Chapter 8. Strings and Metacharacters

“The edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are the one’s who have never gone over.”

Hunter S. Thompson

Introduction

Textual representation is one of the oldest methods of handling data, and almost certainly the most popular. Unfortunately, a number of common mistakes in handling textual data have given text-based formats a reputation as one of the least secure methods of data processing. Many of the most significant security vulnerabilities of the last decade are the result of memory corruption due to mishandling textual data, or logical flaws due to the misinterpretation of the content in textual data.

This chapter explores security vulnerabilities related ...

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