Q: Which of the following is the least likely consequence of a buffer overflow attack?
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A
Changing the operating system
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B
Crashing an operating system
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C
Crashing a program
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D
Executing a program
A
Answer:
A
Explanation:
A buffer overflow attack occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, causing the excess data to overwrite adjacent memory. This can lead to various consequences, such as crashing the program (option C), crashing the operating system (option B), or executing unintended code (option D), all of which are common outcomes of a buffer overflow. However, changing the operating system (option A) is the least likely consequence of a buffer overflow. While a successful buffer overflow could potentially exploit vulnerabilities that lead to privileged access, directly altering the operating system itself is much less common. The attack typically affects the application or causes instability, not fundamental changes to the OS.
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