In the context of application security, what does fuzzing aim to accomplish?

Fuzzing is a testing technique used in application security to identify vulnerabilities by feeding unexpected, malformed, or random data inputs into a program. The primary goal of fuzzing is to uncover security weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. By observing how the application responds to these unexpected inputs, security professionals can detect issues such as crashes, memory leaks, or other anomalous behavior that may indicate a potential vulnerability.

This method is particularly effective because it simulates how an attacker might attempt to manipulate an application through unpredictable input, which could exploit weaknesses in the application's input handling, data processing, or internal logic. Detecting these vulnerabilities early in the development or deployment phases allows organizations to mitigate risks and enhance the overall security of their applications.

In contrast, other options focus on aspects unrelated to the primary function of fuzzing. Preventing unauthorized access pertains to access control mechanisms, infecting a web application suggests malware or malicious attacks, and enhancing application performance is a goal aligned with optimization techniques rather than vulnerability testing. Each of these does not encapsulate the core objective of fuzzing, which is specifically to identify weaknesses through unexpected input.