Information disclosure in Ti Tm4c123

CVE-2018-18056

An issue was discovered in the Texas Instruments (TI) TM4C, MSP432E and MSP432P microcontroller series. The eXecute-Only-Memory (XOM) implementation prevents code read-outs on protected memory by generating bus faults. However, single-stepping and using breakpoints is allowed in XOM-protected flash memory. As a consequence, it is possible to execute single instructions with arbitrary system states (e.g., registers, status flags, and SRAM content) and observe the state changes produced by the unknown instruction. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by executing protected and unknown instructions with specific system states and observing the state changes. Based on the gathered information, it is possible to reverse-engineer the executed instructions. The processor acts as a kind of "instruction oracle."

Vulnerability class: Information Disclosure

EPSS: 0.004 (33.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.6 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

  • cve@mitre.org (Technical Description, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC)
  • cve@mitre.org (Technical Description, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-18056?
CVE-2018-18056 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ti Tm4c123, classified under Information Disclosure. CVSS score: 4.6/10. Published 2019-08-20.
How severe is CVE-2018-18056?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.6 out of 10.