Policy Privileges are not Assigned Consistently Between Control and Data Agents

Opis

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

Integrated circuits and hardware engines may provide access to resources (device-configuration, encryption keys, etc.) belonging to trusted firmware or software modules (commonly set by a BIOS or a bootloader). These accesses are typically controlled and limited by the hardware. Hardware design access control is sometimes implemented using a policy. A policy defines which entity or agent may or may not be allowed to perform an action. When a system implements multiple levels of policies, a control policy may allow direct access to a resource as well as changes to the policies themselves.

Resources that include agents in their control policy but not in their write policy could unintentionally allow an untrusted agent to insert itself in the write policy register. Inclusion in the write policy register could allow a malicious or misbehaving agent write access to resources. This action could result in security compromises including leaked information, leaked encryption keys, or modification of device configuration.

Skutki

• Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control

  Modify Memory; Read Memory; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Read Files or Directories; Reduce Reliability

Zapobieganie

• Architecture and Design, Implementation

  Access-control-policy definition and programming flow must be sufficiently tested in pre-silicon and post-silicon testing.

Słabość nadrzędna

• CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment

Kiedy powstaje

• Architecture and Design — This weakness may be introduced during the design of a device when the architect does not comprehensively specify all of the policies required by an agent.
• Implementation — This weakness may be introduced during implementation if device policy restrictions do not sufficiently constrain less-privileged clients.

Dotyczy

Not Language-Specific, Not OS-Specific, Not Architecture-Specific, Not Technology-Specific

Uwagi

This entry is still under development and will continue to see updates and content improvements.