Certified Incident Handler (CIH) Practice Ecam

Which vulnerabilities occur due to coding errors that allow excessive data writing beyond allocated memory?

1. Buffer Overflows

2. SQL Injection

3. Data Corruption

4. Cross-Site Scripting

The correct answer is: Buffer Overflows

Buffer overflows occur when a program writes more data to a block of memory, or buffer, than what the buffer can hold. This mismatch can lead to adjacent memory being overwritten, which may cause erratic program behavior, crashes, or the execution of malicious code. This type of vulnerability arises directly from programming errors where the size or limits of buffers are not properly managed. In the context of programming, developers must have strict bounds checking and ensure that input data is properly validated before being processed. When these practices are ignored or inadequately implemented, it creates opportunities for attackers to manipulate the program's memory. This vulnerability is relatively common in languages such as C and C++, where memory management is manual and errors can lead to severe security issues. While the other options describe different types of vulnerabilities, they do not specifically relate to the fundamental issue of excessive data writing beyond allocated memory. SQL Injection deals with manipulating SQL queries through unvalidated input, Data Corruption refers to unintended changes to data, and Cross-Site Scripting involves injecting scripts into web pages viewed by other users, none of which directly involves buffer-related memory errors.