Common software vulnerabilities that happen due to coding errors that allow attackers to gain access to the target system are known as what?

• A. CWE
• B. Buffer Overflows
• C. NVD
• D. Remediation

Answer: (B)

Buffer overflows happen when a program writes more data into a memory buffer than it can hold because bounds checks are missing or insufficient. This memory corruption can overwrite important control data, like return addresses or function pointers, which can allow an attacker to alter the program’s flow and execute arbitrary code. That combination—a coding mistake that lets outside input overwrite memory and potentially run attacker-supplied code—explains why this vulnerability class is described as common and dangerous.

In practical terms, you’ll see stack-based overflows, where the overflow spills into the stack frame, or heap overflows, where the heap memory area is corrupted. Protecting against them involves validating input lengths, using safe string and memory handling functions, and applying defenses like stack canaries, ASLR, and memory-safe languages or libraries.

Other terms in the choices point to different things: a catalog of weaknesses, a vulnerability database, or a remediation step, rather than the vulnerability itself.