CWE-1316 Detail

CWE-1316

Fabric-Address Map Allows Programming of Unwarranted Overlaps of Protected and Unprotected Ranges
Draft
2020-12-10
00h00 +00:00
2023-06-29
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Fabric-Address Map Allows Programming of Unwarranted Overlaps of Protected and Unprotected Ranges

The address map of the on-chip fabric has protected and unprotected regions overlapping, allowing an attacker to bypass access control to the overlapping portion of the protected region.

CWE Description

Various ranges can be defined in the system-address map, either in the memory or in Memory-Mapped-IO (MMIO) space. These ranges are usually defined using special range registers that contain information, such as base address and size. Address decoding is the process of determining for which range the incoming transaction is destined. To ensure isolation, ranges containing secret data are access-control protected.

Occasionally, these ranges could overlap. The overlap could either be intentional (e.g. due to a limited number of range registers or limited choice in choosing size of the range) or unintentional (e.g. introduced by errors). Some hardware designs allow dynamic remapping of address ranges assigned to peripheral MMIO ranges. In such designs, intentional address overlaps can be created through misconfiguration by malicious software. When protected and unprotected ranges overlap, an attacker could send a transaction and potentially compromise the protections in place, violating the principle of least privilege.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation

Applicable Platforms

Language

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Operating Systems

Class: Not OS-Specific (Undetermined)

Architectures

Class: Not Architecture-Specific (Undetermined)

Technologies

Name: Bus/Interface Hardware (Undetermined)
Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
Confidentiality
Integrity
Access Control
Authorization		Bypass Protection Mechanism, Read Memory, Modify MemoryMedium

Observed Examples

References Description

CVE-2009-4419

Attacker can modify MCHBAR register to overlap with an attacker-controlled region, which modification prevents the SENTER instruction from properly applying VT-d protection while a Measured Launch Environment is being launched.

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Architecture and Design
When architecting the address map of the chip, ensure that protected and unprotected ranges are isolated and do not overlap. When designing, ensure that ranges hardcoded in Register-Transfer Level (RTL) do not overlap.
Phases : Implementation
Ranges configured by firmware should not overlap. If overlaps are mandatory because of constraints such as a limited number of registers, then ensure that no assets are present in the overlapped portion.
Phases : Testing
Validate mitigation actions with robust testing.

Detection Methods

Automated Dynamic Analysis

Review address map in specification to see if there are any overlapping ranges.
Effectiveness : High

Manual Static Analysis

Negative testing of access control on overlapped ranges.
Effectiveness : High

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-456 Infected Memory
An adversary inserts malicious logic into memory enabling them to achieve a negative impact. This logic is often hidden from the user of the system and works behind the scenes to achieve negative impacts. This pattern of attack focuses on systems already fielded and used in operation as opposed to systems that are still under development and part of the supply chain.
CAPEC-679 Exploitation of Improperly Configured or Implemented Memory Protections

An adversary takes advantage of missing or incorrectly configured access control within memory to read/write data or inject malicious code into said memory.

NotesNotes

As of CWE 4.6, CWE-1260 and CWE-1316 are siblings under view 1000, but CWE-1260 might be a parent of CWE-1316. More analysis is warranted.

References

REF-1137

BARing the System - New vulnerabilities in Coreboot & UEFI-based Systems
Yuriy Bulygin, Oleksandr Bazhaniuk, Andrew Furtak, John Loucaides, Mikhail Gorobets.
https://www.c7zero.info/stuff/REConBrussels2017_BARing_the_system.pdf

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
Arun Kanuparthi, Hareesh Khattri, Parbati Kumar Manna Intel Corporation 2020-06-01 +00:00 2020-12-10 +00:00 4.3

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-10-28 +00:00 updated Maintenance_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-04-28 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-06-28 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-10-13 +00:00 updated References
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-01-31 +00:00 updated Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes