CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) — Question 143

Which of the following vulnerabilities is exploited when an attacker overwrites a register with a malicious address?

Answer options

• A. VM escape
• B. SQL injection
• C. Buffer overflow
• D. Race condition

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C, Buffer overflow, because this vulnerability occurs when a program writes more data to a buffer than it can hold, potentially allowing an attacker to overwrite adjacent memory, including registers. The other options do not involve overwriting registers in this manner: A. VM escape relates to escaping virtual machine isolation, B. SQL injection targets database queries, and D. Race condition involves timing issues in concurrent processes.