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How to skip a line doing a buffer overflow in C

Asked 2011-03-12T05:32:40.770
12

I want to skip a line in C, the line x=1; in the main section using bufferoverflow; however, I don't know why I can not skip the address from 4002f4 to the next address 4002fb in spite of the fact that I am counting 7 bytes form <main+35> to <main+42>.

I also have configured the options the randomniZation and execstack environment in a Debian and AMD environment, but I am still getting x=1;. What it's wrong with this procedure?

I have used dba to debug the stack and the memory addresses:

0x00000000004002ef <main+30>:    callq  0x4002a4 **<function>**  
**0x00000000004002f4** <main+35>:    movl   $0x1,-0x4(%rbp)  
**0x00000000004002fb** <main+42>:    mov    -0x4(%rbp),%esi  
0x00000000004002fe <main+45>:    mov    $0x4629c4,%edi  

void function(int a, int b, int c)  
{
  char buffer[5];
  int *ret;

  ret = buffer + 12;
  (*ret) += 8; 
}

int main()
{
   int x = 0; 
   function(1, 2, 3);
   x = 1;
   printf("x = %i \n", x);  
   return 0;  
}
c buffer-overflow cracking
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1 Answer

4

In order to alter the return address within function() to skip over the x = 1 in main(), you need two pieces of information.

1. The location of the return address in the stack frame.

I used gdb to determine this value. I set a breakpoint at function() (break function), execute the code up to the breakpoint (run), retrieve the location in memory of the current stack frame (p $rbp or info reg), and then retrieve the location in memory of buffer (p &buffer). Using the retrieved values, the location of the return address can be determined.

(compiled w/ GCC -g flag to include debug symbols and executed in a 64-bit environment)

(gdb) break function
...
(gdb) run
...
(gdb) p $rbp
$1 = (void *) 0x7fffffffe270
(gdb) p &buffer
$2 = (char (*)[5]) 0x7fffffffe260
(gdb) quit

(frame pointer address + size of word) - buffer address = number of bytes from local buffer variable to return address
(0x7fffffffe270 + 8) - 0x7fffffffe260 = 24

If you are having difficulties understanding how the call stack works, reading the call stack and function prologue Wikipedia articles may help. This shows the difficulty in making "buffer overflow" examples in C. The offset of 24 from buffer assumes a certain padding style and compile options. GCC will happily insert stack canaries nowadays unless you tell it not to.

2. The number of bytes to add to the return address to skip over x = 1.
answered 2011-04-06T18:28:48.507

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