Guard byte

lastmod 2016-08-31created 2016-08-311 edits

A guard byte (or memory guide band) is a part of a computer program's memory that helps software developers find buffer overflows while developing the program.

It is written before and after the memory (heap), and the debugger always monitors this value. If the memory in this guide band region is corrupted, it is treated as a heap crash and a runtime error is raised.