Copying data to a buffer that is not large enough to hold that data results in a buffer overflow. Buffer overflows occur frequently when manipulating strings [Seacord 2013]. To prevent such errors, either limit copies through truncation or, preferably, ensure that the destination is of sufficient size to hold the character data to be copied and the null-termination character. (See STR03-C. Do not inadvertently truncate a string.)
This rule is a specific instance of MEM35-C. Allocate sufficient memory for an object. Because strings are represented as arrays of characters, this rule is related to both ARR30-C. Do not form or use out of bounds pointers or array subscripts and ARR38-C. Guarantee that library functions do not form invalid pointers.
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CVE-2009-1252 results from a violation of this rule. The Network Time Protocol daemon (NTPd), before versions 4.2.4p7 and 4.2.5p74, contained calls to sprintf that allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code by overflowing a character array [xorl 2009].
CVE-2009-0587 results from a violation of this rule. Before version 2.24.5, Evolution Data Server performed unchecked arithmetic operations on the length of a user-input string and used the value to allocate space for a new buffer. An attacker could thereby execute arbitrary code by inputting a long string, resulting in incorrect allocation and buffer overflow [xorl 2009].
Search for additional vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.
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