Question

r. Blahbah claims that buffer overflow attacks via stack smashing are made possible by the fact that stacks grow downwards (towards smaller addresses) on most popular modern architectures. Therefore, future architectures should ensure that the stack grows upwards; this would provide a good defense against buffer overflow. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Answer 1

Answer:

I do not agree with Dr. Blahbah's point of view.

Explanation:

Stacks are not responsible for the occupation of a buffer overflow, regardless of the direction in which they grow, since this growth is irrelevant for attacking elements that can perceive the direction of growth, such as buffer overflow. In this case, we can say that the architectures of the future should not be concerned with the direction of stack growth, but with the difficulty of predicting the direction of stack growth. This difficulty is what can limit and even prevent the invasion of the buffer overflow.