An attacker typically provides input that exceeds the expected size. This could be through a text field in a user interface, a file that the program reads, or data sent over a network. The insecure function processes this input and places the result into a provided buffer.

If the input is larger than the buffer can handle, the insecure function will overwrite the memory following the buffer. This situation is known as a buffer overflow vulnerability.

When using typical C or {cpp} functions, it's up to the developer to make sure the size of the buffer to be written to is large enough to avoid buffer overflows.
