Insecure Security Identifier Mechanism
CWE-1294
Short description
Extended description
Systems-On-Chip (Integrated circuits and hardware engines) implement Security Identifiers to differentiate/identify actions originated from various agents. These actions could be 'read', 'write', 'program', 'reset', 'fetch', 'compute', etc. Security identifiers are generated and assigned to every agent in the System (SoC) that is either capable of generating an action or receiving an action from another agent. Every agent could be assigned a unique, Security Identifier based on its trust level or privileges.
A broad class of flaws can exist in the Security Identifier process, including but not limited to missing security identifiers, improper conversion of security identifiers, incorrect generation of security identifiers, etc.
Best practices to prevent this CWE
Phase: Architecture and Design
Security Identifier Decoders must be reviewed for design inconsistency and common weaknesses.
Phase: Implementation
Access and programming flows must be tested in pre-silicon and post-silicon testing.