CWE - CWE-1302: Missing Source Identifier in Entity Transactions on a System-On-Chip (SOC) (4.16)

Weakness ID: 1302

Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: Base Base - 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.

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Description

The product implements a security identifier mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. A transaction is sent without a security identifier.

Extended Description

In a System-On-Chip (SoC), various integrated circuits and hardware engines generate transactions such as to access (reads/writes) assets or perform certain actions (e.g., reset, fetch, compute). A typical transaction is comprised of source identity (to identify the originator of the transaction) and a destination identity (to route the transaction to the respective entity) in addition to much more information in the message. Sometimes the transactions are qualified with a Security Identifier. This Security Identifier helps the destination agent decide on the set of allowed or disallowed actions.

A weakness that can exist in such transaction schemes is that the source agent does not consistently include the necessary Security Identifier with the transaction. If the Security Identifier is missing, the destination agent might drop the message (resulting in an inadvertent Denial-of-Service (DoS)) or take inappropriate action by default in its attempt to execute the transaction, resulting in privilege escalation or provision of unintended access.

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 Integrity Availability Access Control	Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Read Memory; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands	High

Potential Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Transaction details must be reviewed for design inconsistency and common weaknesses.

Phase: Implementation

Security identifier definition and programming flow must be tested in pre-silicon and post-silicon testing.

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.	1294	Insecure Security Identifier Mechanism

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.	1198	Privilege Separation and Access Control Issues

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	Such issues could be introduced during hardware architecture and design and identified later during Testing or System Configuration phases.
Implementation	Such issues could be introduced during implementation and identified later during Testing or System Configuration phases.

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)

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

Consider a system with a register for storing AES key for encryption or decryption. The key is of 128 bits implemented as a set of four 32-bit registers. The key registers are assets, and the register AES_KEY_ACCESS_POLICY is defined to provide the necessary access controls.

The access-policy register defines which agents with a security identifier in the transaction can access the AES-key registers. Each bit in this 32-bit register defines a security identifier. There could be a maximum of 32 security identifiers that are allowed accesses to the AES-key registers. The number of the bit when set (i.e., "1") allows for a respective action from an agent whose identity matches the number of the bit; if set to "0" (i.e., Clear), it disallows the respective action to that corresponding agent.

(bad code)

Register	Field description
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_0	AES key [0:31] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_1	AES key [32:63] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_2	AES key [64:95] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_4	AES key [96:127] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_KEY_ACCESS_POLICY	[31:0] Default 0x00000004 - agent with Security Identifier "2" has access to AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_0 through AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_4 registers

The originator sends a transaction with no security identifier, i.e., meaning the value is "0" or NULL. The AES-Key-access register does not allow the necessary action and drops the transaction because the originator failed to include the required security identifier.

(good code)

Register	Field description
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_0	AES key [0:31] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_1	AES key [32:63] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_2	AES key [64:95] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_4	AES key [96:127] for encryption or decryption, Default 0x00000000
AES_KEY_ACCESS_POLICY	[31:0] Default 0x00000002 - agent with security identifier "2" has access to AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_0 through AES_ENC_DEC_KEY_4 registers

The originator should send a transaction with Security Identifier "2" which will allow access to the AES-Key-access register and allow encryption and decryption operations.

Memberships

This MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1396	Comprehensive Categorization: Access Control

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: ALLOWED

(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason: Acceptable-Use

Rationale:

This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.

Comments:

Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID	Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-121	Exploit Non-Production Interfaces
CAPEC-681	Exploitation of Improperly Controlled Hardware Security Identifiers

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2020-02-14 (CWE 4.2, 2020-08-20)	Arun Kanuparthi, Hareesh Khattri, Parbati Kumar Manna	Intel Corporation
2020-02-14 (CWE 4.2, 2020-08-20)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2021-07-20	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021-07-20	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2021-10-28	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021-10-28	updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
2022-04-28	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022-04-28	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2022-10-13	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022-10-13	updated Demonstrative_Examples
2023-04-27	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-04-27	updated Relationships
2023-06-29	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-06-29	updated Mapping_Notes
2024-02-29 (CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2024-02-29 (CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)	updated Description, Name
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2024-02-29	Missing Security Identifier


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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-1302: Missing Source Identifier in Entity Transactions on a System-On-Chip (SOC)

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