CWEweakness

CWE-1296 Incorrect Chaining or Granularity of Debug Components

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Abstraction
Base
Structure
Simple
Status
Incomplete
Languages
Not Language-Specific, VHDL, Verilog
CWE version
5.0

Description

The product's debug components contain incorrect chaining or granularity of debug components.

Extended description

Logic errors during design or synthesis could misconfigure the interconnection of the debug components, which could allow unintended access permissions.

Common consequences

• Confidentiality, Integrity, Access Control, Authentication, Authorization, Availability, Accountability: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, Bypass Protection Mechanism, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Modify Memory, Modify Files or Directories — Depending on the access to debug component(s) erroneously granted, an attacker could use the debug component to gain additional understanding about the system to further an attack and/or execute other commands. This could compromise any security property, including the ones listed above.

Potential mitigations

• [Implementation] Ensure that debug components are properly chained and their granularity is maintained at different authentication levels.

Detection methods

• Architecture or Design Review: Appropriate Post-Si tests should be carried out at various authorization levels to ensure that debug components are properly chained and accessible only to users with appropriate credentials. • Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation: Appropriate Post-Si tests should be carried out at various authorization levels to ensure that debug components are properly chained and accessible only to users with appropriate credentials.

Observed examples

• CVE-2017-18347: Incorrect access control in RDP Level 1 on STMicroelectronics STM32F0 series devices allows physically present attackers to extract the device's protected firmware via a special sequence of Serial Wire Debug (SWD) commands because there is a race condition between full initialization of the SWD interface and the setup of flash protection. • CVE-2020-1791: There is an improper authorization vulnerability in several smartphones. The system has a logic-judging error, and, under certain scenarios, a successful exploit could allow the attacker to switch to third desktop after a series of operations in ADB mode. (Vulnerability ID: HWPSIRT-2019-10114).

Related

Attack pattern · CAPEC (2)

  • CAPEC-121 Exploit Non-Production Interfaces attack pattern
  • CAPEC-702 Exploiting Incorrect Chaining or Granularity of Hardware Debug Components attack pattern

Observed example · CVE (2)

  • CVE-2020-1791 HUAWEI Mate 20 smartphones with versions earlier than 10.0.0.185(C00E74R3P8) have an improper authorization vulnerability. vulnerability
  • CVE-2017-18347 Incorrect access control in RDP Level 1 on STMicroelectronics STM32F0 series devices allows physically present attackers to extract the… vulnerability

Child of · CWE (1)

  • CWE-284 Improper Access Control weakness

Referenced by CAPEC · weakness (2)

  • CAPEC-121 Exploit Non-Production Interfaces attack pattern
  • CAPEC-702 Exploiting Incorrect Chaining or Granularity of Hardware Debug Components attack pattern