CWE-1233: Security-Sensitive Hardware Controls with Missing Lock Bit Protection
Description
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 changes to important hardware system configuration.
Integrated circuits and hardware intellectual properties (IPs) might provide device configuration controls that need to be programmed after device power reset by a trusted firmware or software module, commonly set by BIOS/bootloader. After reset, there can be an expectation that the controls cannot be used to perform any further modification. This behavior is commonly implemented using a trusted lock bit, which can be set to disable writes to a protected set of registers or address regions. The lock protection is intended to prevent modification of certain system configuration (e.g., memory/memory protection unit configuration). However, if the lock bit does not effectively write-protect all system registers or controls that could modify the protected system configuration, then an adversary may be able to use software to access the registers/controls and modify the protected hardware configuration.
- Abstraction
- BaseA weakness specific enough to point to detection and prevention methods.
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Status
- Stable
Common consequences
- Access Control
Modify Memory
System Configuration protected by the lock bit can be modified even when the lock is set.
Potential mitigations
- Architecture and DesignImplementationTesting
Security lock bit protections must be reviewed for design inconsistency and common weaknesses. Security lock programming flow and lock properties must be tested in pre-silicon and post-silicon testing.