smash the stack

smash the stack n.  [C programming] To corrupt the execution
   stack by writing past the end of a local array or other data
   structure.  Code that smashes the stack can cause a return from the
   routine to jump to a random address, resulting in some of the most
   insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind.  Variants include
   `trash' the stack, {scribble} the stack, {mangle} the
   stack; the term **{mung} the stack is not used, as this is never
   done intentionally.  See {spam}; see also {aliasing bug},
   {fandango on core}, {memory leak}, {memory smash},
   {precedence lossage}, {overrun screw}.