CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) Practice

What is the primary risk associated with buffer overflow attacks affecting web servers?

1. Increased traffic

2. Remote code execution

3. Static content exposure

4. Service denial to legitimate users

The correct answer is: Remote code execution

The primary risk associated with buffer overflow attacks affecting web servers is remote code execution. Buffer overflow vulnerabilities occur when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, potentially overwriting adjacent memory. This flaw can allow an attacker to inject malicious code into the memory of the affected application and execute it, which can lead to full compromise of the system. In the context of web servers, remote code execution is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to take control of the server from a remote location, perform unauthorized commands, gain sensitive data, and propagate malware. This risk highlights the importance of implementing secure coding practices to validate input and manage memory effectively, thereby reducing the likelihood of buffer overflows and their associated threats. The other options, while they might be related to the impact of cyberattacks more broadly, do not encapsulate the primary risk identified with buffer overflow vulnerabilities. For instance, increased traffic might be a result of a DDoS attack, while service denial to legitimate users relates more to resource exhaustion attacks rather than buffer overflow specifically. Static content exposure does not directly relate to the consequences of exploiting a buffer overflow, which aims at gaining unauthorized execution capabilities rather than revealing existing data.