What are stack smashing attacks?

What are stack smashing attacks?

Stack smashing is a form of vulnerability where the stack of a computer application or OS is forced to overflow. When the function returns, it jumps to the malicious code on the stack, which might corrupt the entire system. The adjacent data on the stack is affected and forces the program to crash.

Are stack canaries vulnerable and if so how?

Stack canaries remain a widely deployed defense against memory corruption attacks. Despite their practical useful- ness, canaries are vulnerable to memory disclosure and brute-forcing attacks.

What causes stack-smashing?

2.5 Stack Smashing. Stack smashing occurs when a buffer overflow overwrites data in the memory allocated to the execution stack. More often, a buffer overflow in the stack segment can lead to an attacker executing arbitrary code by overwriting a pointer address to which control is (eventually) transferred.

Is stack-smashing the same as buffer overflow?

The stack-smashing attack is in fact a type of buffer overflow attack, and may sometimes be called a stack buffer overflow attack.

Why does stack smashing occur?

Stack smashing occurs when a buffer overflow overwrites data in the memory allocated to the execution stack. More often, a buffer overflow in the stack segment can lead to an attacker executing arbitrary code by overwriting a pointer address to which control is (eventually) transferred.

What causes a stack Smash in a C program?

In your case, the place that causes the stack-smash is when you increment st beyond the original a pointer and write to where it points, you’re writing outside the area the C compiler guarantees to have reserved for the original string assigned into a.

Why do I get stack smashing in GCC?

you’re essentially accessing out of bound memory which invokes undefined behavior. This is the reason you’re getting the “stack smashing” issue because you’re trying to access memory which does not belong to your process.

What to do with pointers in stack smashing?

For a general-purpose solution, you’d use a function like malloc to get a pointer to a new chunk of memory from the operating system that has the size you need/want once you’ve calculated what the full size is going to be (just remember to call free on pointers that you get from malloc and similar functions once you’re done with them).

https://www.youtube.com/c/stacksmashing