remembering PG's "lisp would have stopped 9/11" essay from September 2001 - eviltoast
  • bitofhope@awful.systems
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    2 months ago

    Yea a plane hijacking is totally like a buffer overflow.

    Bleeding is also a bit like a buffer overflow, since blood goes in a place it’s not supposed to. Hurricanes are another example of a buffer overflow. Accidentally wearing a shirt inside out? Buffer overflow. Unskippable ads are buffer overflow. War is buffer overflow. I had my buffer overflown by some guy claiming to be a wallet inspector. Aliens are a type of buffer overflow. I sometimes have buffer overflow with my girlfriend. Buffer overflow was an inside job. I put too much shine paste in my polishing machine and you better believe that was a buffer overflow.

    When a train crashes into a station building, that’s not a buffer overflow, though. That’s a buffer overrun.

    • bitofhope@awful.systems
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      2 months ago

      You can totally hack a plane using a buffer overflow. C airlines don’t check how many tickets they sell on a single flight. Usually if you overbook a flight, they will simply reallocate some of their buffer into business class. However, if you buy a bunch of tickets to one flight at once, you can craft a scenario where you overwrite the pilot.