Improper Handling of Physical or Environmental Conditions

Hardware is designed to operate reliably within specific physical and environmental limits. When it encounters conditions outside this range—like extreme temperatures, power spikes, or electromagnetic interference—its behavior can become unpredictable and insecure. An attacker can artificially create these conditions to induce faults, such as flipping a critical bit used for authentication or bypassing a security check. Common threats include extreme temperatures, electromagnetic interference (EMI), unexpected light sources (lasers, UV), power anomalies (over/under-voltage), clock manipulation (glitching), component aging, and exposure to radiation. Since hardware often can't control its external environment, developers must design systems to either withstand these stresses or fail securely without compromising security controls.