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Capec-679 Detail
Exploitation of Improperly Configured or Implemented Memory Protections
Detailed Hardware Hardware Likelihood: Medium Typical Severity: Very High
Parents: 1 180
Threats: T275 T286 T336 T390 T394 T405
An adversary takes advantage of missing or incorrectly configured access control within memory to read/write data or inject malicious code into said memory.
Hardware product designs often need to implement memory protection features to prevent users from reading and modifying memory reserved for security operations such as secure booting, authenticating code, device attestation, and more. However, these protection features may be missing if not configured by developers. For example, this can occur if the developers assume these features are configured elsewhere. Additionally, developers often attempt to impose proper protection features, but may incorrectly configure these controls. One such example would be setting controls with insufficient granularity for protected address regions. If an adversary is able to discover improper access controls surrounding memory, it could result in the adversary obtaining sensitive data, executing code, circumventing security mechanisms, escalating privileges, or even denying service to higher privilege software.
Not present
- Access to the hardware being leveraged.
Not present
| High | Medium |
|---|---|
| Intricate knowledge of memory structures. | |
| Ability to craft malicious code to inject into the memory region. |
| Integrity | Availability | Authorization | Access Control | Confidentiality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modify Data | Execute Unauthorized Commands (Run Arbitrary Code) | Gain Privileges | Gain Privileges | Read Data |
| Execute Unauthorized Commands (Run Arbitrary Code) | Execute Unauthorized Commands (Run Arbitrary Code) | |||
| Gain Privileges |
- A hardware product contains non-volatile memory, which itself contains boot code that is insufficiently protected. An adversary then modifies this memory to either bypass the secure boot process or to execute their own code.
- A hardware product leverages a CPU that does not possess a memory-protection unit (MPU) and a memory-management unit (MMU) nor a special bit to support write exclusivity, resulting in no write exclusivity. Because of this, an adversary is able to inject malicious code into the memory and later execute it to achieve the desired outcome.