CWE-1209 Base Incomplet

Failure to Disable Reserved Bits

This vulnerability occurs when reserved bits in a hardware design are left active in production. Designers sometimes use these bits for debugging or future features, but if not disabled, attackers…

Définition

What is CWE-1209?

This vulnerability occurs when reserved bits in a hardware design are left active in production. Designers sometimes use these bits for debugging or future features, but if not disabled, attackers can manipulate them to compromise the hardware's state.
Reserved bits are placeholders in a hardware design intended for future use and should have no functional purpose in the current version. However, to accelerate development or testing, designers might secretly enable logic connected to these bits for debugging or to prototype new features. Leaving this logic active creates a hidden backdoor that attackers can discover and exploit. When these bits remain enabled in production hardware, an adversary with access can write to them to trigger this hidden logic. This allows them to bypass security controls, alter configurations, or force the hardware into unsupported and potentially harmful states that were never intended for the released product.
Impact réel

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-1209

Aucune référence CVE publique n'est liée à ce CWE dans le catalogue MITRE pour le moment.

Comment les attaquants l'exploitent

Parcours de l'attaquant étape par étape

  1. 1

    Identifier un chemin de code qui traite des entrées non fiables sans validation.

  2. 2

    Élaborer une charge utile qui exploite le comportement non sécurisé — injection, traversal, débordement ou abus de logique.

  3. 3

    Délivrer la charge utile via une requête normale et observer la réaction de l'application.

  4. 4

    Itérer jusqu'à ce que la réponse divulgue des données, exécute le code de l'attaquant ou élève les privilèges.

Exemple de code vulnérable

Vulnerable Verilog

Assume a hardware Intellectual Property (IP) has address space 0x0-0x0F for its configuration registers, with the last one labeled reserved (i.e. 0x0F). Therefore inside the Finite State Machine (FSM), the code is as follows:

Vulnérable Verilog 
reg gpio_out = 0; //gpio should remain low for normal operation

 case (register_address)

```
   4'b1111 : //0x0F
  	 begin
  		 gpio_out = 1;
  	 end
Exemple de code sécurisé

Secure Verilog

An adversary may perform writes to reserved address space in hopes of changing the behavior of the hardware. In the code above, the GPIO pin should remain low for normal operation. However, it can be asserted by accessing the reserved address space (0x0F). This may be a concern if the GPIO state is being used as an indicator of health (e.g. if asserted the hardware may respond by shutting down or resetting the system, which may not be the correct action the system should perform). In the code below, the condition "register_address = 0X0F" is commented out, and a default is provided that will catch any values of register_address not explicitly accounted for and take no action with regards to gpio_out. This means that an attacker who is able to write 0X0F to register_address will not enable any undocumented "features" in the process.

Sécurisé Verilog 
reg gpio_out = 0; //gpio should remain low for normal operation

 case (register_address)

```
   //4'b1111 : //0x0F
   default: gpio_out = gpio_out;
What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.
Liste de contrôle de prévention

How to prevent CWE-1209

  • Architecture and Design / Implementation Include a feature to disable reserved bits.
  • Integration Any writes to these reserve bits are blocked (e.g., ignored, access-protected, etc.), or an exception can be asserted.
Signaux de détection

How to detect CWE-1209

SAST High

Exécuter une analyse statique (SAST) sur le code source à la recherche du motif non sécurisé dans le flux de données.

DAST Moderate

Exécuter des tests de sécurité applicative dynamique (DAST) contre le point de terminaison en ligne.

Runtime Moderate

Surveiller les journaux runtime pour détecter des traces d'exception inhabituelles, des entrées malformées ou des tentatives de contournement d'autorisation.

Code review Moderate

Revue de code : signaler tout nouveau code qui traite les entrées de cette surface sans utiliser les helpers du framework validés.

Correction automatique Plexicus

Plexicus détecte automatiquement CWE-1209 et ouvre une PR de correction en moins de 60 secondes.

Codex Remedium analyse chaque commit, identifie cette faiblesse précise et livre une pull request prête à être relue avec le correctif. Pas de tickets. Pas de transferts.

Obtenir une démo Essayer Plexicus gratuitement
Questions fréquentes

Frequently asked questions

Qu'est-ce que CWE-1209 ?

This vulnerability occurs when reserved bits in a hardware design are left active in production. Designers sometimes use these bits for debugging or future features, but if not disabled, attackers can manipulate them to compromise the hardware's state.

Quelle est la gravité de CWE-1209 ?

MITRE n'a pas publié de note de probabilité d'exploitation pour cette faiblesse. Traitez-la comme un impact moyen jusqu'à ce que votre modèle de menace prouve le contraire.

Quels langages ou plateformes sont affectés par CWE-1209 ?

MITRE lists the following affected platforms: Not OS-Specific, Not Architecture-Specific, System on Chip.

Comment puis-je prévenir CWE-1209 ?

Include a feature to disable reserved bits. Any writes to these reserve bits are blocked (e.g., ignored, access-protected, etc.), or an exception can be asserted.

Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-1209 ?

Le moteur SAST de Plexicus reconnaît la signature de flux de données de CWE-1209 à chaque commit. Lorsqu'une correspondance est trouvée, notre agent Codex Remedium ouvre une PR de correction avec le code corrigé, les tests et un résumé d'une ligne pour le relecteur.

Où puis-je en savoir plus sur CWE-1209 ?

MITRE publie la définition canonique à https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1209.html. Vous pouvez également consulter la documentation OWASP et NIST pour des conseils adjacents.

Faiblesses associées

Weaknesses related to CWE-1209

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CWE-1041 Frère

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CWE-1044 Frère

Architecture with Number of Horizontal Layers Outside of Expected Range

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CWE-1048 Frère

Invokable Control Element with Large Number of Outward Calls

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CWE-1059 Frère

Insufficient Technical Documentation

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CWE-1061 Frère

Insufficient Encapsulation

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CWE-1065 Frère

Runtime Resource Management Control Element in a Component Built to Run on Application Servers

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CWE-1066 Frère

Missing Serialization Control Element

This weakness occurs when a class or data structure is marked as serializable but lacks the required control methods to properly handle…

CWE-1068 Frère

Inconsistency Between Implementation and Documented Design

This weakness occurs when the actual code implementation deviates from the intended design described in its official documentation,…

Ressources

Further reading

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