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OWASP Foundation
owasp.org › www-community › vulnerabilities › Null_Dereference
Null Dereference | OWASP Foundation
The program can potentially dereference a null pointer, thereby raising a NullPointerException. Null pointer errors are usually the result of one or more programmer assumptions being violated. Most null pointer issues result in general software reliability problems, but if an attacker can intentionally trigger a null pointer dereference, the attacker might be able to use the resulting exception to bypass security logic or to cause the application to reveal debugging information that will be valuable in planning subsequent attacks.
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Medium
medium.com › @chanibonner › a-beginners-guide-to-null-pointer-dereference-attacks-d3618cc8a493
A Beginner’s Guide to Null Pointer Dereference Attacks | by Chani Bonner | Medium
February 25, 2024 - Although no system is completely safe, NPD attacks can be limited by keeping to good coding practices and staying aware of the software you use. Bolton, D. (2019, April 27). What Does Null Mean in C, C++ and C#. ThoughtCo. Retrieved October 3, 2023, from https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-null-958118 · C Dereference Pointer — javatpoint.
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ImmuniWeb
immuniweb.com › vulnerability › null-pointer-dereference.html
NULL Pointer Dereference Vulnerability | CWE-476 Weakness | Exploitation and Remediation
December 28, 2020 - In most cases, NULL pointer dereference ... on privileges of the application, this weakness can result in a denial of service attack against the entire system or can be used to gain ......
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Afine
afine.com › home › blog › null pointer dereference on macos: exploitation history
NULL Pointer Dereference on macOS: Exploitation History
February 12, 2026 - It will result in a kernel panic (Denial of Service), but as we saw, multiple layers of defense prevent leveraging it for a privilege escalation. To summarize why exploitation is effectively dead on Apple Silicon macOS: Cannot control memory ...
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Fuzzysecurity
fuzzysecurity.com › tutorials › expDev › 16.html
Part 12: Kernel Exploitation -> Null Pointer Dereference
After this operation we jump to the next instruction block where the null pointer dereference is triggered. Ok, let's break on that call and verify our theory! All we need to do is pass the driver a magic value which will fail the comparison (eg: 0xdeadb33f). As expected, we trigger the null pointer dereference.
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Snyk Learn
learn.snyk.io › home › security education › what is a null dereference? | tutorial & examples
What is a null dereference? | Tutorial & examples | Snyk Learn
August 15, 2024 - Null dereference vulnerabilities are often the result of programming errors, such as using uninitialized pointers or failing to check for null values before accessing them. These vulnerabilities can be difficult to detect and prevent, but they ...
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ResearchGate
researchgate.net › figure › Examples-of-null-pointer-dereference-vulnerability-a-indicate-the-dereference-to-the_fig1_352580731
Examples of null pointer dereference vulnerability, (a) indicate the... | Download Scientific Diagram
Null pointer dereference (NPD) is a widespread vulnerability that occurs whenever an executing program attempts to dereference a null pointer. NPD vulnerability can be exploited by hackers to maliciously crash a process to cause a denial of ...
Find elsewhere
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White Knight Labs
whiteknightlabs.com › 2025 › 06 › 24 › understanding-null-pointer-dereference-in-windows-kernel-drivers
Understanding Null Pointer Dereference in Windows Kernel Drivers | White Knight Labs
June 24, 2025 - In older Windows versions (XP, Vista, 7), null pointer dereference vulnerabilities in kernel drivers could be exploited by mapping the NULL page (0x0) from user mode and placing attacker-controlled data there. If the kernel dereferenced a null pointer, this would lead to arbitrary code execution in ring 0, enabling full system compromise.
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FICS Research
fics.institute.ufl.edu › index.php › 2019 › 11 › 25 › null-pointer-dereferencing
NULL Pointer Dereferencing (CVE-2019-14604) - FICS Research
April 8, 2026 - The Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack ... to vital exploits in the cloud scenario. It exists in the DMA driver module lacking sufficient checks while releasing memory pinned user-pages. This vulnerability can be exploited in ...
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Medium
thehacktivists.medium.com › null-pointer-dereference-cwe-476-the-hacktivists-d3ceb2a7ade1
NULL Pointer Dereference [CWE-476] — The Hacktivists | by The Hacktivists | Medium
March 13, 2021 - In most cases, NULL pointer dereferences errors result in the crash of the application however, code execution is possible under certain circumstances. Depending on the privileges of the application, this weakness can result in a denial of service attack against the entire system or can be used to gain complete control over it.
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SEI CERT
wiki.sei.cmu.edu › confluence › display › c › EXP34-C.+Do+not+dereference+null+pointers
EXP34-C. Do not dereference null pointers | CERT Secure Coding
On many platforms, dereferencing a null pointer results in abnormal program termination , but this is not required by the standard. See " Clever Attack Exploits Fully-Patched Linux Kernel " [ Goodin 2009 ] for an example of a code execution exploit that resulted from a null pointer dereference.
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TechTarget
techtarget.com › searchsecurity › answer › How-can-a-NULL-pointer-dereference-flaw-create-a-DoS-attack
How can a NULL pointer dereference flaw create a DoS attack? | TechTarget
June 9, 2017 - The null pointer dereference vulnerability could have enabled a remote, unauthenticated attacker to launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack by causing the affected system to crash and go offline.
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MCSI Library
library.mosse-institute.com › articles › 2023 › 07 › null-pointer-dereferencing.html
Null Pointer Dereferencing — MCSI Library
In this example, the pointer ptr ... but since ptr is a null pointer, it does not point to valid memory. Trying to dereference a null pointer will lead to undefined behavior, and the program might crash....
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O'Reilly
oreilly.com › library › view › advanced-infrastructure-penetration › 9781788624480 › 8f330d11-36bd-4c73-85d9-0a4dd2cbb027.xhtml
NULL pointer dereference - Advanced Infrastructure Penetration Testing [Book]
February 26, 2018 - NULL pointer dereferences are availability exploits. Generally, they are caused by a NULL pointer error, and it results a NullPointerException. This exception is raised when a pointer, which is a programming object that refers to an address ...
Author: Chiheb Chebbi
Published: 2018
Pages: 396
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MCSI Library
library.mosse-institute.com › articles › 2023 › 07 › pointer-dereference-attacks.html
Pointer Dereference Attacks — MCSI Library
- Dereferencing Invalid Memory: When the program tries to dereference a pointer that points to a memory location that does not exist, it results in accessing uninitialized or invalid data. This can lead to unpredictable behavior and crashes within the program, causing what is commonly known ...
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SonicWall
sonicwall.com › blog › linux-kernel-ksmbd-null-pointer-dereference-vulnerability
Linux Kernel KSMBD NULL Pointer Dereference Vulnerability
This vulnerability stems from a NULL pointer dereference issue, a critical flaw in the system's architecture. The root cause of this vulnerability is the system's inability to validate user-supplied data adequately, especially when processing ...
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HackerOne
hackerone.com › reports › 2171309
curl disclosed on HackerOne: NULL Pointer dereference in idn.c
## Summary: A NULL Pointer dereference vulnerability is present in idn.c source code. This module is responsible of handling international domain name. This issue was found performing manual source code review of Curl which took >20 hours. ## Steps To Reproduce: Find below a detailed and commented execution flow / code snippet explanation.
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Edxsecurityhub
edxsecurityhub.org › nullpointer
Null Pointer Dereference - Cybersecurity & Doxxing Hub
Pointer Initialization: The program initializes a pointer to null. Dereferencing: The program attempts to access or manipulate memory using the null pointer.