Exam CS0-002 topic 1 question 289 discussion

The vulnerability in the code is an integer overflow, which happens when the size of a variable exceeds its maximum capacity. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or cause a denial of service. To prevent integer overflows, it is recommended to use built-in functions from libraries to check and handle long numbers properly. In this case, OpenSSH should be updated to the latest version, which includes patches to fix this vulnerability. Additionally, it is good practice to use static analysis tools and perform code reviews to detect vulnerabilities before they are deployed to production.

C. Me thinks this is correct, libraries with built-in functions for checking and handling long numbers can prevent integer overflows from happening.

C makes sense to me

The code provided has a vulnerability due to an integer overflow. The variable "nresp" is assigned a value from the function "packet_get_inf()". If the value of "nresp" is greater than zero, an array of char pointers "response" is created with the size of "nresp" multiplied by the size of a char pointer. The problem with this approach is that if the value of "nresp" is very large, it could cause an integer overflow and allocate a much larger buffer than intended. This buffer overflow vulnerability could potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system. To prevent this vulnerability, the input should be sanitized to avoid small numbers that cannot be handled in the memory. This can be achieved by using built-in functions from libraries to check and handle large numbers properly. Additionally, user inputs can be sanitized to avoid values that can cause an integer overflow.