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Date: Sat May 22 2004 - 07:48:58 CDT

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Hello vuln-dev,
 Query regarding format string vulnerabilities..

  The majority of tutorials give an example of the following form:

(taken from NN-formats.txt [NOP Ninjas - Format String Technique])
fmt1.c ----------------------------------------------------

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
  char buf[1024];

  strncpy(buf, argv[1], sizeof(buf));
  printf(argv[1]);
  printf("\n");
}
------------------------------------------------------------

slothsin$ ./fmt 'AAAA %x'
AAAA 41414141

Surely however the format string *itself* isn't passed on the stack
but a pointer to the format string. therefore the %x modifer would
return a hex representation of the address pointing to the string, *not*
a hex representation of the string contents?

on my linux/i386 system this produes:

rootxpl:~# ./fmt1 'AAAA %x'
AAAA bffffbec

Similarly a printf("AAAA %x"); style format string would print out the
hex representation of the ELF .rodata section address where the string
is stored not any values contained within.

Can anybody clarify all of this?

Much appreciated,
vxpl-

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