What are "buffer overflows"?

Buffer overflows occur when a program writes more data to a buffer than it is allocated to hold. This can lead to unintended overwriting of adjacent memory, potentially allowing an attacker to manipulate the program’s operation. By carefully crafting the data that exceeds the buffer's capacity, an attacker may gain the ability to execute arbitrary code. This is why the correct answer highlights how buffer overflows can pose significant security risks, enabling the execution of malicious code, data corruption, or crashes.

Understanding buffer overflows is crucial in secure software design because they exploit vulnerabilities in programming that can be mitigated through proper coding practices, such as boundary checking and input validation. Recognizing this threat is essential for developers, as it underscores the importance of writing secure code to defend against such attacks. The direct link between the overflow of a buffer and the potential for code execution is what makes this concept vital in the context of software security.