2025-08-20 12:46:23 +00:00

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# Use After Free
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## Basic Information
As the name implies, this vulnerability occurs when a program **stores some space** in the heap for an object, **writes** some info there, **frees** it apparently because it's not needed anymore and then **accesses it again**.
The problem here is that it's not ilegal (there **won't be errors**) when a **freed memory is accessed**. So, if the program (or the attacker) managed to **allocate the freed memory and store arbitrary data**, when the freed memory is accessed from the initial pointer that **data would be have been overwritten** causing a **vulnerability that will depends on the sensitivity of the data** that was stored original (if it was a pointer of a function that was going to be be called, an attacker could know control it).
### First Fit attack
A first fit attack targets the way some memory allocators, like in glibc, manage freed memory. When you free a block of memory, it gets added to a list, and new memory requests pull from that list from the end. Attackers can use this behavior to manipulate **which memory blocks get reused, potentially gaining control over them**. This can lead to "use-after-free" issues, where an attacker could **change the contents of memory that gets reallocated**, creating a security risk.\
Check more info in:
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first-fit.md
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