Bug Classes/Format string injection

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Details

When an attacker supplied string is accidentally passed to format string parsing, the attacker can manipulate the resulting output. The write primitive available is through the use of the %n specifier, which writes to memory. All the other formats lead to information leaks.

Examples

Mitigations

  • Eliminate the use of %n
  • detect non-const format strings at compile time (e.g. gcc's -Wformat-security)
  • detect non-const format strings at run time (e.g. memory location checking done with glibc's -D_FORITY_SOURCE=2)
Retrieved from "http://kernsec.org/wiki/index.php?title=Bug_Classes/Format_string_injection&oldid=3773"