Incorrect Initialization of Resource

Opis

The product attempts to initialize a resource but does not correctly do so, which might leave the resource in an unexpected, incorrect, or insecure state when it is accessed.

This can have security implications when the associated resource is expected to have certain properties or values. Examples include a variable that determines whether a user has been authenticated or not, or a register or fuse value that determines the security state of the product.

For software, this weakness can frequently occur when implicit initialization is used, meaning the resource is not explicitly set to a specific value. For example, in C, memory is not necessarily cleared when it is allocated on the stack, and many scripting languages use a default empty, null value, or zero value when a variable is not explicitly initialized.

For hardware, this weakness frequently appears with reset values and fuses. After a product reset, hardware may initialize registers incorrectly. During different phases of a product lifecycle, fuses may be set to incorrect values. Even if fuses are set to correct values, the lines to the fuse could be broken or there might be hardware on the fuse line that alters the fuse value to be incorrect.

Skutki

• Confidentiality

  Read Memory; Read Application Data; Unexpected State

• Authorization, Integrity

  Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

• Other

  Varies by Context

  The technical impact can vary widely based on how the resource is used in the product, and whether its contents affect security decisions.

Zapobieganie

• Implementation

  Choose the safest-possible initialization for security-related resources.

• Implementation

  Ensure that each resource (whether variable, memory buffer, register, etc.) is fully initialized.

• Implementation

  Pay close attention to complex conditionals or reset sources that affect initialization, since some paths might not perform the initialization.

• Architecture and Design

  Ensure that the design and architecture clearly identify what the initialization should be, and that the initialization does not have security implications.

Przykłady podatności

• CVE-2020-27211 Chain: microcontroller system-on-chip uses a register value stored in flash to set product protection state on the memory bus and does not contain protection against fault injection (CWE-1319) which leads to an incorrect initialization of the memory bus (CWE-1419) causing the product to be in an unprotected state.
• CVE-2023-25815 chain: a change in an underlying package causes the gettext function to use implicit initialization with a hard-coded path (CWE-1419) under the user-writable C:\ drive, introducing an untrusted search path element (CWE-427) that enables spoofing of messages.
• CVE-2022-43468 WordPress module sets internal variables based on external inputs, allowing false reporting of the number of views
• CVE-2022-36349 insecure default variable initialization in BIOS firmware for a hardware board allows DoS
• CVE-2015-7763 distributed filesystem only initializes part of the variable-length padding for a packet, allowing attackers to read sensitive information from previously-sent packets in the same memory location

Słabość nadrzędna

• CWE-665 Improper Initialization

Słabości podrzędne

• CWE-454 External Initialization of Trusted Variables or Data Stores
• CWE-1051 Initialization with Hard-Coded Network Resource Configuration Data
• CWE-1052 Excessive Use of Hard-Coded Literals in Initialization
• CWE-1188 Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default
• CWE-1221 Incorrect Register Defaults or Module Parameters

Kiedy powstaje

• Implementation
• Manufacturing
• Installation
• System Configuration
• Operation

Dotyczy

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

Źródła

1. acct_wrapper.sv — 2021
2. Bad Code acct_wrapper.sv — 2021
3. Good Code acct_wrapper.sv — 2021