CWE-1261 Base Draft

Improper Handling of Single Event Upsets

This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.

Definition

What is CWE-1261?

This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.
Modern hardware is becoming more vulnerable to temporary errors called single-event upsets (SEUs). These random bit flips are caused by internal factors like electrical interference or external sources like cosmic radiation. Unlike permanent hardware faults, SEUs are transient but can have serious security consequences if they affect critical system components. When an SEU occurs in a security-sensitive module—such as a privilege manager or cryptographic engine—it can bypass critical protections. For example, a single bit flip might incorrectly elevate a user's privileges or corrupt cryptographic keys. Developers must design hardware logic with detection and correction mechanisms, like parity checks or error-correcting code (ECC) memory, to prevent these temporary failures from compromising system security.
Auswirkungen in der Praxis

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-1261

Bisher sind in MITREs Katalog keine öffentlichen CVE-Referenzen mit dieser CWE verknüpft.

Wie Angreifer es ausnutzen

Angreiferpfad Schritt für Schritt

  1. 1

    This is an example from [REF-1089]. See the reference for full details of this issue.

  2. 2

    Parity is error detecting but not error correcting.

  3. 3

    In 2016, a security researcher, who was also a patient using a pacemaker, was on an airplane when a bit flip occurred in the pacemaker, likely due to the higher prevalence of cosmic radiation at such heights. The pacemaker was designed to account for bit flips and went into a default safe mode, which still forced the patient to go to a hospital to get it reset. The bit flip also inadvertently enabled the researcher to access the crash file, perform reverse engineering, and detect a hard-coded key. [REF-1101]

Verwundbares Codebeispiel

Vulnerable Other

Parity is error detecting but not error correcting.

Verwundbar Other 
Due to single-event upsets, bits are flipped in memories. As a result, memory-parity checks fail, which results in restart and a temporary denial of service of two to three minutes.
Sicheres Codebeispiel

Secure Other

Sicher Other 
Using error-correcting codes could have avoided the restart caused by SEUs.
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-1261

  • Architecture and Design Implement triple-modular redundancy around security-sensitive modules.
  • Architecture and Design SEUs mostly affect SRAMs. For SRAMs storing security-critical data, implement Error-Correcting-Codes (ECC) and Address Interleaving.
Erkennungssignale

How to detect CWE-1261

SAST High

Führe statische Analyse (SAST) auf der Codebasis aus und suche im Datenfluss nach dem unsicheren Muster.

DAST Moderate

Führe dynamische Application-Security-Tests gegen den Live-Endpoint aus.

Runtime Moderate

Beobachte Runtime-Logs auf ungewöhnliche Exception-Traces, fehlerhafte Eingaben oder Versuche, Autorisierung zu umgehen.

Code review Moderate

Code Review: Markiere jeden neuen Code, der Eingaben von dieser Oberfläche ohne validierte Framework-Helper verarbeitet.

Plexicus Auto-Fix

Plexicus erkennt CWE-1261 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.

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Häufig gestellte Fragen

Frequently asked questions

Was ist CWE-1261?

This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.

Wie gravierend ist CWE-1261?

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-1261 betroffen?

MITRE lists the following affected platforms: Not OS-Specific, Not Architecture-Specific, Not Technology-Specific.

Wie kann ich CWE-1261 verhindern?

Implement triple-modular redundancy around security-sensitive modules. SEUs mostly affect SRAMs. For SRAMs storing security-critical data, implement Error-Correcting-Codes (ECC) and Address Interleaving.

Wie erkennt und behebt Plexicus CWE-1261?

Die SAST-Engine von Plexicus erkennt die Datenfluss-Signatur von CWE-1261 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-1261?

MITRE veröffentlicht die kanonische Definition unter https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1261.html. Für ergänzende Hinweise kannst du auch die OWASP- und NIST-Dokumentation heranziehen.

Verwandte Schwachstellen

Weaknesses related to CWE-1261

CWE-1384 Parent

Improper Handling of Physical or Environmental Conditions

This weakness occurs when a hardware device fails to manage unexpected physical or environmental situations, whether they happen naturally…

CWE-1247 Sibling

Improper Protection Against Voltage and Clock Glitches

This vulnerability occurs when a hardware device lacks proper physical safeguards against deliberate electrical manipulation. Without…

CWE-1332 Sibling

Improper Handling of Faults that Lead to Instruction Skips

This vulnerability occurs when a hardware device lacks or incorrectly implements the necessary circuitry or sensors to detect and respond…

CWE-1351 Sibling

Improper Handling of Hardware Behavior in Exceptionally Cold Environments

This weakness occurs when a hardware device or its firmware lacks proper safeguards to maintain security functions when operated in…

CWE-1254 Peer

Incorrect Comparison Logic Granularity

This vulnerability occurs when a system compares sensitive data, like passwords or authentication tokens, piece-by-piece instead of as a…

Ressourcen

Further reading

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