COMMON ATTACK PATTERN ENUMERATION AND CLASSIFICATIONLive MITRE record

CAPEC-534

Malicious Hardware Update

An adversary introduces malicious hardware during an update or replacement procedure, allowing for additional compromise or site disruption at the victim location. After deployment, it is not uncommon for upgrades and replacements to occur involving hardware and various replaceable parts. These upgrades and replacements are intended to correct defects, provide additional features, and to replace broken or worn-out parts. However, by forcing or tricking the replacement of a good component with a defective or corrupted component, an adversary can leverage known defects to obtain a desired malicious impact.

Abstraction

Standard

Typical severity

High

Likelihood of attack

Low

Understand the attack

What is this attack pattern?

An adversary introduces malicious hardware during an update or replacement procedure, allowing for additional compromise or site disruption at the victim location. After deployment, it is not uncommon for upgrades and replacements to occur involving hardware and various replaceable parts. These upgrades and replacements are intended to correct defects, provide additional features, and to replace broken or worn-out parts. However, by forcing or tricking the replacement of a good component with a defective or corrupted component, an adversary can leverage known defects to obtain a desired malicious impact.

Requirements

What does the attack require?

Prerequisites

  • Target application or infrastructure exposes an exploitable vulnerability surface.

Skills required

  • High: Able to develop and manufacture malicious hardware components that perform the same functions and processes as their non-malicious counterparts.

Resources required

Not stated in the MITRE record.

Real world

MITRE example instances

Example instance 1Detail
An adversary develops a malicious networking card that allows for normal function plus the addition of malicious functionality that is of benefit to the adversary. The adversary sends the victim an email stating that the existing networking card is faulty, and that the victim can order a replacement card free of charge. The victim orders the card, and the adversary sends the malicious networking card. The malicious networking card replaces the perfectly-functioning original networking card, and the adversary is able to take advantage of the additional malicious functionality to further compromise the victim's network.