Weakness · High
CWE-514: Covert Channel
What it is
A covert channel is a path that can be used to transfer information in a way not intended by the system's designers.
- Severity (our rating)
- High
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Implementation, Operation
- Exploited in the wild
- No CVE in CISA's catalog
In more detail
Typically the system has not given authorization for the transmission and has no knowledge of its occurrence.
What an attacker can do
- Read Application Data (Confidentiality, Access Control)
- Bypass Protection Mechanism (Confidentiality, Access Control)
How to prevent it
MITRE lists no specific mitigation for this weakness. Treat it like its parent weaknesses below: validate input, keep the design simple and review the code where it could appear.
How to find it
- Architecture or Design Review. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Inspection (IEEE 1028 standard) (can apply to requirements, design, source code, etc.)
H2 Security
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Start freeSource: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.