CWE

Common Weakness Enumeration

A Community-Developed List of Software & Hardware Weakness Types
CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Weaknesses
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ID

CWE-1329: Reliance on Component That is Not Updateable

Weakness ID: 1329
Abstraction: Base
Structure: Simple
Status: Incomplete
Presentation Filter:
+ Description
The product contains a component that cannot be updated or patched in order to remove vulnerabilities or significant bugs.
+ Extended Description

If the component is discovered to contain a vulnerability or critical bug, but the issue cannot be fixed using an update or patch, then the product's operator will not be able to protect against the issue. This could leave the product open to attacker exploitation or critical operation failures.

While hardware can be prone to this weakness, software systems can also be affected, such as when a third-party driver or library is no longer actively maintained or supported but is still critical for the required functionality.

+ Relationships

The table(s) below shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.

+ Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (CWE-1000)
NatureTypeIDName
ChildOfPillarPillar - a weakness that is the most abstract type of weakness and represents a theme for all class/base/variant weaknesses related to it. A Pillar is different from a Category as a Pillar is still technically a type of weakness that describes a mistake, while a Category represents a common characteristic used to group related things.664Improper Control of a Resource Through its Lifetime
ParentOfBaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.1277Firmware Not Updateable
ParentOfBaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.1310Missing Ability to Patch ROM Code
+ Modes Of Introduction

The different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.

PhaseNote
Architecture and DesignDesigners might omit capabilities for updating a component due to time pressures to release the product or assumptions about the stability of the component.
+ Applicable Platforms
The listings below show possible areas for which the given weakness could appear. These may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms, Technologies, or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given weakness appears for that instance.

Languages

Class: Language-Independent (Undetermined Prevalence)

Operating Systems

Class: OS-Independent (Undetermined Prevalence)

Architectures

Class: Architecture-Independent (Undetermined Prevalence)

Technologies

Class: Technology-Independent (Undetermined Prevalence)

+ Common Consequences

The table below specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.

ScopeImpactLikelihood
Other

Technical Impact: Quality Degradation; Reduce Maintainability

+ Potential Mitigations

Phase: Requirements

Specify requirements that each component should be updateable.

Phase: Architecture and Design

Design the product to allow for updating of its components. Consider the infrastructure that might be necessary to support updates.

Phase: Implementation

Implement the necessary functionality to allow each component to be updated.
+ Notes

Maintenance

This entry is still under development and will continue to see updates and content improvements.
+ Content History
+ Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganization
2020-12-03CWE Content TeamMITRE
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Page Last Updated: March 15, 2021
 

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