:smash the stack: [C programming] n. To corrupt the execution stack
by writing past the end of a local array or other data structure.
Code that smashes the stack can cause a return from the routine to
jump to a random address, resulting in some of the most insidious
data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants include `trash'
the stack, {scribble} the stack, {mangle} the stack; the term
**{mung} the stack is not used, as this is never done
intentionally. See {spam}; see also {aliasing bug},
{fandango on core}, {memory leak}, {memory smash},
{precedence lossage}, {overrun screw}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
fandango on core: [UNIX/C hackers, from the Mexican dance] n.
In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a {core
dump}, or corrupts the `malloc(3)' {arena} in such a way as
to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have
`done a fandango on core'....
aliasing bug: n. A class of subtle programming errors that can
arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp. via
`malloc(3)' or equivalent. If several pointers address
(`aliases for') a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the
storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias
and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and
possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the
allocation history of the malloc {arena}....
fandango on core n.
[Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian
dance] In C a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a
core dump, or corrupts the malloc(3) arena in such
a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said
to have `done a fandango on core'....
aliasing bug n.
A class of subtle programming errors that
can arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp. via
malloc(3) or equivalent. If several pointers address
(`aliases for') a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the
storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias
and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and
possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the
allocation history of the malloc arena....