A question about kernel logs...
 

I have a question on the following kernel log entry. I'm taking a computer security class and I'm trying to buffer overflow a vulnerable version of the finger daemon. I'm running x86 32-bit. My question is in the log where it says "segfault at 90909090". Those 90s are NOPs, but is the logfile saying that there are NOPs at the EIP register or the return address. What does the log mean by segfault at xxxxxx? Is this what's in the EIP or the return address?

[code]
Oct 10 16:02:48 zeus xinetd[19165]: START: finger.stack pid=20764 from=127.0.0.1
Oct 10 16:02:48 zeus xinetd[19165]: EXIT: finger.stack signal=11 pid=20764 duration=0(sec)
Oct 10 16:02:48 zeus kernel: [1042664.345881] in.fingerd.stac[20764]: segfault at 90909090 ip 0000000045faacc3 sp 00000000ffffd284 error 6 in libc-2.5.so[45f3b000+152000]
[\code]

Same as anywhere else; that piece of code tried to a) access RAM
that didn't belong to it, or b) you might have a faulty stick of
memory in your machine.


Cheers,
Tink