CWE-1304: Improperly Preserved Integrity of Hardware Configuration State During a Power Save/Restore Operation

What is Improperly Preserved Integrity of Hardware Configuration State During a Power Save/Restore Operation?

• Overview: This vulnerability occurs when a system performs a power-saving operation and does not ensure the integrity of its configuration state before and after the process. If the configuration state stored in persistent storage like flash memory is not validated, it can be altered by attackers leading to potential security issues.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can access and modify the configuration state stored in persistent storage during power save operations.
• Common attack patterns include altering configuration settings to change privileges, disable security protections, or damage hardware.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include unauthorized configuration changes that can compromise system integrity.
• Potential cascading effects involve enabling further attacks due to altered privileges or disabled protections.
• Business impact could be significant, including data breaches, service disruptions, and hardware damage.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Implement validation checks for the configuration state before restoring power to ensure integrity.
• Employ cryptographic techniques to protect the integrity of stored configuration data.
• Use security best practices such as access control to restrict who can modify persistent storage.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include secure boot processes and hardware security modules (HSMs) to enforce integrity checks.

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Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not Technology-Specific

Vulnerable Code Example

class HardwareController:
    def __init__(self):
        # Initial hardware configuration state
        self.config_state = {"power_mode": "normal", "performance": "high"}
        self.saved_state = None

    def save_state(self):
        # Save current configuration state
        self.saved_state = self.config_state.copy()  # Use copy to prevent direct reference

    def restore_state(self):
        # Restore hardware configuration state
        self.config_state = self.saved_state  # Vulnerability: No integrity check

Explanation

• Vulnerability: The restore_state method directly assigns self.saved_state to self.config_state without verifying if the saved state has been tampered with or corrupted during the power save/restore operation. This lack of validation can lead to security risks.
• Impact: An attacker could potentially manipulate the saved state, leading to incorrect hardware configuration that could degrade performance or cause failures.

How to fix Improperly Preserved Integrity of Hardware Configuration State During a Power Save/Restore Operation?

To fix this vulnerability, we need to ensure the integrity of the hardware configuration state. This can be achieved by:

1. Integrity Checks: Implementing a hashing mechanism to verify if the configuration state has been altered.
2. Validation: Ensuring the saved state is valid and has not been tampered with.
3. Error Handling: Implementing error handling to manage cases where the integrity validation fails.

Fixed Code Example

import hashlib
import json

class HardwareController:
    def __init__(self):
        self.config_state = {"power_mode": "normal", "performance": "high"}
        self.saved_state = None
        self.state_hash = None

    def save_state(self):
        # Save current configuration state
        self.saved_state = self.config_state.copy()
        # Compute hash of the state for integrity verification
        self.state_hash = self._compute_hash(json.dumps(self.saved_state, sort_keys=True))

    def restore_state(self):
        # Verify the integrity of the saved state
        if self.state_hash == self._compute_hash(json.dumps(self.saved_state, sort_keys=True)):
            self.config_state = self.saved_state
        else:
            raise ValueError("Configuration state integrity check failed")

    def _compute_hash(self, data):
        # Compute SHA-256 hash of the given data
        return hashlib.sha256(data.encode()).hexdigest()

Explanation

• Integrity Checks: A hash of the saved_state is computed and stored when saving the state. This hash is used to verify the integrity of the state during restoration.
• Validation: Before restoring the state, the hash of the current saved_state is computed and compared with the stored hash. This ensures that the state has not been altered.
• Error Handling: If the hashes do not match, an exception is raised to indicate a potential integrity issue, preventing restoration of a potentially tampered state.
• Best Practices: The copy() method is used in save_state() to ensure that saved_state is a separate instance, preventing unintended modifications.