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CWE-1257 Base Incomplete
Improper Access Control Applied to Mirrored or Aliased Memory Regions
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware design maps the same physical memory to multiple addresses (aliasing or mirroring) but fails to apply consistent read/write permissions across all these…
Definition
What is CWE-1257?
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware design maps the same physical memory to multiple addresses (aliasing or mirroring) but fails to apply consistent read/write permissions across all these addresses. An attacker blocked from accessing a protected memory region might still reach the same data through its unprotected aliased address, bypassing security controls.
Hardware designs often use memory aliasing for legitimate purposes like redundancy, fault tolerance, or simplifying address decoding logic. However, a critical security flaw emerges when the access control logic checks permissions for only one address path and not its aliases. This creates an inconsistent security state where the same physical memory cell has different protection levels depending on which logical address is used to access it.
From a developer or attacker perspective, this inconsistency becomes an exploitable bypass. An untrusted process or agent denied access to a primary address can simply target the alternate, aliased address to read or write protected memory. Furthermore, if an attacker can manipulate system address mapping registers, they might be able to create malicious aliases themselves, fundamentally undermining the hardware's memory isolation guarantees.
Auswirkungen in der Praxis
Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-1257
Bisher sind in MITREs Katalog keine öffentlichen CVE-Referenzen mit dieser CWE verknüpft.
Wie Angreifer es ausnutzen
Angreiferpfad Schritt für Schritt
- 1
Identifiziere einen Codepfad, der nicht vertrauenswürdige Eingaben ohne Validierung verarbeitet.
- 2
Erzeuge eine Payload, die das unsichere Verhalten auslöst — Injection, Traversal, Overflow oder Logik-Missbrauch.
- 3
Liefere die Payload über einen normalen Request aus und beobachte die Reaktion der Anwendung.
- 4
Iteriere, bis die Antwort Daten preisgibt, Angreifer-Code ausführt oder Berechtigungen eskaliert.
Verwundbares Codebeispiel
Vulnerable Other
In a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design the system fabric uses 16 bit addresses. An IP unit (Unit_A) has 4 kilobyte of internal memory which is mapped into a 16 kilobyte address range in the system fabric address map. | | | | System Address | Mapped to | | 0x0000 - 0x3FFF | Unit_A registers : 0x0000 - 0x0FFF | | 0x4000 - 0xFFFF | Other IPs & Memory | To protect the register controls in Unit_A unprivileged software is blocked from accessing addresses between 0x0000 - 0x0FFF. The address decoder of Unit_A masks off the higher order address bits and decodes only the lower 12 bits for computing the offset into the 4 kilobyte internal memory space.
In this design the aliased memory address ranges are these:
0x0000 - 0x0FFF
0x1000 - 0x1FFF
0x2000 - 0x2FFF
0x3000 - 0x3FFF
The same register can be accessed using four different addresses: 0x0000, 0x1000, 0x2000, 0x3000.
The system address filter only blocks access to range 0x0000 - 0x0FFF and does not block access to the aliased addresses in 0x1000 - 0x3FFF range. Thus, untrusted software can leverage the aliased memory addresses to bypass the memory protection. Sicheres Codebeispiel
Secure Other
In this design the aliased memory addresses (0x1000 - 0x3FFF) could be blocked from all system software access since they are not used by software.
Alternately, the MPU logic can be changed to apply the memory protection policies to the full address range mapped to Unit_A (0x0000 - 0x3FFF). What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.
Präventions-Checkliste
How to prevent CWE-1257
- Architecture and Design / Implementation The checks should be applied for consistency access rights between primary memory regions and any mirrored or aliased memory regions. If different memory protection units (MPU) are protecting the aliased regions, their protected range definitions and policies should be synchronized.
- Architecture and Design / Implementation The controls that allow enabling memory aliases or changing the size of mapped memory regions should only be programmable by trusted software components.
Erkennungssignale
How to detect CWE-1257
Führe dynamische Application-Security-Tests gegen den Live-Endpoint aus.
Beobachte Runtime-Logs auf ungewöhnliche Exception-Traces, fehlerhafte Eingaben oder Versuche, Autorisierung zu umgehen.
Code Review: Markiere jeden neuen Code, der Eingaben von dieser Oberfläche ohne validierte Framework-Helper verarbeitet.
Plexicus erkennt CWE-1257 automatisch und öffnet in unter 60 Sekunden einen Fix-PR.
Codex Remedium scannt jeden Commit, identifiziert genau diese Schwachstelle und liefert einen reviewer-ready Pull Request mit dem Patch. Keine Tickets. Keine Hand-offs.
Häufig gestellte Fragen Was ist CWE-1257?
Wie gravierend ist CWE-1257?
Welche Sprachen oder Plattformen sind von CWE-1257 betroffen?
Wie kann ich CWE-1257 verhindern?
Wie erkennt und behebt Plexicus CWE-1257?
Wo erfahre ich mehr über CWE-1257?
Frequently asked questions
Was ist CWE-1257?
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware design maps the same physical memory to multiple addresses (aliasing or mirroring) but fails to apply consistent read/write permissions across all these addresses. An attacker blocked from accessing a protected memory region might still reach the same data through its unprotected aliased address, bypassing security controls.
Wie gravierend ist CWE-1257?
MITRE hat für diese Schwachstelle keine Exploit-Wahrscheinlichkeit veröffentlicht. Behandle sie als mittlere Auswirkung, bis dein Threat Model anderes belegt.
Welche Sprachen oder Plattformen sind von CWE-1257 betroffen?
MITRE lists the following affected platforms: Not OS-Specific, Not Architecture-Specific, Memory Hardware, Processor Hardware, Microcontroller Hardware, Network on Chip Hardware, System on Chip.
Wie kann ich CWE-1257 verhindern?
The checks should be applied for consistency access rights between primary memory regions and any mirrored or aliased memory regions. If different memory protection units (MPU) are protecting the aliased regions, their protected range definitions and policies should be synchronized. The controls that allow enabling memory aliases or changing the size of mapped memory regions should only be programmable by trusted software components.
Wie erkennt und behebt Plexicus CWE-1257?
Die SAST-Engine von Plexicus erkennt die Datenfluss-Signatur von CWE-1257 bei jedem Commit. Bei einem Treffer öffnet unser Codex-Remedium-Agent einen Fix-PR mit korrigiertem Code, Tests und einer einzeiligen Zusammenfassung für den Reviewer.
Wo erfahre ich mehr über CWE-1257?
MITRE veröffentlicht die kanonische Definition unter https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1257.html. Für ergänzende Hinweise kannst du auch die OWASP- und NIST-Dokumentation heranziehen.
Verwandte Schwachstellen
Weaknesses related to CWE-1257
CWE-284 Parent
Improper Access Control
The software fails to properly limit who can access a resource, allowing unauthorized users or systems to interact with it.
CWE-1191 Sibling
On-Chip Debug and Test Interface With Improper Access Control
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware chip's debug or test interface (like JTAG) lacks proper access controls. Without correct…
CWE-1220 Sibling
Insufficient Granularity of Access Control
This vulnerability occurs when a system's access controls are too broad, allowing unauthorized users or processes to read or modify…
CWE-1224 Sibling
Improper Restriction of Write-Once Bit Fields
This vulnerability occurs when hardware write-once protection mechanisms, often called 'sticky bits,' are incorrectly implemented,…
CWE-1231 Sibling
Improper Prevention of Lock Bit Modification
This vulnerability occurs when hardware or firmware uses a lock bit to protect critical system registers or memory regions, but fails to…
CWE-1233 Sibling
Security-Sensitive Hardware Controls with Missing Lock Bit Protection
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware device uses a lock bit to protect critical configuration registers, but the lock fails to…
CWE-1252 Sibling
CPU Hardware Not Configured to Support Exclusivity of Write and Execute Operations
This vulnerability occurs when a CPU's hardware is not set up to enforce a strict separation between writing data to memory and executing…
CWE-1259 Sibling
Improper Restriction of Security Token Assignment
This vulnerability occurs when a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) fails to properly secure its Security Token mechanism. These tokens control which…
CWE-1260 Sibling
Improper Handling of Overlap Between Protected Memory Ranges
This vulnerability occurs when a system incorrectly allows different memory protection ranges to overlap. This flaw can let attackers…
Ressourcen
Further reading
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