GIAC Cybersecurity Technologies Practice Test 2025 – Complete Exam Prep

Mitigating an integer overflow or underflow primarily involves ensuring that any arithmetic operation conducted on a signed integer remains within defined boundaries. When performing operations that may yield results outside the permissible range of the integer type being used—such as addition, subtraction, or multiplication—it's crucial to verify that the output will not exceed the limits of what that type can hold.

By checking that the result of any calculation stays within these limits before performing the operation, you effectively prevent the overflow or underflow from occurring in the first place. This method leverages preemptive validation to ensure values remain safe during calculations, making it the most reliable approach to avoid potential vulnerabilities associated with integer arithmetic.

Other options, while they may offer certain security benefits, do not address the core issue of integer overflow/underflow directly. For example, taking the absolute value of negative results only modifies outcomes that are already undesirable but doesn’t prevent the underlying problem. Randomizing salt values is relevant to hashing and not mitigating integer operations. Sanitizing input focuses on filtering user data and does not impact arithmetic calculations that could lead to overflow or underflow.