2220
Technology : ICS/OT (Prevalence = Undetermined)
Common Consequences
Scope Impact Likelihood
Confidentiality
Integrity
Access Control
Authentication
Authorization
Other
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Bypass Protection Mechanism
Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
Quality Degradation
Reduce Maintainability
If an attacker can identify an exploitable vulnerability in one
product that has no means of patching, the attack may be
used against all affected versions of that product.
Detection Methods
Architecture or Design Review
Check the consumer or maintainer documentation, the architecture/design documentation, or
the original requirements to ensure that the documentation includes details for how to update the
firmware.
Effectiveness = Moderate
Potential Mitigations
Phase: Requirements
Specify requirements that each component should be updateable, including ROM, firmware, etc.
Phase: Architecture and Design
Design the product to allow for updating of its components. Include the external infrastructure
that might be necessary to support updates, such as distribution servers.
Phase: Architecture and Design
Phase: Implementation
With hardware, support patches that can be programmed in-field or during manufacturing
through hardware fuses. This feature can be used for limited patching of devices after shipping,
or for the next batch of silicon devices manufactured, without changing the full device ROM.
Effectiveness = Moderate
Some parts of the hardware initialization or signature verification done to authenticate patches
will always be "not patchable." Hardware-fuse-based patches will also have limitations in terms of
size and the number of patches that can be supported.
Phase: Implementation
Implement the necessary functionality to allow each component to be updated.
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1:
A refrigerator has an Internet interface for the official purpose of alerting the manufacturer when
that refrigerator detects a fault. Because the device is attached to the Internet, the refrigerator is a
target for hackers who may wish to use the device other potentially more nefarious purposes.
Example Language: Other (Bad)
The refrigerator has no means of patching and is hacked becoming a spewer of email spam.
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-1329: Reliance on Component That is Not Updateable
CWE-1329: Reliance on Component That is Not Updateable