Weakness (CWE)
CWE-120: Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input
The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer.
How to prevent it (8 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 your buffer is as large as you specify.
- 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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Implementation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue."
Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
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Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
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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].
Source: MITRE CWE-120
3,303 results · Feed
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Critical 9.8
eap.c in pppd in ppp 2.4.2 through 2.4.8 has an rhostname buffer overflow in the eap_request and eap_response functions.
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Medium 5.0
NetHack AUTOCOMPLETE configuration file option is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, an invalid extended command in value for the AUTOCOMPLETE configuration file option can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack i…
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Medium 5.0
NetHack MENUCOLOR configuration file option is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, an extremely long value for the MENUCOLOR configuration file option can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack installed suid/sg…
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Medium 5.0
NetHack SYMBOL configuration file option is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, too long of a value for the SYMBOL configuration file option can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack installed suid/sgid and …
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Medium 5.0
NetHack error recovery after syntax error in configuration file is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, detecting an unknown configuration file option can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack installed suid/sgid and shared systems…
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Medium 5.0
NetHack command line parsing of options starting with -de and -i is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, unknown options starting with -de and -i can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack installed suid/sgid and shared systems that …
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Medium 5.0
NetHack command line -w option parsing is subject to a buffer overflow
In NetHack before 3.6.5, an invalid argument to the -w command line option can cause a buffer overflow resulting in a crash or remote code execution/privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects systems that have NetHack installed suid/sgid and shared syst…
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High 8.8
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of TP-LINK TL-WR841N rou…
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High 8.8CVE-2019-5064 EPSS 11%
Out-of-bounds Write in OpenCV
An exploitable heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the data structure persistence functionality of OpenCV, before version 4.2.0. A specially crafted JSON file can cause a buffer overflow, resulting in multiple heap corruptions and potentially code ex…
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High 8.8CVE-2019-5063 EPSS 21%
Out-of-bounds Write in OpenCV
An exploitable heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the data structure persistence functionality of OpenCV 4.1.0. A specially crafted XML file can cause a buffer overflow, resulting in multiple heap corruptions and potential code execution. An attacke…
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Critical 9.8
Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input in Pillow
libImaging/SgiRleDecode.c in Pillow before 6.2.2 has an SGI buffer overflow.
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Critical 9.8
PCX P mode buffer overflow in Pillow
libImaging/PcxDecode.c in Pillow before 6.2.2 has a PCX P mode buffer overflow.
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Unscored —
Buffer overflow in SonicWall SMA100 allows an authenticated user to execute arbitrary code in DEARegister CGI script. T…
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Unscored —CVE-2019-8287 EPSS 19%
TightVNC code version 1.3.10 contains global buffer overflow in HandleCoRREBBP macro function, which can potentially re…
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High 8.7
Underflow in PHP-FPM can lead to RCE
In PHP versions 7.1.x below 7.1.33, 7.2.x below 7.2.24 and 7.3.x below 7.3.11 in certain configurations of FPM setup it is possible to cause FPM module to write past allocated buffers into the space reserved for FCGI protocol data, thus opening the possibilit…
KEV Mar 25, 2022 -
Low 1.6CVE-2019-15166 Public exploit
lmp_print in tcpdump lacks certain boundary checks
lmp_print_data_link_subobjs() in print-lmp.c in tcpdump before 4.9.3 lacks certain bounds checks.
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High 7.0CVE-2018-14879 Public exploit
The command-line argument parser in tcpdump before 4.9.3 has a buffer overflow in tcpdump.c:get_next_file().
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Medium 5.5
Netskope client buffer overflow vulnerability
The Netskope client service, v57 before 57.2.0.219 and v60 before 60.2.0.214, running with NT\SYSTEM privilege, accepts network connections from localhost. The connection handling function in this service suffers from a stack based buffer overflow in "doHands…
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High 7.2
A buffer overflow flaw was found, in versions from 2.6.34 to 5.2.x, in the way Linux kernel's vhost functionality that …
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Unscored —
Cherokee Webserver Latest Cherokee Web server Upto Version 1.2.103 (Current stable) is affected by: Buffer Overflow - C…
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Unscored —
A Buffer Overflow in VLC Media Player < 3.0.7 causes a crash which can possibly be further developed into a remote code…
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High 8.1
Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Dell EMC iDRAC6 versions prior to 2.92, iDRAC7/iDRAC8 versions prior to 2.61.60.60, and iDRAC9 versions prior to 3.20.21.20, 3.21.24.22, 3.21.26.22 and 3.23.23.23 contain a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability. An unauthenticated remote attacker may pote…
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High 7.4
Architectural Information System 1.0 and earlier versions have a Stack-based buffer overflow, allows remote attackers t…
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High 8.7
Buffer overflow in system firmware for EDK II may allow unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privil…
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Unscored —
Moxa SoftCMS 1.3 and prior is susceptible to a buffer overflow condition that may crash or allow remote code execution.…
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Unscored —
Several buffer overflow vulnerabilities have been identified in Moxa IKS and EDS, which may allow remote code execution.
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Unscored —
FreeRDP prior to version 2.0.0-rc4 contains a Heap-Based Buffer Overflow in function zgfx_decompress_segment() that res…
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Unscored —
FreeRDP prior to version 2.0.0-rc4 contains a Heap-Based Buffer Overflow in function zgfx_decompress() that results in …
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High 7.7
Security Advisory for Vulnerabilities in QTS
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in NAS devices. QTS allows attackers to run arbitrary code. This issue affects: QNAP Systems Inc. QTS version 4.2.6 and prior versions on build 20180711; version 4.3.3 and prior versions on build 20180725; version 4.3.4 and prior…
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Medium 6.5
The Gluster file system through versions 3.12 and 4.1.4 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow in the 'features/index' tran…
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High 8.8
Out-of-Bounds write in systemd-networkd dhcpv6 option handling
A buffer overflow vulnerability in the dhcp6 client of systemd allows a malicious dhcp6 server to overwrite heap memory in systemd-networkd. Affected releases are systemd: versions up to and including 239.
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Unscored —
Fuji Electric Alpha5 Smart Loader Versions 3.7 and prior. A buffer overflow information disclosure vulnerability occurs…
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Unscored —
A maliciously crafted project file may cause a buffer overflow, which may allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code …
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Medium 6.5
The 'globbing' feature in curl before version 7.51.0 has a flaw that leads to integer overflow and out-of-bounds read v…
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Medium 5.4
An out-of-bounds memory access issue was found in Quick Emulator (QEMU) before 1.7.2 in the VNC display driver. This fl…
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Unscored —
The BSD libc library's link_ntoa() function may be vulnerable to a classic buffer overflow
Improper bounds checking of the obuf variable in the link_ntoa() function in linkaddr.c of the BSD libc library may allow an attacker to read or write from memory. The full impact and severity depends on the method of exploit and how the library is used by ap…
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High 8.0CVE-2018-1000517 EPSS 32%
BusyBox project BusyBox wget version prior to commit 8e2174e9bd836e53c8b9c6e00d1bc6e2a718686e contains a Buffer Overflo…
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Unscored —
zsh through version 5.4.2 is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow in the utils.c:checkmailpath function. A local…
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Unscored —
Zsh before version 5.4.2-test-1 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow in the shell autocomplete functionality. A local unp…
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Unscored —
An out-of-bounds memory read flaw was found in the way 389-ds-base handled certain LDAP search filters, affecting all v…