rebasing" (for Windows) and "prelinking" (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
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Operation
Use a CPU and operating system that offers Data Execution Protection (using hardware NX or XD bits) or the equivalent techniques that simulate this feature in software, such as PaX [REF-60] [REF-61]. These techniques ensure that any instruction executed is exclusively at a memory address that is part of the code segment.
For more information on these techniques see D3-PSEP (Process Segment Execution Prevention) from D3FEND [REF-1336].
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Implementation
Replace unbounded copy functions with analogous functions that support length arguments, such as strcpy with strncpy. Create these if they are not available.
Source: MITRE CWE-119
30 results · Clear filters · Feed
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Critical 9.5
Memory overflow vulnerability leading to Remote Code Execution or Denial of Service
Vulnerability in Citrix NetScaler ADC and Citrix NetScaler Gateway. This issue affects ADC: before 14.1-73.37, before 13.1-64.23, before 14.1-73.37 FIPS, and before 13.1.37.279 FIPS and NDcPP; Gateway: before 14.1-73.37 and before 13.1-64.23 leading to Remote…
KEV Sep 27, 2026 -
High 8.8
Memory overflow vulnerability leading to unpredictable or erroneous behavior and Denial of Service
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KEV Aug 26, 2026 -
High 8.8
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KEV Mar 13, 2026 -
High 7.8
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High 8.8
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KEV Dec 12, 2025 -
Critical 9.2
Memory overflow vulnerability leading to Remote Code Execution and/or Denial of Service
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KEV Aug 26, 2025 -
High 8.8
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KEV Mar 20, 2026 -
Critical 9.2
Memory overflow vulnerability leading to unintended control flow and Denial of Service
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KEV Jun 30, 2025 -
Critical 9.8
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KEV Apr 17, 2025 -
Critical 9.4
Unauthenticated sensitive information disclosure
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KEV Oct 18, 2023 -
High 7.8
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KEV Mar 30, 2023 -
Critical 9.6
Heap buffer overflow in CefSharp
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Critical 10.0
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Critical 9.8
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Critical 9.8
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High 7.8
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KEV Nov 3, 2021 -
High 7.8
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KEV Nov 3, 2021 -
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KEV Mar 3, 2022 -
High 7.8
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KEV Mar 3, 2022 -
High 8.8
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High 7.8
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High 8.8
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KEV Mar 28, 2022 -
High 8.8
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KEV Mar 28, 2022 -
High 8.2
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KEV Mar 15, 2022 -
High 8.8
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KEV Mar 25, 2022 -
High 8.8
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KEV Mar 28, 2022 -
High 7.8
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Critical 9.8
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KEV Oct 6, 2025 -
Critical 9.8
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