# Buffer overrun protection in Rails

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/buffer-overrun-protection-in-rails/88606>\
**Category:** Deployment\
**Created:** [March 13, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/buffer-overrun-protection-in-rails/88606 "2007-03-13T00:13:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wpwood)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/buffer-overrun-protection-in-rails/88606/1 "2007-03-13T00:13:34Z")

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Greetings!

I apologize for the cross-post but could really use some feedback on  
this question.

I’ve got both client-side and server-side validations in place, but  
wonder if I need to do more.

Specifically, …

In addition to user input via browser, my Rails app can import the same  
data from XML files (using REXML). Is there a possibility of buffer  
overruns as I’m reading the data from the XML files into instance  
variables in the controller method, prior to submitting them to the  
model for validation? I can’t seem to find a definitive statement on  
buffer overrun protections in Rails. Do I need to worry about REXML  
too? Or is the potential issue limited to Rails?

Thanks much for any info.

Best regards,  
Bill

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**Author:** ![wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wpwood)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/buffer-overrun-protection-in-rails/88606/2 "2007-03-13T00:55:41Z")

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On Mar 12, 2007, at 4:12 PM, Bill W. wrote:

> In addition to user input via browser, my Rails app can import the  
> Best regards,  
> Bill

Bill-

Thankfully Rails is built on Ruby which is a interpreted language  
and is therefore not succeptable to buffer overflows like any  
compiled C type language is, Ruby insulated you from this stuff… The  
only limit to Ruby as far as buffers go is disk space and RAM.

Cheers-  
– Ezra Z.  
– Lead Rails Evangelist  
– removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
– Engine Y., Serious Rails Hosting  
– (866) 518-YARD (9273)

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**Author:** ![wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wpwood](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wpwood)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/buffer-overrun-protection-in-rails/88606/3 "2007-03-13T02:35:56Z")

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Hi Ezra,

Thanks. I was hoping that, but couldn’t find anything that said as  
much.  
I’ve been out of hands-on development for so long that I’m a little  
confused  
where the buffer overrun comes from anyway. Back in the day, us C  
programmers allocated memory as needed. Only question was heap or  
stack.

I do have a follow-up if I could…

I’m planning to trim any ‘excess’ input from the XML elements and store  
them  
in the db so I can present the visitor with what they had so they can  
shorten it. Is there, aside from using a BLOB, a safe way to do this in  
MySQL?

Thanks,  
Bill

----- Original Message -----  
From: “Ezra Z.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
To: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 6:54 PM  
Subject: [Rails-deploy] Re: Buffer overrun protection in Rails