Older versions of exploits are written in C language, especially the buffer overflow attacks. Let's look at an example of compiling a C file from the EDB and make an exploit for a vulnerable Apache server.
Attackers can utilize GNU compiler collection to compile a C file into an executable; the following commands are involved:
root@kali:~# cp /usr/share/exploitdb/platforms/windows/remote/3996.c apache.c root@kali:~# gcc apache.c -o apache root@kali:~# ./apache
Once the file is compiled without any error or warning, attackers should be able to see the exploit running as shown in the following screenshot: