Which of the following occurs when data exceeds its limits and overwrites memory locations?

When data exceeds its allocated memory limits and starts overwriting adjacent memory locations, this phenomenon is known as a buffer overflow. In computing, a buffer refers to a temporary storage area typically used to hold data being transferred from one place to another. If the data that is written to a buffer exceeds its storage capacity, it can overflow into adjacent memory spaces, potentially leading to unpredictable behavior, program crashes, or even exploitation by attackers to execute arbitrary code.

Buffer overflows often pose significant security risks, as they can allow attackers to inject malicious code or gain unauthorized access to system resources. For example, they could overwrite return addresses or data structures, disrupting normal program flow, which can be leveraged to run malicious payloads.

In contrast, the other concepts mentioned have different definitions and implications. For example, man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM) involve an attacker intercepting communications between two parties, command injection refers to an attack that involves executing arbitrary commands on a host operating system via a vulnerable application, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks aim to overwhelm a service with traffic, rendering it unavailable. Each of these is distinct from the buffer overflow vulnerability, which specifically concerns how data is handled in memory.