Lesson 207
Software & Memory-Safety Exploits
Overflows · Canaries · NX · ROP · ASLR
1:00How memory-unsafe code (C/C++) turns a single unchecked write into full code execution, and how stack canaries, NX/DEP, ASLR, and memory-safe languages each raise — or eliminate — that risk.
By the end, you can
- Explain why C programs are vulnerable to buffer overflows while Rust programs are not.
- Describe the layout of a stack frame and identify which slot an overflow targets.
- Explain the role of a NOP sled in a buffer-overflow exploit.
- Describe what a stack canary does and identify the condition under which it fails.
- Explain the Write-XOR-Execute principle of NX/DEP and why ROP bypasses it.
- Explain how ASLR raises the cost of an exploit and how a single leaked address can defeat it.
- Distinguish use-after-free and integer-overflow root causes from classic stack overflows.
- Argue why memory-safe languages are described as the real fix rather than another mitigation.
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