CWE Database
/

CWE-1342

Back to CWE list

CWE-1342

Information Exposure through Microarchitectural State after Transient Execution

Base
Incomplete

Description

The processor does not properly clear microarchitectural state after incorrect microcode assists or speculative execution, resulting in transient execution.

{"xhtml:p":["In many processor architectures an exception, mis-speculation, or microcode assist results in a flush operation to clear results that are no longer required. This action prevents these results from influencing architectural state that is intended to be visible from software. However, traces of this transient execution may remain in microarchitectural buffers, resulting in a change in microarchitectural state that can expose sensitive information to an attacker using side-channel analysis. For example, Load Value Injection (LVI) [REF-1202] can exploit direct injection of erroneous values into intermediate load and store buffers.","Several conditions may need to be fulfilled for a successful attack:"],"xhtml:ol":[{"xhtml:li":["incorrect transient execution that results in remanence of sensitive information;","attacker has the ability to provoke microarchitectural exceptions;","operations and structures in victim code that can be exploited must be identified."]}]}

Common Consequences

Scope

Confidentiality
Integrity

Impact

Modify Memory, Read Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design
Requirements

Hardware ensures that no illegal data flows from faulting micro-ops exists at the microarchitectural level.

Build and Compilation

Include instructions that explicitly remove traces of unneeded computations from software interactions with microarchitectural elements e.g. lfence, sfence, mfence, clflush.

CVE-2020-0551

Load value injection in some processors utilizing speculative execution may allow an authenticated user to enable information disclosure via a side-channel with local access.

Applicable Platforms

Not Language-Specific

Security Training

Train your team to recognize and prevent security threats with our comprehensive security awareness program.

Start Training

Vulnerability Scanning

Discover vulnerabilities in your applications and infrastructure before attackers do.

Scan Now