CAPEC-447
Design Alteration
An adversary modifies the design of a technology, product, or component to acheive a negative impact once the system is deployed. In this type of attack, the goal of the adversary is to modify the design of the system, prior to development starting, in such a way that the negative impact can be leveraged when the system is later deployed. Design alteration attacks differ from development alteration attacks in that design alteration attacks take place prior to development and which then may or may not be developed by the adverary. Design alteration attacks include modifying system designs to degrade system performance, cause unexpected states or errors, and general design changes that may lead to additional vulnerabilities. These attacks generally require insider access to modify design documents, but they may also be spoofed via web communications. The product is then developed and delivered to the user where the negative impact can be leveraged at a later time.
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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-447: Design Alteration: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/447.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/447?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
Prerequisites
Access to system design documentation prior to the development phase. This access is often obtained via insider access or by leveraging another attack pattern to gain permissions that the adversary wouldn't normally have.
Ability to forge web communications to deliver modified design documentation.
Consequences
| Impact | Affects | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Execute Unauthorized Commands | Authorization | |
| Unreliable Execution | Availability | |
| Alter Execution Logic | Integrity |
Mitigations
Assess design documentation prior to development to ensure that they function as intended and without any malicious functionality.
Ensure that design documentation is saved in a secure location and has proper access controls set in place to avoid unnecessary modification.
Related attack patterns
- Part of
- CAPEC-438 Modification During Manufacture
- More specific patterns
- CAPEC-517 Documentation Alteration to Circumvent Dial-down
- CAPEC-518 Documentation Alteration to Produce Under-performing Systems
- CAPEC-519 Documentation Alteration to Cause Errors in System Design
- CAPEC-521 Hardware Design Specifications Are Altered
- CAPEC-671 Requirements for ASIC Functionality Maliciously Altered
- CAPEC-674 Design for FPGA Maliciously Altered
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