Cisco Cyber Security Practice Exam

What type of attack occurs when data goes beyond the memory areas allocated to an application?

1. SQL Injection

2. Cross-Site Scripting

3. Buffer overflow

4. Ransomware

The correct answer is: Buffer overflow

The type of attack that occurs when data exceeds the memory areas allocated to an application is known as a buffer overflow. In a buffer overflow attack, a malicious actor deliberately sends more data to a buffer (a temporary data storage area) than it is designed to handle, which can cause the application to overwrite adjacent memory locations. This can lead to various harmful consequences, including the execution of arbitrary code, corruption of the program's running state, or even system crashes. Buffer overflow vulnerabilities typically arise from programming errors in languages that do not have built-in bounds checking, such as C and C++. When an attacker knows or can guess where they can overflow the buffer, they can exploit this weakness to take control of the execution flow of the application. This makes buffer overflow a significant security concern in software development, often necessitating careful coding practices and memory management to prevent potential exploits. In contrast, SQL Injection involves inserting or "injecting" SQL queries via input fields to manipulate databases, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) injects malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users, and Ransomware is malware that encrypts a user's data and demands a ransom for its release. Each of these attack types exploits different vectors and does not involve the manipulation