What is Overflow? How to Detect and Prevent Data Overflow Errors in the System

For experienced programmers, overflow errors are no longer strange, but for those who are new to the profession, they need to know this error immediately to avoid making mistakes in the coding process. So what is Overflow and how to avoid and fix this error? Let's find out with  TipsMake  in the following article.

What is Overflow error?

Overflow is also known as overflow error, this is a common term in the Information Technology industry. When computer programs receive numbers, values ​​or variables that are out of scope, it causes a memory overflow. This error usually occurs when dealing with integers or other types of variables.

What causes Overflow errors?

Programming error

The most common cause of Overflow errors is a programming error. Programming errors can occur in the following situations:

What causes Overflow errors?

1. The length of the input data is not checked.
2. Using unsafe data structures. 
3. The programmer did not follow safe programming rules. 
4. Use C++ programming language because C++ language prioritizes efficiency, ignores security, and does not control memory access. 

User error

During use, if the user enters data that exceeds the allowed size or intentionally uses the Overflow error to execute malicious code, it will cause an Overflow error. 

Security attack

Overflow errors are less common than security attacks. However, they can have more serious consequences. Security attacks are used to exploit security holes in programs or applications, allowing hackers to steal information or gain access to an entire system. 

Classification of common Overflow errors today

Overflow errors can be divided into several types based on how they occur and their effects. Understanding each type will help programmers easily identify and handle the problem.

Based on how they occur and their impact on reality, Overflow errors are divided into four main types: Buffer Overflow, Integer Overflow, Stack Overflow and Heap Overflow. 

1. Buffer Overflow: When a program tries to write to an unauthorized buffer location, it will cause a Buffer Overflow error, data will be overwritten, and the system will crash. 
2. Integer Overflow: This Overflow error occurs when an integer stored in a variable exceeds its size limit, resulting in data loss or corruption. 
3. Stack Overflow: Stack Overflow occurs when a program performs too many nested tasks, filling up the stack memory. At this point, the program will crash, and more seriously, it can be exploited to carry out attacks to steal data. 
4. Heap Overflow: When a program tries to allocate too much memory on the heap, it will cause the heap memory to be full. The result is similar to Stack Overflow error, program crash or system attack. 

How to fix Overflow data error?

Detecting and fixing overflow errors is not easy because each cause of the Overflow error will have a different way of handling. For example, errors caused by security attacks need to be checked and security holes patched. Or errors caused by programming need to be checked again and the code needs to be fixed. 

In addition, to fix and limit Overflow errors, you can apply some of the following methods:

1. Check limits: One of the causes of Overflow errors is exceeding the limit, so check the limits of counters, variables, and data types to make sure the data length is within the allowed limit. 
2. Use safe functions: You should use safe functions like fgets, strncpy, snprintf in C programming language instead of unsafe functions like gets, strcpy, sprintf. 
3. Use safe data types: You should choose data types with large size limits, enough to contain the amount of data you are processing, and should not use int or long data types without checking the limits again. 
4. Use languages ​​with memory management: Using programming languages ​​with automatic memory management will reduce the risk of memory overflow, you can refer to some programming languages ​​such as Python, Java, C#.
5. Use error-proofing software: During the implementation process, you should use tools that help detect errors quickly and effectively such as StackGuard, Microsoft Visual Studio, AddressSanitizer,. 

Conclude

Overflow errors are quite common, so programmers need to pay attention to design, testing and data processing to avoid potential risks that overflow errors bring. Always update and improve your knowledge to protect yourself and users from unnecessary risks in the software development process.

Samuel Daniel

Update 18 February 2025