A buffer overflow attack is a type of cyber attack in which a malicious actor attempts to overwrite or corrupt data stored in a computer program’s buffer, which is a temporary memory storage area. The goal of the attack is to overwrite data stored in the application’s memory, and potentially cause the application to crash or allow the attacker to gain control of the application in order to execute malicious code.

The attack is typically accomplished by sending a large amount of data to the application’s buffer, which is not large enough to store the data. As a result, the data overflows and overwrites the data that is stored in the buffer, corrupting it. The attacker can then exploit the corrupted data to execute malicious code on the system.

Buffer overflow attacks can be very dangerous, as they allow the attacker to gain access to sensitive data, or even take control of the system. To protect against these attacks, it is important for developers to design applications with secure coding practices, such as checking user-input for size and length, and using secure programming languages. Additionally, anti-malware software and firewalls should be used to detect and prevent buffer overflow attacks.