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Is a memory error actually an exploit? If so then are the unwanted changes that occur with no deliberate action an example of the computer cracking itself? Phi

• jdmichal 12y ago
  Errors can be used as part or all of an exploit. Exploiting a system requires that ethereal value of "intent", and I don't think anyone would (currently) argue that computers can have intent. Without that intent, it's just an error.
• sharkbot 12y ago
  I think there is a useful distinction between a fault/error and an exploit. A fault is a break from the "desired" or "expected" semantics of a system, while an exploit is an algorithm to predictably utilize a fault (or faults) to access unexpected behaviours in that system. I.e., a buffer overflow is a fault in a program (breaking the expectation that a buffer's contents will remain within a certain bound), while an exploit targeting that overflow will likely allow running arbitrary code in a program not designed to do so. So, I'd put it, the memory error can be leveraged in an exploit.
• Dylan16807 12y ago
  Everything is a memory error on some level. Back to grounding in reality, a way to reliably[1] break security measures is an exploit. Cosmic ray bit flips are anything but reliable. [1]The threshold of reliability being somewhere below "instant and always" and somewhere above "one in a million if you give it a day to try".