Buffer Overflow Tutorial for Beginners and new CTF players
Source Reddit ExploitDev
Rated by Threat Radar
Data as of 24 Jun 2026, 23:01 UTC
What to do
AI-suggested
No mitigation is required as this is not a vulnerability or threat report but a tutorial. Users should continue to apply standard security practices to protect systems from buffer overflow vulnerabilities in real software.
Discussion
This entry describes a tutorial on buffer overflow exploitation aimed at beginners and new CTF players. It is an educational resource explaining how to exploit a buffer overflow without overwriting the return address, including usage of GDB and techniques for finding offsets. The content is a learning aid rather than a report of a new vulnerability or active threat.
r/ExploitDev (opens in a new tab)u/AdvisorPowerful97690 points0 comments
If you are new to the world of exploit development and need a solid entry level challenge this week we look at "bof". This is a binary challenge hosted on pwnable[.]kr covering the topic of a Buffer Overflow.
This is what many consider to be their first exploit type written (it was mine), and this particular challenge approaches it in a way you will truly understand how to adapt to situations in which the buffer overflow is not necessarily "vanilla" exploitation.
By the end of this tutorial you should have:
- Learned how to exploit a Buffer Overflow, WITHOUT OVERWRITING THE RETURN ADDRESS!!!
- Learned how to use GDB (raw)
- Learned the basics of hook stops within GDB
- Learned how to approach a CTF challenge with speed or precision (or both depends on what you decide)
- Learned how to find offsets that are small and don't require the use of tooling such as pattern_offset
I wanna thank Center for Cyber Security Training for continuing to help sponsor the channel and their support.
You can find the video here: