What are some real-world examples of heap overflow vulnerabilities?

What are some real-world examples of heap overflow vulnerabilities?

Heap overflow vulnerabilities occur when a program writes more data to a heap memory area than it can hold. One notable case is the 2014 Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL, which allowed attackers to read sensitive data from memory.

Can you explain how the Heartbleed bug exploited heap overflow?

Certainly! Heartbleed exploited a flaw in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS heartbeat extension. By sending a malformed heartbeat request, an attacker could trick the server into returning more data than intended, potentially leaking sensitive information stored in the heap.

Are there any other significant cases?

Yes, another significant case is the 2017 Equifax breach, where attackers exploited a vulnerability in the Apache Struts framework, leading to heap overflow and unauthorized access to sensitive data.

What can developers do to prevent heap overflow vulnerabilities?

Developers can prevent heap overflow by implementing proper bounds checking, using safe memory management functions, and employing tools like AddressSanitizer to detect memory errors during development.