Metasploit Project - Opcode Database

Opcode Database

The Opcode Database is an important resource for writers of new exploits. Buffer overflow exploits on Windows often require precise knowledge of the position of certain machine language opcodes in the attacked program or included DLLs. These positions differ in the various versions and patch-levels of a given operating system, and they are all documented and conveniently searchable in the Opcode Database. This allows one to write buffer overflow exploits which work across different versions of the target operating system.

Read more about this topic:  Metasploit Project