CAPEC-517

Detailed Abstraction Level
Meta — Very abstract, high-level category
Standard — Specific enough to understand
Detailed — Tied to specific technique Draft MITRE CAPEC Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development
Incomplete — Partially defined
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CAPEC Likelihood: Low Severity: High
Documentation Alteration to Circumvent Dial-down

Description

An attacker with access to a manufacturer's documentation, which include descriptions of advanced technology and/or specific components' criticality, alters the documents to circumvent dial-down functionality requirements. This alteration would change the interpretation of implementation and manufacturing techniques, allowing for advanced technologies to remain in place even though these technologies might be restricted to certain customers, such as nations on the terrorist watch list, giving the attacker on the receiving end of a shipped product access to an advanced technology that might otherwise be restricted.

Prerequisites

Advanced knowledge of internal software and hardware components within manufacturer's development environment.

Access to the manufacturer's documentation.

Mitigations

Digitize documents and cryptographically sign them to verify authenticity.

Password protect documents and make them read-only for unauthorized users.

Avoid emailing important documents and configurations.

Ensure deleted files are actually deleted.

Maintain backups of the document for recovery and verification.

Skills Required

[High] Ability to read, interpret, and subsequently alter manufacturer's documentation to prevent dial-down capabilities.

[High] Ability to stealthly gain access via remote compromise or physical access to the manufacturer's documentation.