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CWE-1261 Base Brouillon
Improper Handling of Single Event Upsets
This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.
Définition
What is CWE-1261?
This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.
Modern hardware is becoming more vulnerable to temporary errors called single-event upsets (SEUs). These random bit flips are caused by internal factors like electrical interference or external sources like cosmic radiation. Unlike permanent hardware faults, SEUs are transient but can have serious security consequences if they affect critical system components.
When an SEU occurs in a security-sensitive module—such as a privilege manager or cryptographic engine—it can bypass critical protections. For example, a single bit flip might incorrectly elevate a user's privileges or corrupt cryptographic keys. Developers must design hardware logic with detection and correction mechanisms, like parity checks or error-correcting code (ECC) memory, to prevent these temporary failures from compromising system security.
Impact réel
Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-1261
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
This is an example from [REF-1089]. See the reference for full details of this issue.
- 2
Parity is error detecting but not error correcting.
- 3
In 2016, a security researcher, who was also a patient using a pacemaker, was on an airplane when a bit flip occurred in the pacemaker, likely due to the higher prevalence of cosmic radiation at such heights. The pacemaker was designed to account for bit flips and went into a default safe mode, which still forced the patient to go to a hospital to get it reset. The bit flip also inadvertently enabled the researcher to access the crash file, perform reverse engineering, and detect a hard-coded key. [REF-1101]
Exemple de code vulnérable
Vulnerable Other
Parity is error detecting but not error correcting.
Due to single-event upsets, bits are flipped in memories. As a result, memory-parity checks fail, which results in restart and a temporary denial of service of two to three minutes. Exemple de code sécurisé
Secure Other
Using error-correcting codes could have avoided the restart caused by SEUs. 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-1261
- Architecture and Design Implement triple-modular redundancy around security-sensitive modules.
- Architecture and Design SEUs mostly affect SRAMs. For SRAMs storing security-critical data, implement Error-Correcting-Codes (ECC) and Address Interleaving.
Signaux de détection
How to detect CWE-1261
Exécuter des tests de sécurité applicative dynamique (DAST) contre le point de terminaison en ligne.
Surveiller les journaux runtime pour détecter des traces d'exception inhabituelles, des entrées malformées ou des tentatives de contournement d'autorisation.
Revue de code : signaler tout nouveau code qui traite les entrées de cette surface sans utiliser les helpers du framework validés.
CWE-1261
Don't catalog this weakness. Prove it's reachable.
Plexicus turns CWE catalogs into evidence: every CWE-pattern is matched against your real code graph, reach is proven on a sandbox clone, and verified findings ship as reviewed PRs.
Questions fréquentes Qu'est-ce que CWE-1261 ?
Quelle est la gravité de CWE-1261 ?
Quels langages ou plateformes sont affectés par CWE-1261 ?
Comment puis-je prévenir CWE-1261 ?
Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-1261 ?
Où puis-je en savoir plus sur CWE-1261 ?
Frequently asked questions
Qu'est-ce que CWE-1261 ?
This vulnerability occurs when hardware logic fails to properly manage single-event upsets (SEUs), which are temporary bit flips caused by environmental factors.
Quelle est la gravité de CWE-1261 ?
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-1261 ?
MITRE lists the following affected platforms: Not OS-Specific, Not Architecture-Specific, Not Technology-Specific.
Comment puis-je prévenir CWE-1261 ?
Implement triple-modular redundancy around security-sensitive modules. SEUs mostly affect SRAMs. For SRAMs storing security-critical data, implement Error-Correcting-Codes (ECC) and Address Interleaving.
Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-1261 ?
Le moteur SAST de Plexicus reconnaît la signature de flux de données de CWE-1261 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-1261 ?
MITRE publie la définition canonique à https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1261.html. Vous pouvez également consulter la documentation OWASP et NIST pour des conseils adjacents.
Faiblesses associées
Weaknesses related to CWE-1261
CWE-1384 Parent
Improper Handling of Physical or Environmental Conditions
This weakness occurs when a hardware device fails to manage unexpected physical or environmental situations, whether they happen naturally…
CWE-1247 Frère
Improper Protection Against Voltage and Clock Glitches
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware device lacks proper physical safeguards against deliberate electrical manipulation. Without…
CWE-1332 Frère
Improper Handling of Faults that Lead to Instruction Skips
This vulnerability occurs when a hardware device lacks or incorrectly implements the necessary circuitry or sensors to detect and respond…
CWE-1351 Frère
Improper Handling of Hardware Behavior in Exceptionally Cold Environments
This weakness occurs when a hardware device or its firmware lacks proper safeguards to maintain security functions when operated in…
CWE-1254 Pair
Incorrect Comparison Logic Granularity
This vulnerability occurs when a system compares sensitive data, like passwords or authentication tokens, piece-by-piece instead of as a…
Ressources
Further reading
- MITRE — CWE-1261 officiel https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1261.html
- Single Event Upset: An Embedded Tutorial https://www.eng.auburn.edu/~agrawvd/TALKS/tutorial_6pg.pdf
- Single Event Upsets in Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=736549&tag=1
- Single Event Effects in FPGA Devices 2015-2016 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160007754
- Cisco 12000 Single Event Upset Failures Overview and Work Around Summary https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/field-notices/200/fn25994.html
- Different Ways to Mitigate Soft Errors in Asynchronous SRAMs - KBA90939 https://community.infineon.com/t5/Knowledge-Base-Articles/Different-Ways-to-Mitigate-Soft-Errors-in-Asynchronous-SRAMs-KBA90939/ta-p/257944
- Cosmic particles can change elections and cause plans to fall through the sky, scientists warn https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/subatomic-particles-cosmic-rays-computers-change-elections-planes-autopilot-a7584616.html
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