CWE-1270—Generation of Incorrect Security Tokens

Weakness Name

Generation of Incorrect Security Tokens

Description

The product implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. However, the Security Tokens generated in the system are incorrect.

Systems-On-a-Chip (SoC) (Integrated circuits and hardware engines) implement Security Tokens to differentiate and identify actions originated from various agents. These actions could be "read", "write", "program", "reset", "fetch", "compute", etc. Security Tokens are generated and assigned to every agent on the SoC that is either capable of generating an action or receiving an action from another agent. Every agent could be assigned a unique, Security Token based on its trust level or privileges.

Common Consequences

Scope:

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control

Impact:

Modify Files or Directories, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Bypass Protection Mechanism, Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, Read Memory, Modify Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Notes:

Incorrectly generated Security Tokens could result in the same token used for multiple agents or multiple tokens being used for the same agent. This condition could result in a Denial-of-Service (DoS) or the execution of an action that in turn could result in privilege escalation or unintended access.

Related Weaknesses

• CWE-284Improper Access Control
• CWE-1294Insecure Security Identifier Mechanism