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this post was submitted on 31 May 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Not really, the issue is that C/C++ is not memory safe, i.e. it allows you to access memory that has already been freed. Consider the following C++ code:
If you try to use it it looks correct:
That will print
10
, but the memory where data was defined has been freed, and is no longer in control of the program. Meaning that if something else allocated that memory they can control what my program does.Consider that on that example above later in the program we do:
If someone manages to get control of that memory between when we freed it and we used it they can make the access_level of the user be whatever they want.
This is a problem with C/C++ allowing you to access memory that has been freed, which is why C/C++ programmers need to be extra careful.
Thank you, that is very clear.