Détail du CWE-1338

A hardware device is missing or has inadequate protection features to prevent overheating.

Hardware, electrical circuits, and semiconductor silicon have thermal side effects, such that some of the energy consumed by the device gets dissipated as heat and increases the temperature of the device. For example, in semiconductors, higher-operating frequency of silicon results in higher power dissipation and heat. The leakage current in CMOS circuits increases with temperature, and this creates positive feedback that can result in thermal runaway and damage the device permanently.

Any device lacking protections such as thermal sensors, adequate platform cooling, or thermal insulation is susceptible to attacks by malicious software that might deliberately operate the device in modes that result in overheating. This can be used as an effective denial of service (DoS) or permanent denial of service (PDoS) attack.

Depending on the type of hardware device and its expected usage, such thermal overheating can also cause safety hazards and reliability issues. Note that battery failures can also cause device overheating but the mitigations and examples included in this submission cannot reliably protect against a battery failure.

There can be similar weaknesses with lack of protection from attacks based on overvoltage or overcurrent conditions. However, thermal heat is generated by hardware operation and the device should implement protection from overheating.

Modes d'introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation : Such issues could be introduced during hardware architecture, design or implementation.

Plateformes applicables

Langue

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Systèmes d’exploitation

Class: Not OS-Specific (Undetermined)

Architectures

Class: Not Architecture-Specific (Undetermined)

Technologies

Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined)
Class: ICS/OT (Undetermined)
Name: Power Management Hardware (Undetermined)
Name: Processor Hardware (Undetermined)

Conséquences courantes

Mesures d’atténuation potentielles

Phases : Architecture and Design
Temperature maximum and minimum limits should be enforced using thermal sensors both in silicon and at the platform level.
Phases : Implementation
The platform should support cooling solutions such as fans that can be modulated based on device-operation needs to maintain a stable temperature.

Méthodes de détection

Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation

Dynamic tests should be performed to stress-test temperature controls.
Efficacité : High

Architecture or Design Review

Power management controls should be part of Architecture and Design reviews.
Efficacité : High

Notes de cartographie des vulnérabilités

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.
Commentaire : 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.

Modèles d'attaque associés

Références

REF-1156

Loapi--This Trojan is hot!
Leonid Grustniy.
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/loapi-trojan/20510/

Soumission

Modifications