Weaknesses Introduced During Design

A view in the Common Weakness Enumeration published by The MITRE Corporation.


Objective

Views in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) represent one perspective with which to consider a set of weaknesses.

This view (slice) lists weaknesses that can be introduced during design.

Weaknesses

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be ...

Application-Level Admin Tool with Inconsistent View of Underlying Operating System

The product provides an application for administrators to manage parts of the underlying operating system, but the application does not accurately identify all of the ...

Architecture with Number of Horizontal Layers Outside of Expected Range

The product's architecture contains too many - or too few - horizontal layers.

Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification)

The product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary ...

Authentication Bypass by Alternate Name

The product performs authentication based on the name of a resource being accessed, or the name of the actor performing the access, but it does not properly check all ...

Authentication Bypass by Assumed-Immutable Data

The authentication scheme or implementation uses key data elements that are assumed to be immutable, but can be controlled or modified by the attacker.

Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay

A capture-replay flaw exists when the design of the product makes it possible for a malicious user to sniff network traffic and bypass authentication by replaying it t...

Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

A product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.

Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key

The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.

Automated Recognition Mechanism with Inadequate Detection or Handling of Adversarial Input Perturbations

The product uses an automated mechanism such as machine learning to recognize complex data inputs (e.g. image or audio) as a particular concept or category, but it doe...

Behavioral Change in New Version or Environment

A's behavior or functionality changes with a new version of A, or a new environment, which is not known (or manageable) by B.

Channel Accessible by Non-Endpoint

The product does not adequately verify the identity of actors at both ends of a communication channel, or does not adequately ensure the integrity of the channel, in a...

Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.

Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information

The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.

Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security

The product is composed of a server that relies on the client to implement a mechanism that is intended to protect the server.

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a ...

Context Switching Race Condition

A product performs a series of non-atomic actions to switch between contexts that cross privilege or other security boundaries, but a race condition allows an attacker...

Covert Timing Channel

Covert timing channels convey information by modulating some aspect of system behavior over time, so that the program receiving the information can observe system beha...

CPU Hardware Not Configured to Support Exclusivity of Write and Execute Operations

The CPU is not configured to provide hardware support for exclusivity of write and execute operations on memory. This allows an attacker to execute data from all of me...

Cryptographic Operations are run Before Supporting Units are Ready

Performing cryptographic operations without ensuring that the supporting inputs are ready to supply valid data may compromise the cryptographic result.

Dependency on Vulnerable Third-Party Component

The product has a dependency on a third-party component that contains one or more known vulnerabilities.

Deserialization of Untrusted Data

The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.

DMA Device Enabled Too Early in Boot Phase

The product enables a Direct Memory Access (DMA) capable device before the security configuration settings are established, which allows an attacker to extract data fr...

Download of Code Without Integrity Check

The product downloads source code or an executable from a remote location and executes the code without sufficiently verifying the origin and integrity of the code.

Execution with Unnecessary Privileges

The product performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of ot...

Expected Behavior Violation

A feature, API, or function does not perform according to its specification.

Exposed Dangerous Method or Function

The product provides an Applications Programming Interface (API) or similar interface for interaction with external actors, but the interface includes a dangerous meth...

Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor

The product does not properly prevent a person's private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the...

Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere

The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.

Exposure of Sensitive Information caused by Incorrect Data Forwarding during Transient Execution

A processor event or prediction may allow incorrect or stale data to be forwarded to transient operations, potentially exposing data over a covert channel.

Exposure of Sensitive Information caused by Shared Microarchitectural Predictor State that Influences Transient Execution

Shared microarchitectural predictor state may allow code to influence transient execution across a hardware boundary, potentially exposing data that is accessi...

Exposure of Sensitive Information Due to Incompatible Policies

The product's intended functionality exposes information to certain actors in accordance with the developer's security policy, but this information is regarded as sens...

Exposure of Sensitive Information during Transient Execution

A processor event or prediction may allow incorrect operations (or correct operations with incorrect data) to execute transiently, potentially exposing data over a cov...

Exposure of Sensitive Information in Shared Microarchitectural Structures during Transient Execution

A processor event may allow transient operations to access architecturally restricted data (for example, in another address space) in a shared microarchitect...

Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Data Queries

When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.

Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Metadata

The product prevents direct access to a resource containing sensitive information, but it does not sufficiently limit access to metadata that is derived from the origi...

Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.

Exposure of Sensitive System Information Due to Uncleared Debug Information

The hardware does not fully clear security-sensitive values, such as keys and intermediate values in cryptographic operations, when debug mode is entered.

External Control of Critical State Data

The product stores security-critical state information about its users, or the product itself, in a location that is accessible to unauthorized actors.

External Control of File Name or Path

The product allows user input to control or influence paths or file names that are used in filesystem operations.

External Influence of Sphere Definition

The product does not prevent the definition of control spheres from external actors.

External Initialization of Trusted Variables or Data Stores

The product initializes critical internal variables or data stores using inputs that can be modified by untrusted actors.

Externally Controlled Reference to a Resource in Another Sphere

The product uses an externally controlled name or reference that resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.

Externally-Generated Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

The product performs an operation that triggers an external diagnostic or error message that is not directly generated or controlled by the product, such as an error g...

Fabric-Address Map Allows Programming of Unwarranted Overlaps of Protected and Unprotected Ranges

The address map of the on-chip fabric has protected and unprotected regions overlapping, allowing an attacker to bypass access control to the overlapping portion of th...

Failure to Disable Reserved Bits

The reserved bits in a hardware design are not disabled prior to production. Typically, reserved bits are used for future capabilities and should not support any funct...

Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties

The product makes files or directories accessible to unauthorized actors, even though they should not be.

Firmware Not Updateable

The product does not provide its users with the ability to update or patch its firmware to address any vulnerabilities or weaknesses that may be present.

Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

The product generates an error message that includes sensitive information about its environment, users, or associated data.

Generation of Incorrect Security Tokens

The product implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. However, the Se...

Generation of Predictable Numbers or Identifiers

The product uses a scheme that generates numbers or identifiers that are more predictable than required.

Guessable CAPTCHA

The product uses a CAPTCHA challenge, but the challenge can be guessed or automatically recognized by a non-human actor.

Hardware Allows Activation of Test or Debug Logic at Runtime

During runtime, the hardware allows for test or debug logic (feature) to be activated, which allows for changing the state of the hardware. This feature can alter the ...

Hardware Internal or Debug Modes Allow Override of Locks

System configuration protection may be bypassed during debug mode.

Hardware Logic Contains Race Conditions

A race condition in the hardware logic results in undermining security guarantees of the system.

Hardware Logic with Insecure De-Synchronization between Control and Data Channels

The hardware logic for error handling and security checks can incorrectly forward data before the security check is complete.

Hidden Functionality

The product contains functionality that is not documented, not part of the specification, and not accessible through an interface or command sequence that is obvious t...

Improper Access Control Applied to Mirrored or Aliased Memory Regions

Aliased or mirrored memory regions in hardware designs may have inconsistent read/write permissions enforced by the hardware. A possible result is that an untrusted ag...

Improper Access Control for Register Interface

The product uses memory-mapped I/O registers that act as an interface to hardware functionality from software, but there is improper access control to those registers.

Improper Access Control for Volatile Memory Containing Boot Code

The product conducts a secure-boot process that transfers bootloader code from Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) into Volatile Memory (VM), but it does not have sufficient acc...

Improper Access Control in Fabric Bridge

The product uses a fabric bridge for transactions between two Intellectual Property (IP) blocks, but the bridge does not properly perform the expected privilege, ident...

Improper Authentication

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

Improper Authorization

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Improper Authorization of Index Containing Sensitive Information

The product creates a search index of private or sensitive documents, but it does not properly limit index access to actors who are authorized to see the original info...

Improper Certificate Validation

The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.

Improper Control of Dynamically-Managed Code Resources

The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-managed code resources such as variables, objects, classes, attributes, functions, or exe...

Improper Control of Interaction Frequency

The product does not properly limit the number or frequency of interactions that it has with an actor, such as the number of incoming requests.

Improper Control of Resource Identifiers ('Resource Injection')

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not restrict or incorrectly restricts the input before it is used as an identifier for a resource th...

Improper Enforcement of Message Integrity During Transmission in a Communication Channel

The product establishes a communication channel with an endpoint and receives a message from that endpoint, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the message was no...

Improper Finite State Machines (FSMs) in Hardware Logic

Faulty finite state machines (FSMs) in the hardware logic allow an attacker to put the system in an undefined state, to cause a denial of service (DoS) or gain privile...

Improper Handling of Faults that Lead to Instruction Skips

The device is missing or incorrectly implements circuitry or sensors that detect and mitigate the skipping of security-critical CPU instructions when they occur.

Improper Handling of Hardware Behavior in Exceptionally Cold Environments

A hardware device, or the firmware running on it, is missing or has incorrect protection features to maintain goals of security primiti...

Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a compressed input with a very high compression ratio that produces a large output.

Improper Handling of Overlap Between Protected Memory Ranges

The product allows address regions to overlap, which can result in the bypassing of intended memory protection.

Improper Handling of Physical or Environmental Conditions

The product does not properly handle unexpected physical or environmental conditions that occur naturally or are artificially induced.

Improper Handling of Single Event Upsets

The hardware logic does not effectively handle when single-event upsets (SEUs) occur.

Improper Identifier for IP Block used in System-On-Chip (SOC)

The System-on-Chip (SoC) does not have unique, immutable identifiers for each of its components.

Improper Input Validation

The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process th...

Improper Isolation of Shared Resources in Network On Chip (NoC)

The Network On Chip (NoC) does not isolate or incorrectly isolates its on-chip-fabric and internal resources such that they are shared between trusted and untrusted ag...

Improper Isolation of Shared Resources on System-on-a-Chip (SoC)

The System-On-a-Chip (SoC) does not properly isolate shared resources between trusted and untrusted agents.

Improper Isolation or Compartmentalization

The product does not properly compartmentalize or isolate functionality, processes, or resources that require different privilege levels, rights, or permissions.

Improper Lock Behavior After Power State Transition

Register lock bit protection disables changes to system configuration once the bit is set. Some of the protected registers or lock bits become programmable after power...

Improper Locking

The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.

Improper Management of Sensitive Trace Data

Trace data collected from several sources on the System-on-Chip (SoC) is stored in unprotected locations or transported to untrusted ag...

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine

The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax t...

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an Expression Language Statement ('Expression Language Injection')

The product constructs all or part of an expression language (EL) statement in a framework such as a Java Server Page (JSP) using externally-influenced input from an u...

Improper Ownership Management

The product assigns the wrong ownership, or does not properly verify the ownership, of an object or resource.

Improper Physical Access Control

The product is designed with access restricted to certain information, but it does not sufficiently protect against an unauthorized actor with physical access to these...

Improper Prevention of Lock Bit Modification

The product uses a trusted lock bit for restricting access to registers, address regions, or other resources, but the product does not prevent the value of the lock bi...

Improper Privilege Management

The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

Improper Protection against Electromagnetic Fault Injection (EM-FI)

The device is susceptible to electromagnetic fault injection attacks, causing device internal information to be compromised or security mechanisms to be bypassed.

Improper Protection for Outbound Error Messages and Alert Signals

Untrusted agents can disable alerts about signal conditions exceeding limits or the response mechanism that handles such alerts.

Improper Protection of Alternate Path

The product does not sufficiently protect all possible paths that a user can take to access restricted functionality or resources.

Improper Protections Against Hardware Overheating

A hardware device is missing or has inadequate protection features to prevent overheating.

Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer

The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the ...

Improper Resource Locking

The product does not lock or does not correctly lock a resource when the product must have exclusive access to the resource.

Improper Restriction of Communication Channel to Intended Endpoints

The product establishes a communication channel to (or from) an endpoint for privileged or protected operations, but it does not properly ensure that it is communicati...

Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts

The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame, making it more susceptible to brute fo...

Improper Restriction of Names for Files and Other Resources

The product constructs the name of a file or other resource using input from an upstream component, but it does not restrict or incorrectly restricts the resulting name.

Improper Restriction of Power Consumption

The product operates in an environment in which power is a limited resource that cannot be automatically replenished, but the product does not properly restrict the am...

Improper Restriction of Security Token Assignment

The System-On-A-Chip (SoC) implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. ...

Improper Restriction of Software Interfaces to Hardware Features

The product provides software-controllable device functionality for capabilities such as power and clock management, but it does not properly limit functional...

Improper Restriction of Write-Once Bit Fields

The hardware design control register "sticky bits" or write-once bit fields are improperly implemented, such that they can be reprogrammed by software.

Improper Scrubbing of Sensitive Data from Decommissioned Device

The product does not properly provide a capability for the product administrator to remove sensitive data at the time the product is decommissioned. A scrubbing capab...

Improper Setting of Bus Controlling Capability in Fabric End-point

The bus controller enables bits in the fabric end-point to allow responder devices to control transactions on the fabric.

Improper Synchronization

The product utilizes multiple threads or processes to allow temporary access to a shared resource that can only be exclusive to one process at a time, but it does not ...

Improper Translation of Security Attributes by Fabric Bridge

The bridge incorrectly translates security attributes from either trusted to untrusted or from untrusted to trusted when converting from one fabric protocol to another.

Improper Use of Validation Framework

The product does not use, or incorrectly uses, an input validation framework that is provided by the source language or an independent library.

Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value

The product does not validate or incorrectly validates the integrity check values or "checksums" of a message. This may prevent it from detecting if the data has been ...

Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

The product does not verify, or incorrectly verifies, the cryptographic signature for data.

Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel

The product establishes a communication channel to handle an incoming request that has been initiated by an actor, but it does not properly verify that the request is ...

Improper Write Handling in Limited-write Non-Volatile Memories

The product does not implement or incorrectly implements wear leveling operations in limited-write non-volatile memories.

Improperly Controlled Modification of Dynamically-Determined Object Attributes

The product receives input from an upstream component that specifies multiple attributes, properties, or fields that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but...

Improperly Implemented Security Check for Standard

The product does not implement or incorrectly implements one or more security-relevant checks as specified by the design of a standardized algorithm, protocol, or tech...

Improperly Preserved Integrity of Hardware Configuration State During a Power Save/Restore Operation

The product performs a power save/restore operation, but it does not ensure that the integrity of the configuration state is maintained and/or ...

Inadequate Encryption Strength

The product stores or transmits sensitive data using an encryption scheme that is theoretically sound, but is not strong enough for the level of protection required.

Inclusion of Undocumented Features or Chicken Bits

The device includes chicken bits or undocumented features that can create entry points for unauthorized actors.

Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs

The product implements a protection mechanism that relies on a list of inputs (or properties of inputs) that are not allowed by policy or otherwise require other actio...

Incomplete Model of Endpoint Features

A product acts as an intermediary or monitor between two or more endpoints, but it does not have a complete model of an endpoint's features, behaviors, or state, poten...

Incorrect Authorization

The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows ...

Incorrect Behavior Order

The product performs multiple related behaviors, but the behaviors are performed in the wrong order in ways which may produce resultant weaknesses.

Incorrect Behavior Order: Early Amplification

The product allows an entity to perform a legitimate but expensive operation before authentication or authorization has taken place.

Incorrect Comparison Logic Granularity

The product's comparison logic is performed over a series of steps rather than across the entire string in one operation. If there is a comparison logic failure on one...

Incorrect Conversion of Security Identifiers

The product implements a conversion mechanism to map certain bus-transaction signals to security identifiers. However, if the conversion is incorrectly implemented, un...

Incorrect Decoding of Security Identifiers

The product implements a decoding mechanism to decode certain bus-transaction signals to security identifiers. If the decoding is implemented incorrectly, then untrust...

Incorrect Default Permissions

During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.

Incorrect Ownership Assignment

The product assigns an owner to a resource, but the owner is outside of the intended control sphere.

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

Incorrect Resource Transfer Between Spheres

The product does not properly transfer a resource/behavior to another sphere, or improperly imports a resource/behavior from another sphere, in a manner that provides ...

Incorrect Selection of Fuse Values

The logic level used to set a system to a secure state relies on a fuse being unblown. An attacker can set the system to an insecure state merely by blowing the fuse.

Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs

The product does not conform to the API requirements for a function call that requires extra privileges. This could allow attackers to gain privileges by causing the f...

Incorrect User Management

The product does not properly manage a user within its environment.

Incorrectly Specified Destination in a Communication Channel

The product creates a communication channel to initiate an outgoing request to an actor, but it does not correctly specify the intended destination for that actor.

Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity

An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typ...

Inefficient CPU Computation

The product performs CPU computations using algorithms that are not as efficient as they could be for the needs of the developer, i.e., the computati...

Information Exposure through Microarchitectural State after Transient Execution

The processor does not properly clear microarchitectural state after incorrect microcode assists or speculative execution, resulting in transient execution.

Information Loss or Omission

The product does not record, or improperly records, security-relevant information that leads to an incorrect decision or hampers later analysis.

Insecure Automated Optimizations

The product uses a mechanism that automatically optimizes code, e.g. to improve a characteristic such as performance, but the optimizations can have an unintended side...

Insecure Security Identifier Mechanism

The System-on-Chip (SoC) implements a Security Identifier mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entit...

Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information

The product stores sensitive information without properly limiting read or write access by unauthorized actors.

Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File

Information written to log files can be of a sensitive nature and give valuable guidance to an attacker or expose sensitive user information.

Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data

The code transmits data to another actor, but a portion of the data includes sensitive information that should not be accessible to that actor.

Insufficient Control of Network Message Volume (Network Amplification)

The product does not sufficiently monitor or control transmitted network traffic volume, so that an actor can cause the product to transmit more traffic than should be...

Insufficient Entropy

The product uses an algorithm or scheme that produces insufficient entropy, leaving patterns or clusters of values that are more likely to occur than others.

Insufficient Granularity of Access Control

The product implements access controls via a policy or other feature with the intention to disable or restrict accesses (reads and/or writes) to assets in a system fro...

Insufficient Psychological Acceptability

The product has a protection mechanism that is too difficult or inconvenient to use, encouraging non-malicious users to disable or bypass the mechanism, whether by acc...

Insufficient Resource Pool

The product's resource pool is not large enough to handle peak demand, which allows an attacker to prevent others from accessing the resource by using a (relatively) l...

Insufficient Session Expiration

According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."

Insufficient Technical Documentation

The product does not contain sufficient technical or engineering documentation (whether on paper or in electronic form) that contains descriptions of...

Insufficient UI Warning of Dangerous Operations

The user interface provides a warning to a user regarding dangerous or sensitive operations, but the warning is not noticeable enough to warrant attention.

Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity

The product does not sufficiently verify the origin or authenticity of data, in a way that causes it to accept invalid data.

Insufficient Visual Distinction of Homoglyphs Presented to User

The product displays information or identifiers to a user, but the display mechanism does not make it easy for the user to distinguish between visually similar or iden...

Insufficiently Protected Credentials

The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.

Internal Asset Exposed to Unsafe Debug Access Level or State

The product uses physical debug or test interfaces with support for multiple access levels, but it assigns the wrong debug access level to an internal ...

Interpretation Conflict

Product A handles inputs or steps differently than Product B, which causes A to perform incorrect actions based on its perception of B's state.

Invocation of Process Using Visible Sensitive Information

A process is invoked with sensitive command-line arguments, environment variables, or other elements that can be seen by other processes on the operating system.

Key Exchange without Entity Authentication

The product performs a key exchange with an actor without verifying the identity of that actor.

Lack of Administrator Control over Security

The product uses security features in a way that prevents the product's administrator from tailoring security settings to reflect the environment in which the product ...

Logic/Time Bomb

The product contains code that is designed to disrupt the legitimate operation of the product (or its environment) when a certain time passes, or when a certain logica...

Misinterpretation of Input

The product misinterprets an input, whether from an attacker or another product, in a security-relevant fashion.

Missing Ability to Patch ROM Code

Missing an ability to patch ROM code may leave a System or System-on-Chip (SoC) in a vulnerable state.

Missing Authentication for Critical Function

The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.

Missing Authorization

The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data

The product does not encrypt sensitive or critical information before storage or transmission.

Missing Immutable Root of Trust in Hardware

A missing immutable root of trust in the hardware results in the ability to bypass secure boot or execute untrusted or adversarial boot code.

Missing Lock Check

A product does not check to see if a lock is present before performing sensitive operations on a resource.

Missing Protection Against Hardware Reverse Engineering Using Integrated Circuit (IC) Imaging Techniques

Information stored in hardware may be recovered by an attacker with the capability to capture and analyze images of the integrated circuit using techniques such as sca...

Missing Protection for Mirrored Regions in On-Chip Fabric Firewall

The firewall in an on-chip fabric protects the main addressed region, but it does not protect any mirrored memory or memory-mapped-IO (MMIO) regions.

Missing Protection Mechanism for Alternate Hardware Interface

The lack of protections on alternate paths to access control-protected assets (such as unprotected shadow registers and other external ...

Missing Source Correlation of Multiple Independent Data

The product relies on one source of data, preventing the ability to detect if an adversary has compromised a data source.

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

The product implements a security identifier mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. A transact...

Missing Standardized Error Handling Mechanism

The product does not use a standardized method for handling errors throughout the code, which might introduce inconsistent error handling and resultant weaknesses.

Missing Support for Integrity Check

The product uses a transmission protocol that does not include a mechanism for verifying the integrity of the data during transmission, such as a checksum.

Missing Support for Security Features in On-chip Fabrics or Buses

On-chip fabrics or buses either do not support or are not configured to support privilege separation or other security features, such as access control.

Missing Write Protection for Parametric Data Values

The device does not write-protect the parametric data values for sensors that scale the sensor value, allowing untrusted software to manipulate the apparent result and...

Modification of Assumed-Immutable Data (MAID)

The product does not properly protect an assumed-immutable element from being modified by an attacker.

Mutable Attestation or Measurement Reporting Data

The register contents used for attestation or measurement reporting data to verify boot flow are modifiable by an adversary.

Non-Transparent Sharing of Microarchitectural Resources

Hardware structures shared across execution contexts (e.g., caches and branch predictors) can violate the expected architecture isolation between contexts.

Not Failing Securely ('Failing Open')

When the product encounters an error condition or failure, its design requires it to fall back to a state that is less secure than other options that are available, su...

Not Using Password Aging

The product does not have a mechanism in place for managing password aging.

Observable Behavioral Discrepancy

The product's behaviors indicate important differences that may be observed by unauthorized actors in a way that reveals (1) its internal state or decision process, or...

Observable Discrepancy

The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor, which exposes security...

Observable Response Discrepancy

The product provides different responses to incoming requests in a way that reveals internal state information to an unauthorized actor outside of the intended control...

Observable Timing Discrepancy

Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information a...

Omission of Security-relevant Information

The product does not record or display information that would be important for identifying the source or nature of an attack, or determining if an action is safe.

On-Chip Debug and Test Interface With Improper Access Control

The chip does not implement or does not correctly perform access control to check whether users are authorized to access internal registers and test modes through the ...

Origin Validation Error

The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.

Overly Restrictive Account Lockout Mechanism

The product contains an account lockout protection mechanism, but the mechanism is too restrictive and can be triggered too easily, which allows attackers to deny serv...

Password Aging with Long Expiration

The product supports password aging, but the expiration period is too long.

Password in Configuration File

The product stores a password in a configuration file that might be accessible to actors who do not know the password.

Plaintext Storage of a Password

Storing a password in plaintext may result in a system compromise.

Policy Privileges are not Assigned Consistently Between Control and Data Agents

The product's hardware-enforced access control for a particular resource improperly accounts for privilege discrepancies between control and write policies.

Policy Uses Obsolete Encoding

The product uses an obsolete encoding mechanism to implement access controls.

Predictable Exact Value from Previous Values

An exact value or random number can be precisely predicted by observing previous values.

Predictable from Observable State

A number or object is predictable based on observations that the attacker can make about the state of the system or network, such as time, process ID, etc.

Predictable Value Range from Previous Values

The product's random number generator produces a series of values which, when observed, can be used to infer a relatively small range of possibilities for the next val...

Privilege Chaining

Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that...

Privilege Context Switching Error

The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.

Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions

A particular privilege, role, capability, or right can be used to perform unsafe actions that were not intended, even when it is assigned to the correct entity.

Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors

The product does not drop privileges before passing control of a resource to an actor that does not have those privileges.

Processor Optimization Removal or Modification of Security-critical Code

The developer builds a security-critical protection mechanism into the software, but the processor optimizes the execution of the program such that the mechanism is re...

Product UI does not Warn User of Unsafe Actions

The product's user interface does not warn the user before undertaking an unsafe action on behalf of that user. This makes it easier for attackers to trick users into ...

Race Condition During Access to Alternate Channel

The product opens an alternate channel to communicate with an authorized user, but the channel is accessible to other actors.

Race Condition Enabling Link Following

The product checks the status of a file or directory before accessing it, which produces a race condition in which the file can be replaced with a link before the acce...

Race Condition for Write-Once Attributes

A write-once register in hardware design is programmable by an untrusted software component earlier than the trusted software component, resulting in a race condition ...

Reflection Attack in an Authentication Protocol

Simple authentication protocols are subject to reflection attacks if a malicious user can use the target machine to impersonate a trusted user.

Reliance on a Single Factor in a Security Decision

A protection mechanism relies exclusively, or to a large extent, on the evaluation of a single condition or the integrity of a single object or entity in order to make...

Reliance on Component That is Not Updateable

The product contains a component that cannot be updated or patched in order to remove vulnerabilities or significant bugs.

Reliance on Cookies without Validation and Integrity Checking

The product relies on the existence or values of cookies when performing security-critical operations, but it does not properly ensure that the setting is valid for th...

Reliance on Insufficiently Trustworthy Component

The product is built from multiple separate components, but it uses a component that is not sufficiently trusted to meet expectations for security, reliability, update...

Reliance on Obfuscation or Encryption of Security-Relevant Inputs without Integrity Checking

The product uses obfuscation or encryption of inputs that should not be mutable by an external actor, but the product does not use integrity checks to detect if those ...

Reliance on Security Through Obscurity

The product uses a protection mechanism whose strength depends heavily on its obscurity, such that knowledge of its algorithms or key data is sufficient to defeat the ...

Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision

The product uses a protection mechanism that relies on the existence or values of an input, but the input can be modified by an untrusted actor in a way that bypasses ...

Reusing a Nonce, Key Pair in Encryption

Nonces should be used for the present occasion and only once.

Security Version Number Mutable to Older Versions

Security-version number in hardware is mutable, resulting in the ability to downgrade (roll-back) the boot firmware to vulnerable code versions.

Security-Sensitive Hardware Controls with Missing Lock Bit Protection

The product uses a register lock bit protection mechanism, but it does not ensure that the lock bit prevents modification of system registers or controls that perform ...

Selection of Less-Secure Algorithm During Negotiation ('Algorithm Downgrade')

A protocol or its implementation supports interaction between multiple actors and allows those actors to negotiate which algorithm should be used as a protection mecha...

Self-generated Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

The product identifies an error condition and creates its own diagnostic or error messages that contain sensitive information.

Sensitive Information Uncleared Before Debug/Power State Transition

The product performs a power or debug state transition, but it does not clear sensitive information that should no longer be accessible due to changes to information a...

Sensitive Non-Volatile Information Not Protected During Debug

Access to security-sensitive information stored in fuses is not limited during debug.

Sequence of Processor Instructions Leads to Unexpected Behavior

Specific combinations of processor instructions lead to undesirable behavior such as locking the processor until a hard reset performed.

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the reques...

Small Space of Random Values

The number of possible random values is smaller than needed by the product, making it more susceptible to brute force attacks.

Spyware

The product collects personally identifiable information about a human user or the user's activities, but the product accesses this information using other resources b...

Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control

The product stores sensitive information in a file system or device that does not have built-in access control.

Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format

The storage of passwords in a recoverable format makes them subject to password reuse attacks by malicious users. In fact, it should be noted that recoverable encrypte...

Symbolic Name not Mapping to Correct Object

A constant symbolic reference to an object is used, even though the reference can resolve to a different object over time.

Transmission of Private Resources into a New Sphere ('Resource Leak')

The product makes resources available to untrusted parties when those resources are only intended to be accessed by the product.

Trapdoor

A trapdoor is a hidden piece of code that responds to a special input, allowing its user access to resources without passing through the normal security enforcement me...

Trust Boundary Violation

The product mixes trusted and untrusted data in the same data structure or structured message.

Trust of System Event Data

Security based on event locations are insecure and can be spoofed.

UI Discrepancy for Security Feature

The user interface does not correctly enable or configure a security feature, but the interface provides feedback that causes the user to believe that the feature is i...

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.

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, ev...

Undefined Behavior for Input to API

The behavior of this function is undefined unless its control parameter is set to a specific value.

Unintended Proxy or Intermediary ('Confused Deputy')

The product receives a request, message, or directive from an upstream component, but the product does not sufficiently preserve the original source of the request bef...

Unnecessary Complexity in Protection Mechanism (Not Using 'Economy of Mechanism')

The product uses a more complex mechanism than necessary, which could lead to resultant weaknesses when the mechanism is not correctly understood, modeled, configured,...

Unprotected Alternate Channel

The product protects a primary channel, but it does not use the same level of protection for an alternate channel.

Unprotected Primary Channel

The product uses a primary channel for administration or restricted functionality, but it does not properly protect the channel.

Unprotected Transport of Credentials

Login pages do not use adequate measures to protect the user name and password while they are in transit from the client to the server.

Unrestricted Externally Accessible Lock

The product properly checks for the existence of a lock, but the lock can be externally controlled or influenced by an actor that is outside of the intended sphere of ...

Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

The product allows the attacker to upload or transfer files of dangerous types that can be automatically processed within the product's environment.

Unverified Ownership

The product does not properly verify that a critical resource is owned by the proper entity.

Unverified Password Change

When setting a new password for a user, the product does not require knowledge of the original password, or using another form of authentication.

URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')

A web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a Redirect. This simplifies phishing attacks.

Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm

The product uses a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm or protocol.

Use of a Cryptographic Primitive with a Risky Implementation

To fulfill the need for a cryptographic primitive, the product implements a cryptographic algorithm using a non-standard, unproven, or disallowed/non-compliant cryptog...

Use of a Key Past its Expiration Date

The product uses a cryptographic key or password past its expiration date, which diminishes its safety significantly by increasing the timing window for cracking attac...

Use of Client-Side Authentication

A client/server product performs authentication within client code but not in server code, allowing server-side authentication to be bypassed via a modified client tha...

Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in a security context, but the PRNG's algorithm is not cryptographically strong.

Use of Default Credentials

The product uses default credentials (such as passwords or cryptographic keys) for potentially critical functionality.

Use of Default Cryptographic Key

The product uses a default cryptographic key for potentially critical functionality.

Use of Default Password

The product uses default passwords for potentially critical functionality.

Use of Externally-Controlled Input to Select Classes or Code ('Unsafe Reflection')

The product uses external input with reflection to select which classes or code to use, but it does not sufficiently prevent the input from selecting improper classes ...

Use of Hard-coded Credentials

The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to exter...

Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference

The product uses a name or reference to access a resource, but the name/reference resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.

Use of Insufficiently Random Values

The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.

Use of Invariant Value in Dynamically Changing Context

The product uses a constant value, name, or reference, but this value can (or should) vary across different environments.

Use of Less Trusted Source

The product has two different sources of the same data or information, but it uses the source that has less support for verification, is less trusted, or is less resis...

Use of Multiple Resources with Duplicate Identifier

The product uses multiple resources that can have the same identifier, in a context in which unique identifiers are required.

Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort

The product generates a hash for a password, but it uses a scheme that does not provide a sufficient level of computational effort that would make password cracking at...

Use of Password System for Primary Authentication

The use of password systems as the primary means of authentication may be subject to several flaws or shortcomings, each reducing the effectiveness of the mechanism.

Use of Predictable Algorithm in Random Number Generator

The device uses an algorithm that is predictable and generates a pseudo-random number.

Use of Single-factor Authentication

The use of single-factor authentication can lead to unnecessary risk of compromise when compared with the benefits of a dual-factor authentication scheme.

Use of Weak Credentials

The product uses weak credentials (such as a default key or hard-coded password) that can be calculated, derived, reused, or guessed by an attacker.

Use of Weak Hash

The product uses an algorithm that produces a digest (output value) that does not meet security expectations for a hash function that allows an adversary to reasonably...

User Interface (UI) Misrepresentation of Critical Information

The user interface (UI) does not properly represent critical information to the user, allowing the information - or its source - to be obscured or spoofed. This is oft...

Violation of Secure Design Principles

The product violates well-established principles for secure design.

Weak Authentication

The product uses an authentication mechanism to restrict access to specific users or identities, but the mechanism does not sufficiently prove that the claimed identit...

Weak Encoding for Password

Obscuring a password with a trivial encoding does not protect the password.

Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.

Weak Password Requirements

The product does not require that users should have strong passwords, which makes it easier for attackers to compromise user accounts.


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