Vulnerabilities > CVE-2023-37479 - Improper Initialization vulnerability in Openenclave
Summary
Open Enclave is a hardware-agnostic open source library for developing applications that utilize Hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments, also known as Enclaves. There are two issues that are mitigated in version 0.19.3. First, Open Enclave SDK does not properly sanitize the `MXCSR` register on enclave entry. This makes applications vulnerable to MXCSR Configuration Dependent Timing (MCDT) attacks, where incorrect `MXCSR` values can impact instruction retirement by at most one cycle, depending on the (secret) data operand value. Please find more details in the guidance from Intel in the references. Second, Open Enclave SDK does not sanitize x86's alignment check flag `RFLAGS.AC` on enclave entry. This opens up the possibility for a side-channel attacker to be notified for every unaligned memory access performed by the enclave. The issue has been addressed in version 0.19.3 and the current master branch. Users will need to recompile their applications against the patched libraries to be protected from this vulnerability. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Leveraging Race Conditions This attack targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The attacker can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance a race condition can occur while accessing a file, the attacker can trick the system by replacing the original file with his version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
- Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions This attack targets a race condition occurring between the time of check (state) for a resource and the time of use of a resource. The typical example is the file access. The attacker can leverage a file access race condition by "running the race", meaning that he would modify the resource between the first time the target program accesses the file and the time the target program uses the file. During that period of time, the attacker could do something such as replace the file and cause an escalation of privilege.
References
- https://github.com/openenclave/openenclave/commit/ca54623333875b9beaad92c999a92b015c44b079
- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/software-security-guidance/best-practices/mxcsr-configuration-dependent-timing.html
- https://github.com/openenclave/openenclave/security/advisories/GHSA-5gfr-m6mx-p5w4