CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) Practice

What is a common type of attack categorized under "Language-based Attacks"?

1. SQL Injection

2. Buffer Overflow

3. Command Injection

4. All of the above

The correct answer is: All of the above

Language-based attacks are those that exploit vulnerabilities in programming languages, allowing an attacker to manipulate system behavior by crafting specific input that is processed by the application in an unintended manner. The correct answer includes various attack types, each of which falls under this category. SQL Injection involves injecting malicious SQL queries into input fields, allowing attackers to access and manipulate database information. This attack exploits the way applications construct SQL statements, typically using user input without proper validation or sanitization. Buffer Overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, causing it to overflow and overwrite adjacent memory. This often leads to the execution of arbitrary code, which can compromise system security. It's a language-based attack because it relies on the way programming languages handle memory management. Command Injection allows an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the host operating system by injecting commands into an application that constructs system calls based on user input. It exploits vulnerabilities in the application’s ability to handle user input safely, which is again rooted in how the programming language handles command parsing and execution. Therefore, since each of these attacks can be performed due to the way programming languages process input and handle memory or execution, they all qualify as language-based attacks, justifying the inclusion of all of them