CWE - CWE-1243: Sensitive Non-Volatile Information Not Protected During Debug (4.10)

Weakness ID: 1243

Abstraction: Base
Structure: Simple

View customized information:

Description

Access to security-sensitive information stored in fuses is not limited during debug.

Extended Description

Several security-sensitive values are programmed into fuses to be used during early-boot flows or later at runtime. Examples of these security-sensitive values include root keys, encryption keys, manufacturing-specific information, chip-manufacturer-specific information, and original-equipment-manufacturer (OEM) data. After the chip is powered on, these values are sensed from fuses and stored in temporary locations such as registers and local memories. These locations are typically access-control protected from untrusted agents capable of accessing them. Even to trusted agents, only read-access is provided. However, these locations are not blocked during debug operations, allowing a user to access this sensitive information.

Relationships

This table 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)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
ChildOf	Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	1263	Improper Physical Access Control

Relevant to the view "Hardware Design" (CWE-1194)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1207	Debug and Test Problems

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.

Phase	Note
Architecture and Design
Implementation

Applicable Platforms

This listing shows 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: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Operating Systems

Class: Not OS-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Architectures

Class: Not Architecture-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Technologies

Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Common Consequences

This table 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.

Scope	Impact	Likelihood
Confidentiality Access Control	Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Bypass Protection Mechanism

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

Sensitive manufacturing data (such as die information) are stored in fuses. When the chip powers on, these values are read from the fuses and stored in microarchitectural registers. These registers are only given read access to trusted software running on the core. Untrusted software running on the core is not allowed to access these registers.

(bad code)

Example Language: Other

All microarchitectural registers in this chip can be accessed through the debug interface. As a result, even an untrusted debugger can access this data and retrieve sensitive manufacturing data.

(good code)

Registers used to store sensitive values read from fuses should be blocked during debug. These registers should be disconnected from the debug interface.

Potential Mitigations

Phases: Architecture and Design; Implementation

Disable access to security-sensitive information stored in fuses directly and also reflected from temporary storage locations when in debug mode.

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID	Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-116	Excavation
CAPEC-545	Pull Data from System Resources

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2020-02-12	Arun Kanuparthi, Hareesh Khattri, Parbati Kumar Manna, Narasimha Kumar V Mangipudi	Intel Corporation
2020-02-12
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2020-06-25	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-06-25	updated Relationships
2020-08-20	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-08-20	updated Applicable_Platforms, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Name, Potential_Mitigations, Related_Attack_Patterns
2021-03-15	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021-03-15	updated Description
2021-07-20	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021-07-20	updated Relationships
2022-10-13	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022-10-13	updated Relationships
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2020-08-20	Exposure of Security-Sensitive Fuse Values During Debug


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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-1243: Sensitive Non-Volatile Information Not Protected During Debug