COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONDraft

CWE-1334

Unauthorized Error Injection Can Degrade Hardware Redundancy

An unauthorized agent can inject errors into a redundant block to deprive the system of redundancy or put the system in a degraded operating mode.

Abstraction

Base

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

An unauthorized agent can inject errors into a redundant block to deprive the system of redundancy or put the system in a degraded operating mode.

Extended description

To ensure the performance and functional reliability of certain components, hardware designers can implement hardware blocks for redundancy in the case that others fail. This redundant block can be prevented from performing as intended if the design allows unauthorized agents to inject errors into it. In this way, a path with injected errors may become unavailable to serve as a redundant channel. This may put the system into a degraded mode of operation which could be exploited by a subsequent attack.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Architecture and Design

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

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

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

Lifecycle phase

Integration

Such issues could be introduced during integration and identified later during Testing or System Configuration phases.

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

DoS: Crash, Exit, or RestartDoS: InstabilityQuality DegradationDoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)Reduce PerformanceReduce ReliabilityUnexpected State

Affected security scopes: Integrity, Availability

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

Architecture and Design

Architecture and design approach

Detail
Ensure the design does not allow error injection in modes intended for normal run-time operation. Provide access controls on interfaces for injecting errors.

Implementation

Implementation-phase defence

Detail
Disallow error injection in modes which are expected to be used for normal run-time operation. Provide access controls on interfaces for injecting errors.

Integration

Integration aşaması savunması

Detail
Add an access control layer atop any unprotected interfaces for injecting errors.