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In computer science, a memory leak is a type of resource leak that occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages memory allocations [1] in a way that memory which is no longer needed is not released. A memory leak may also happen when an object is stored in memory but cannot be accessed by the running code (i.e. unreachable memory). [2]
If this overwrites adjacent data or executable code, this may result in erratic program behavior, including memory access errors, incorrect results, and crashes. Exploiting the behavior of a buffer overflow is a well-known security exploit. On many systems, the memory layout of a program, or the system as a whole, is well defined.
A memory debugger is a debugger for finding software memory problems such as memory leaks and buffer overflows. These are due to bugs related to the allocation and deallocation of dynamic memory . Programs written in languages that have garbage collection , such as managed code , might also need memory debuggers, e.g. for memory leaks due to ...
In 2017, two CPU vulnerabilities (dubbed Meltdown and Spectre) were discovered, which can use a cache-based side channel to allow an attacker to leak memory contents of other processes and the operating system itself. A timing attack watches data movement into and out of the CPU or memory on the hardware running the cryptosystem or algorithm ...
Some modern high-level programming languages are memory-safe by default [citation needed], though not completely since they only check their own code and not the system they interact with. Automatic memory management in the form of garbage collection is the most common technique for preventing some of the memory safety problems, since it ...
Resource exhaustion attacks are computer security exploits that crash, hang, or otherwise interfere with the targeted program or system.They are a form of denial-of-service attack but are different from distributed denial-of-service attacks, which involve overwhelming a network host such as a web server with requests from many locations.
An accidental overflow may result in data corruption or unexpected behavior by any process that accesses the affected memory area. On operating systems without memory protection, this could be any process on the system. For example, a Microsoft JPEG GDI+ buffer overflow vulnerability could allow remote execution of code on the affected machine. [1]
Typical resource leaks include memory leak and handle leak, particularly file handle leaks, though memory is often considered separately from other resources. [1] Examples of resources available in limited numbers to the operating system include internet sockets, file handles, process table entries, and process identifiers (PIDs). Resource ...