Base · Medium

CWE-1269: Product Released in Non-Release Configuration

The product released to market is released in pre-production or manufacturing configuration.

CWE-1269 · Base Level ·2 CVEs ·3 Mitigations

Description

The product released to market is released in pre-production or manufacturing configuration.

Products in the pre-production or manufacturing stages are configured to have many debug hooks and debug capabilities, including but not limited to: The above is by no means an exhaustive list, but it alludes to the greater capability and the greater state of vulnerability of a product during it's preproduction or manufacturing state. Complexity increases when multiple parties are involved in executing the tests before the final production version. For example, a chipmaker might fabricate a chip and run its own preproduction tests, following which the chip would be delivered to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), who would now run a second set of different preproduction tests on the same chip. Only after both of these sets of activities are complete, can the overall manufacturing phase be called "complete" and have the "Manufacturing Complete" fuse blown. However, if the OEM forgets to blow the Manufacturing Complete fuse, then the system remains in the manufacturing stage, rendering the system both exposed and vulnerable.

Potential Impact

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Accountability, Authentication, Authorization, Non-Repudiation

Other

Demonstrative Examples

This example shows what happens when a preproduction system is made available for production.
Bad
Suppose the chipmaker has a way of scanning all the internal memory (containing chipmaker-level secrets) during the manufacturing phase, and the way the chipmaker or the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) marks the end of the manufacturing phase is by blowing a Manufacturing Complete fuse. Now, suppose that whoever blows the Manufacturing Complete fuse inadvertently forgets to execute the step to blow the fuse.
An attacker will now be able to scan all the internal memory (containing chipmaker-level secrets).
Good
Blow the Manufacturing Complete fuse.

Mitigations & Prevention

Implementation

Ensure that there exists a marker for denoting the Manufacturing Complete stage and that the Manufacturing Complete marker gets updated at the Manufacturing Complete stage (i.e., the Manufacturing Complete fuse gets blown).

Integration

Ensure that there exists a marker for denoting the Manufacturing Complete stage and that the Manufacturing Complete marker gets updated at the Manufacturing Complete stage (i.e., the Manufacturing Complete fuse gets blown).

Manufacturing

Ensure that there exists a marker for denoting the Manufacturing Complete stage and that the Manufacturing Complete marker gets updated at the Manufacturing Complete stage (i.e., the Manufacturing Complete fuse gets blown).

Real-World CVE Examples

CVE IDDescription
CVE-2019-13945Regarding SSA-686531, a hardware based manufacturing access on S7-1200 and S7-200 SMART has occurred. A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All ver
CVE-2018-4251Laptops with Intel chipsets were found to be running in Manufacturing Mode. After this information was reported to the OEM, the vulnerability (CVE-2018-4251) was patched disallowing access to the inte

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CWE-1269?

CWE-1269 (Product Released in Non-Release Configuration) is a software weakness identified by MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration. It is classified as a Base-level weakness. The product released to market is released in pre-production or manufacturing configuration.

How can CWE-1269 be exploited?

Attackers can exploit CWE-1269 (Product Released in Non-Release Configuration) to other. This weakness is typically introduced during the Implementation, Integration, Manufacturing phase of software development.

How do I prevent CWE-1269?

Key mitigations include: Ensure that there exists a marker for denoting the Manufacturing Complete stage and that the Manufacturing Complete marker gets updated at the Manufacturing Complete stage (i.e., the Manufacturing Com

What is the severity of CWE-1269?

CWE-1269 is classified as a Base-level weakness (Medium abstraction). It has been observed in 2 real-world CVEs.