Representative is a computer-implemented method of detecting a buffer overflow condition. In accordance with the method, a destination address for a computer process' desired right operation is received and a determination is made as to whether the destination address is within an illegitimate writable memory segment within the process' virtual address space (VAS). If so, the process is preferably alerted of the potential buffer overflow condition. A determination may also be made as to whether the destination address is legitimate, in which case the process may be informed of the memory segment which corresponds to the destination address.