CWE WEAKNESSES / CWE-121
CWE-121
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Variant EXPLOIT LIKELIHOOD: HIGH
What it is
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Impact
| Availability | Modify Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU), DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory) |
| Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability, Access Control | Modify Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Bypass Protection Mechanism |
| Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability, Access Control, Other | Modify Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Bypass Protection Mechanism, Other |
Mitigations
- [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] dis
- [Architecture and Design] Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
- [Implementation] Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
- [Implementation] Do not use dangerous functions such as gets. Use safer, equivalent functions which check for boundary errors.
- [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]. Im
Real-world CVE examples
- CVE-2021-35395 — Stack-based buffer overflows in SFK for wifi chipset used for IoT/embedded devices, as exploited in the wild per CISA KEV.
Related weaknesses
Test & detect
Browse all common weaknesses, check related exploited CVEs, or map to ATT&CK techniques.
Source: MITRE CWE. View on cwe.mitre.org →