CWE-121 Variante Brouillon High likelihood

Stack-based Buffer Overflow

A stack-based buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the call stack than it can hold, corrupting adjacent memory and potentially hijacking the program's…

Définition

What is CWE-121?

A stack-based buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the call stack than it can hold, corrupting adjacent memory and potentially hijacking the program's execution flow.

This vulnerability happens when functions like `strcpy`, `gets`, or `scanf` are used without proper bounds checking. Since the buffer is allocated as a local variable within a function, the overflow overwrites other critical data on the stack, such as saved register values, function parameters, and most importantly, the return address. By carefully crafting the excess data, an attacker can redirect execution to malicious code they've injected or to existing code that benefits their attack, leading to a complete compromise. To prevent this, developers should always use secure, length-limited alternatives (like `strncpy` or `snprintf`) and perform explicit bounds checking before any write operation. Enabling compiler protections like stack canaries, address space layout randomization (ASLR), and non-executable stacks can also mitigate exploitation, but the primary defense is writing safe, validated code that never trusts unchecked input.

Impact réel

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-121

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.

Comment les attaquants l'exploitent

Parcours de l'attaquant étape par étape

1
While buffer overflow examples can be rather complex, it is possible to have very simple, yet still exploitable, stack-based buffer overflows:
2
The buffer size is fixed, but there is no guarantee the string in argv[1] will not exceed this size and cause an overflow.
3
This example takes an IP address from a user, verifies that it is well formed and then looks up the hostname and copies it into a buffer.
4
This function allocates a buffer of 64 bytes to store the hostname, however there is no guarantee that the hostname will not be larger than 64 bytes. If an attacker specifies an address which resolves to a very large hostname, then the function may overwrite sensitive data or even relinquish control flow to the attacker.
5
Note that this example also contains an unchecked return value (CWE-252) that can lead to a NULL pointer dereference (CWE-476).

Exemple de code vulnérable

Vulnerable C

While buffer overflow examples can be rather complex, it is possible to have very simple, yet still exploitable, stack-based buffer overflows:

Vulnérable C

#define BUFSIZE 256
  int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  	char buf[BUFSIZE];
  	strcpy(buf, argv[1]);
  }

Exemple de code sécurisé

Secure pseudo

Sécurisé pseudo

// Validate, sanitize, or use a safe API before reaching the sink.
function handleRequest(input) {
  const safe = validateAndEscape(input);
  return executeWithGuards(safe);
}

What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.

Liste de contrôle de prévention

How to prevent CWE-121

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] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
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]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as "rebasing" (for Windows) and "prelinking" (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking. For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].

Signaux de détection

How to detect CWE-121

Fuzzing High

Fuzz testing (fuzzing) is a powerful technique for generating large numbers of diverse inputs - either randomly or algorithmically - and dynamically invoking the code with those inputs. Even with random inputs, it is often capable of generating unexpected results such as crashes, memory corruption, or resource consumption. Fuzzing effectively produces repeatable test cases that clearly indicate bugs, which helps developers to diagnose the issues.

Automated Static Analysis High

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Correction automatique Plexicus

Plexicus détecte automatiquement CWE-121 et ouvre une PR de correction en moins de 60 secondes.

Codex Remedium analyse chaque commit, identifie cette faiblesse précise et livre une pull request prête à être relue avec le correctif. Pas de tickets. Pas de transferts.

Obtenir une démo Essayer Plexicus gratuitement

Questions fréquentes

Frequently asked questions

Qu'est-ce que CWE-121 ?

Quelle est la gravité de CWE-121 ?

MITRE évalue la probabilité d'exploitation comme Élevée — cette faiblesse est activement exploitée et doit être priorisée pour la remédiation.

Quels langages ou plateformes sont affectés par CWE-121 ?

MITRE lists the following affected platforms: C, C++.

Comment puis-je prévenir CWE-121 ?

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] discusses canary-based detection in detail. Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a…

Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-121 ?

Le moteur SAST de Plexicus reconnaît la signature de flux de données de CWE-121 à chaque commit. Lorsqu'une correspondance est trouvée, notre agent Codex Remedium ouvre une PR de correction avec le code corrigé, les tests et un résumé d'une ligne pour le relecteur.

Où puis-je en savoir plus sur CWE-121 ?

MITRE publie la définition canonique à https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/121.html. Vous pouvez également consulter la documentation OWASP et NIST pour des conseils adjacents.

Faiblesses associées

Weaknesses related to CWE-121

CWE-788 Parent

Access of Memory Location After End of Buffer

This vulnerability occurs when software attempts to read from or write to a memory buffer using an index or pointer that points past the…

CWE-122 Frère

Heap-based Buffer Overflow

A heap-based buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer allocated in the heap than it can hold, corrupting…

CWE-126 Frère

Buffer Over-read

This vulnerability occurs when a program reads data from a memory buffer using an index or pointer that points beyond the buffer's…

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