What Is the Internet Explorer Buffer Overflow Error
The buffer overflow error is a problem that effects older versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer(IE) and has to do with the program's inability to handle URL addresses beyond a certain length. The error can lead to security breaches.
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Mechanics
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Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 can only read a hyperlink address of 256 characters or less. Longer addresses can lead to a crash of the program. At the time of IE 4's release, web addresses were relatively short, but as the complexity of the Internet grew and URLs became longer, more users started to report this particular problem.
Risks
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While a crash of your browser is annoying, the buffer overflow error also opens the door to malware and viruses. When IE crashes, the part of the URL that a browser is unable to handle, characters 257 and beyond, are automatically saved on your hard drive. A hacker could write a malicious program and place it after the 257th character and cause serious trouble in an individual computer or in an entire network.
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Solution
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The solution to the problem is fairly easy. Since the problem only occurs in IE 4.0, you can avoid the issue by upgrading to a higher version of Internet Explorer. For your security, you should always use the latest version of IE and download security patches and upgrades for your operating system as well, as soon as they become available.
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