A segmentation fault occurs when a program tries to access memory that it shouldn’t. The stack and heap play crucial roles in this.
The stack is used for static memory allocation, storing local variables and function calls. It grows downwards towards lower addresses. A Stack Overflow can cause a Segmentation Fault if the stack pointer exceeds the stack bound, trying to access memory not allocated for the stack.
The heap is used for dynamic memory allocation, growing upwards towards higher addresses. Heap corruption can lead to Segmentation Faults. This happens when a program writes more data than what’s allocated (buffer overflow), or accesses memory after it has been freed (dangling pointer).
Both cases involve accessing memory outside of their respective boundaries, causing the operating system to issue a Segmentation Fault, terminating the program to protect the system’s memory.
