Re:Has It Become Impossible to Prosecute White-Collar Crime?
by viraptor on Wednesday October 21, 2015 @07:44PM
(#10429632)
I don't buy the "you wouldn't understand" either. Here are simple explanations of a buffer overflow:
- We agree I'll give you max 1L of water, so you prepare a 1L bucket. Then I pour 2L of water into your bucket - you end up with a mess. (exploit version: We agree that if any water hits the ground, I can force you to do anything.)
- I give you card with typical form to fill in (squares for every letter). First 5 squares are for first name, next 5 are for last name. You fill in "Michael" as your first name overflowing into last name space.
- etc...
Sure, it doesn't capture all intricacies of the mechanism, implementation, side effects of the overflow, etc. But don't tell anyone they wouldn't understand the concept.
- We agree I'll give you max 1L of water, so you prepare a 1L bucket. Then I pour 2L of water into your bucket - you end up with a mess. (exploit version: We agree that if any water hits the ground, I can force you to do anything.)
- I give you card with typical form to fill in (squares for every letter). First 5 squares are for first name, next 5 are for last name. You fill in "Michael" as your first name overflowing into last name space.
- etc...
Sure, it doesn't capture all intricacies of the mechanism, implementation, side effects of the overflow, etc. But don't tell anyone they wouldn't understand the concept.