CWE-1245

Improper Finite State Machines (FSMs) in Hardware Logic
AI Translation Available

Faulty finite state machines (FSMs) in the hardware logic allow an attacker to put the system in an undefined state, to cause a denial of service (DoS) or gain privileges on the victim's system.

Status
incomplete
Abstraction
base
System on Chip

The functionality and security of the system heavily depend on the implementation of FSMs. FSMs can be used to indicate the current security state of the system. Lots of secure data operations and data transfers rely on the state reported by the FSM.

Common Consequences

availability access control
Impacts
unexpected state dos: crash, exit, or restart dos: instability gain privileges or assume identity

Potential Mitigations

Phases:
architecture and design implementation
Descriptions:
• Define all possible states and handle all unused states through default statements. Ensure that system defaults to a secure state.