Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

What is a common method used to exploit buffer overflow vulnerabilities?

1. Injection attacks

2. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

3. Malicious payloads

4. Social engineering

The correct answer is: Injection attacks

A common method used to exploit buffer overflow vulnerabilities involves the manipulation of application memory by overflowing a buffer. This typically happens when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, which can overwrite adjacent memory. In the context of injection attacks, this includes placing a malicious payload in the overflow that can alter the program's execution flow or lead to unauthorized actions. When a buffer overflow occurs, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted input that exceeds the buffer's capacity. This input often contains a payload that will be executed once the overflow occurs, allowing the attacker to gain control of the system or execute arbitrary code. Therefore, injection attacks, which focus on introducing harmful code into an application, closely relate to exploiting buffer overflow vulnerabilities. The other methods, while significant in their own right, do not directly relate to buffer overflow exploitation. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) specifically targets web applications to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. Malicious payloads refer broadly to harmful code that doesn't specifically explain how it exploits buffer overflows. Social engineering involves manipulating individuals into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security, rather than targeting software vulnerabilities directly.