Detection and Prevention
Since version 2.3.6 the GNU libc includes protections that can detect heap overflows after the fact, for example by checking pointer consistency when calling unlink. While those protections protect against old-style exploits, they are not perfect, as described in The Malloc Maleficarum, further described in Malloc Des-Maleficarum.
Microsoft Windows operating systems implement protections against heap overflows since Windows XP SP2 such as safe unlinking and cookies. It also can mitigate these threats through the use of Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and ASLR.
Read more about this topic: Heap Overflow
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