Uncontrolled format string is a type of software vulnerability, discovered around 1999, that can be used in security exploits. Previously thought harmless, format string exploits can be used to crash a program or to execute harmful code. The problem stems from the use of unchecked user input as the format string parameter in certain C functions that perform formatting, such as printf. A malicious user may use the %s and %x format tokens, among others, to print data from the stack or possibly other locations in memory. One may also write arbitrary data to arbitrary locations using the %n format token, which commands printf and similar functions to write the number of bytes formatted to an address stored on the stack.
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“Supposing everyone lived at one time what would they say. They would observe that stringing string beans is universal.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)