Managed Code and Runtime Environments - Another layer of added security?

[mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA (der Mouse)]

> Multics code was not immune to buffer overflows, but in most cases
> the effect was blunted because the out-of-range index values could
> only affect data beyond the current activation record--in contrast
> with most linear addressing systems where an overflow is almost
> always able to reach important values like the return address.

This is only because the libraries used store later characters in a
string at higher addresses (as compared to earlier characters).  If the
string libraries stored strings the other way around (with the earlier
characters at the higher addresses), downward-growing stacks would have
exactly this kind of buffer overrun protection.

Hmm, I wonder if there's something useful lurking there.

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