9/14/2023 0 Comments Overflow error definitionThe more bits that an integer type consumes, the greater the values that can be stored therein. That means the set of all integers can be represented with the following number line:Ĭommonly, a programming language has several integer variable types – each one stores a range of integer values depending on the number of bits that type uses on a particular machine. Integers do not include fractions or decimals. In mathematics, integers include positive numbers like 1, 2, and 3, the number 0, and negative numbers like −1, −2, and −3. Let’s look a little more deeply at how computers store and handle numbers to see how elusive an integer overflow can be. In the 2021 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses list, which looked at around 32,500 CVEs published in 20, integer overflow or wraparound ranked in twelfth place.Īre software developers so mathematically challenged that they can’t anticipate when they might be running out of numbers? The reality is more complex, in fact. So why did Microsoft need to pretend updates for its Exchange antimalware component were still from 2021? Why does a plane need to be turned off and back on just so it doesn’t crash? In both cases, the blame fell squarely on an integer overflow, a vulnerability that is a concern in all types of software, ranging from video games to GPS systems to aeronautics. The solution to avoid pilots losing control of their airliner midair? Reboot your 787 before 248 days are up, or better, apply the patch. Had it not been spotted and squashed in time, the bug could have led to a total loss of all AC electrical power, even in midflight, on the aircraft after 248 days of continuous power. So unless you are writing those routines for an operating system, a compiler, etc., you should always use standard date APIs.īack in 2015, a bug of similar ilk was found to affect the software of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jet. Yet the real lesson for developers is that implementing your own date-handling code is too fraught with the risk of making such mistakes and coming up with strange fixes that would use fictional dates. Microsoft’s fix? Set the date on malware detection updates back to the fictional December 33 rd, 2021, giving the date value enough “ breathing space” before reaching the highest value the underlying integer type can hold. Put simply, a bug subsequently dubbed Y2K22 (named in the style of the Y2K bug that spooked the world starting about a quarter century ago) caused the software to be unable to handle the date format for the year 2022. Here’s what happens when a number gets “too big”.įor many people in the IT community, 2022 got off to a bad start after a bug in on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server caused emails to become stuck en route due to a failed date check. Make no mistake, counting on a computer is not as easy as it may seem.
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