CWE-1279 Detail

CWE-1279

Cryptographic Operations are run Before Supporting Units are Ready
Incomplete
2020-02-24
00h00 +00:00
2023-10-26
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Cryptographic Operations are run Before Supporting Units are Ready

Performing cryptographic operations without ensuring that the supporting inputs are ready to supply valid data may compromise the cryptographic result.

CWE Description

Many cryptographic hardware units depend upon other hardware units to supply information to them to produce a securely encrypted result. For example, a cryptographic unit that depends on an external random-number-generator (RNG) unit for entropy must wait until the RNG unit is producing random numbers. If a cryptographic unit retrieves a private encryption key from a fuse unit, the fuse unit must be up and running before a key may be supplied.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation : The decision to continue using a cryptographic unit even though the input units to it are not producing valid data will compromise the encrypted result.

Applicable Platforms

Language

Name: Verilog (Undetermined)
Name: VHDL (Undetermined)
Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Operating Systems

Class: Not OS-Specific (Undetermined)

Architectures

Class: Not Architecture-Specific (Undetermined)

Technologies

Name: Processor Hardware (Undetermined)
Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
Access Control
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Accountability
Authentication
Authorization
Non-Repudiation		Varies by Context

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Architecture and Design
Best practices should be used to design cryptographic systems.
Phases : Implementation
Continuously ensuring that cryptographic inputs are supplying valid information is necessary to ensure that the encrypted output is secure.

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Justification : This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comment : Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-97 Cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis is a process of finding weaknesses in cryptographic algorithms and using these weaknesses to decipher the ciphertext without knowing the secret key (instance deduction). Sometimes the weakness is not in the cryptographic algorithm itself, but rather in how it is applied that makes cryptanalysis successful. An attacker may have other goals as well, such as: Total Break (finding the secret key), Global Deduction (finding a functionally equivalent algorithm for encryption and decryption that does not require knowledge of the secret key), Information Deduction (gaining some information about plaintexts or ciphertexts that was not previously known) and Distinguishing Algorithm (the attacker has the ability to distinguish the output of the encryption (ciphertext) from a random permutation of bits).

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
Arun Kanuparthi, Hareesh Khattri, Parbati Kumar Manna, Narasimha Kumar V Mangipudi Intel Corporation 2020-02-12 +00:00 2020-02-24 +00:00 4.1

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-08-20 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Maintenance_Notes, Modes_of_Introduction, Name, Potential_Mitigations, Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-03-15 +00:00 updated Maintenance_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-04-28 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-06-28 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-10-13 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-10-26 +00:00 updated Relationships