CWE-1234: Hardware Internal or Debug Modes Allow Override of Locks

The following example code [REF-1375] is taken from the register lock security peripheral of the HACK@DAC'21 buggy OpenPiton SoC. It demonstrates how to lock read or write access to security-critical hardware registers (e.g., crypto keys, system integrity code, etc.). The configuration to lock all the sensitive registers in the SoC is managed through the reglk_mem registers. These reglk_mem registers are reset when the hardware powers up and configured during boot up. Malicious users, even with kernel-level software privilege, do not get access to the sensitive contents that are locked down. Hence, the security of the entire system can potentially be compromised if the register lock configurations are corrupted or if the register locks are disabled.