CompTIA CASP+ Practice Test

What mitigation technique can be used to prevent buffer overflow attacks?

1. Code obfuscation

2. Secure coding standards

3. Increased memory allocation

4. Regular patch updates

The correct answer is: Secure coding standards

Using secure coding standards is a highly effective mitigation technique against buffer overflow attacks. These standards guide developers in writing code that is resilient to common vulnerabilities, including buffer overflows, by employing best practices throughout the software development lifecycle. This includes techniques such as proper bounds checking, validating input lengths, and using safe library functions that limit the amount of data being processed or stored. Buffer overflow vulnerabilities occur when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, potentially overwriting adjacent memory and leading to unpredictable results or malicious exploitation. By adhering to secure coding standards, developers can proactively write their code to handle input sizes correctly and proactively check for potential overflow conditions. This significantly reduces the risk associated with buffer overflow attacks. In contrast, code obfuscation can make it more difficult for attackers to analyze code but does not inherently secure the code from buffer overflows. Increased memory allocation might seem like it could prevent overflows by providing more space, but it is ultimately a superficial fix and does not address the underlying coding errors that lead to overflows. Regular patch updates are essential for maintaining software security but primarily address known vulnerabilities rather than preventing new ones related to coding errors.