CWE-1296: Incorrect Chaining or Granularity of Debug Components
The product's debug components contain incorrect chaining or granularity of debug components.
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Overview
For debugging and troubleshooting a chip, several hardware design elements are often implemented, including: Various Test Access Ports (TAPs) allow boundary scan commands to be executed. For scanning the internal components of a chip, there are scan cells that allow the chip to be used as a "stimulus and response" mechanism. Chipmakers might create custom methods to observe the internal components of their chips by placing various tracing hubs within their chip and creating hierarchical or interconnected structures among those hubs. Logic errors during design or synthesis could misconfigure the interconnection of the debug components, which could allow unintended access permissions.
Common consequences
What can happen when CWE-1296 is exploited.
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, Bypass Protection Mechanism, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Modify Memory, Modify Files or Directories
Affects: Confidentiality, Integrity, Access Control, Authentication, Authorization, Availability, Accountability
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.
How it happens
When it is introduced
Typically introduced during these phases of the software lifecycle.
Applies to
Languages
Technologies
How to prevent it
Practical mitigations for CWE-1296, grouped by where in the lifecycle they apply.
Ensure that debug components are properly chained and their granularity is maintained at different authentication levels.
How to detect it
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.
Effectiveness: High
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.
Effectiveness: High
Code examples
Illustrative examples from MITRE showing how the weakness appears in code.
The following example shows how an attacker can take advantage of incorrect chaining or missing granularity of debug components.
Illustrative examples
Real CVEs that MITRE cites as examples of this weakness.
- 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).
Attack patterns
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this weakness.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CWE-1296.
- What is CWE-1296?
- The product's debug components contain incorrect chaining or granularity of debug components.
- How do you prevent CWE-1296?
- Ensure that debug components are properly chained and their granularity is maintained at different authentication levels.
- How is CWE-1296 detected?
- 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.
- What are the consequences of CWE-1296?
- Exploiting CWE-1296 can lead to: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, Bypass Protection Mechanism, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Modify Memory, Modify Files or Directories.
References
- MITRE CWE definition (CWE-1296) (opens in a new tab)
- CWE-1296 vulnerabilities on NVD (opens in a new tab)
- Learn: What is a CWE?
Weakness data is sourced from the MITRE CWE catalog (v4.20). CVE associations are aggregated and kept current by RadicalNotion.AI.
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