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Common Weakness Enumeration

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Home > CWE List > CWE-440: Expected Behavior Violation (4.16)  
ID

CWE-440: Expected Behavior Violation

Weakness ID: 440
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
A feature, API, or function does not perform according to its specification.
+ Common Consequences
Section HelpThis 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
Other

Technical Impact: Quality Degradation; Varies by Context

+ Relationships
Section Help 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 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. 684 Incorrect Provision of Specified Functionality
Section Help 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 "Software Development" (CWE-699)
Nature Type ID Name
MemberOf Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 438 Behavioral Problems
Section Help 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 "Hardware Design" (CWE-1194)
Nature Type ID Name
MemberOf Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1208 Cross-Cutting Problems
+ Modes Of Introduction
Section HelpThe 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
Operation
+ Applicable Platforms
Section HelpThis 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)

Technologies

Class: ICS/OT (Undetermined Prevalence)

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

The provided code is extracted from the Control and Status Register (CSR), csr_regfile, module within the Hack@DAC'21 OpenPiton System-on-Chip (SoC). This module is designed to implement CSR registers in accordance with the RISC-V specification. The mie (machine interrupt enable) register is a 64-bit register [REF-1384], where bits correspond to different interrupt sources. As the name suggests, mie is a machine-level register that determines which interrupts are enabled. Note that in the example below the mie_q and mie_d registers represent the conceptual mie reigster in the RISC-V specification. The mie_d register is the value to be stored in the mie register while the mie_q register holds the current value of the mie register [REF-1385].

The mideleg (machine interrupt delegation) register, also 64-bit wide, enables the delegation of specific interrupt sources from machine privilege mode to lower privilege levels. By setting specific bits in the mideleg register, the handling of certain interrupts can be delegated to lower privilege levels without engaging the machine-level privilege mode. For example, in supervisor mode, the mie register is limited to a specific register called the sie (supervisor interrupt enable) register. If delegated, an interrupt becomes visible in the sip (supervisor interrupt pending) register and can be enabled or blocked using the sie register. If no delegation occurs, the related bits in sip and sie are set to zero.

The sie register value is computed based on the current value of mie register, i.e., mie_q, and the mideleg register.

(bad code)
Example Language: Verilog 
module csr_regfile #(...)(...);
...
// ---------------------------
// CSR Write and update logic
// ---------------------------
...
if (csr_we) begin
unique case (csr_addr.address)
...
riscv::CSR_SIE: begin
// the mideleg makes sure only delegate-able register
//(and therefore also only implemented registers) are written
mie_d = (mie_q & ~mideleg_q) | (csr_wdata & mideleg_q) | utval_q;
end
...
endcase
end
endmodule

The above code snippet illustrates an instance of a vulnerable implementation of the sie register update logic, where users can tamper with the mie_d register value through the utval (user trap value) register. This behavior violates the RISC-V specification.

The code shows that the value of utval, among other signals, is used in updating the mie_d value within the sie update logic. While utval is a register accessible to users, it should not influence or compromise the integrity of sie. Through manipulation of the utval register, it becomes feasible to manipulate the sie register's value. This opens the door for potential attacks, as an adversary can gain control over or corrupt the sie value. Consequently, such manipulation empowers an attacker to enable or disable critical supervisor-level interrupts, resulting in various security risks such as privilege escalation or denial-of-service attacks.

A fix to this issue is to remove the utval from the right-hand side of the assignment. That is the value of the mie_d should be updated as shown in the good code example [REF-1386].

(good code)
Example Language: Verilog 
module csr_regfile #(...)(...);
...
// ---------------------------
// CSR Write and update logic
// ---------------------------
...
if (csr_we) begin
unique case (csr_addr.address)
...
riscv::CSR_SIE: begin
// the mideleg makes sure only delegate-able register
//(and therefore also only implemented registers) are written
mie_d = (mie_q & ~mideleg_q) | (csr_wdata & mideleg_q);
end
...
endcase
end
endmodule

+ Observed Examples
Reference Description
Program uses large timeouts on unconfirmed connections resulting from inconsistency in linked lists implementations.
"strncpy" in Linux kernel acts different than libc on x86, leading to expected behavior difference - sort of a multiple interpretation error?
Buffer overflow in product stems the use of a third party library function that is expected to have internal protection against overflows, but doesn't.
+ Memberships
Section HelpThis 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 CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1001 SFP Secondary Cluster: Use of an Improper API
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1368 ICS Dependencies (& Architecture): External Digital Systems
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1412 Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices
+ 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.
+ Notes

Theoretical

The behavior of an application that is not consistent with the expectations of the developer may lead to incorrect use of the software.
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
PLOVER Expected behavior violation
+ References
[REF-1384] "The RISC-V Instruction Set Manual Volume II: Privileged Architecture page 28". 2021. <https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/riscv-privileged-v1.10.pdf>. URL validated: 2024-01-16.
+ Content History
+ Submissions
Submission Date Submitter Organization
2006-07-19
(CWE Draft 3, 2006-07-19)
PLOVER
+ Contributions
Contribution Date Contributor Organization
2023-06-21 Chen Chen, Rahul Kande, Jeyavijayan Rajendran Texas A&M University
suggested demonstrative example
2023-06-21 Shaza Zeitouni, Mohamadreza Rostami, Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi Technical University of Darmstadt
suggested demonstrative example
+ Modifications
Modification Date Modifier Organization
2008-07-01 Eric Dalci Cigital
updated Time_of_Introduction
2008-09-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
2009-10-29 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Other_Notes, Relevant_Properties, Theoretical_Notes
2011-06-01 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences
2011-06-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences
2012-05-11 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2014-07-30 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2017-11-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Relevant_Properties
2020-02-24 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2020-08-20 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description, Observed_Examples, Theoretical_Notes
2023-01-31 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships
2023-04-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2023-06-29 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
2023-10-26 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Observed_Examples
2024-02-29
(CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)
CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples, References
Page Last Updated: November 19, 2024