Key Management Bugs (KMN) Class

Definition

We define Key Management Bugs (KMN) as:

The software does not properly generate, store, distribute, use, or destroy cryptographic keys and other keying material.

See also the Model of Cryptographic Store or Transfer.

Type

High (semantic).

Taxonomy

Fig. 1 depicts KMN causes, attributes and consequences.

Attributes

Cryptographic Data – Hashes, Keying Material, Digital Certificate.

Algorithm – Hash Function + RND, MAC, RSA, Digital Signature, etc.

Different cryptosystems have their own specific algorithm(s).

Operation – Generate/Select, Store, Distribute, Use, Destroy.

This is the failed operation. Store includes update and recover. Distribute includes key establishment, transport, agreement, wrapping, encapsulation, derivation, confirmation, shared secret creation; uses ENC and KMN (reclusively). KMN is a high level class, so sites do not apply.

Causes

IEX of Key includes hardcoded key.

Sites

KMN is a high level class, so sites do not apply.

Related BF Classes

BF classes related to KMN are: ENC, RND, VRF, IEX.

Related CWEs and SFPs

CWEs related to KMN are CWE-321, CWE-322, CWE-323, CWE-324.

The related SFP clusters are: SFP 17.2 Weak Cryptography under Primary Cluster: Cryptography and SFP 4.13 Digital Certificate under Primary Cluster: Authentication. Note that, some of the CWEs listed in 17.2 are not KMN.

BF Descriptions of KMN Related CWEs are provided here.

Notes

Include deadlock?

Application

Application examples are provided here.

References

[1] Bojanova, I., Black, P. E., Yesha, Y., Cryptography Classes in Bugs Framework (BF): Encryption Bugs (ENC), Verification Bugs (VRF), and Key Management Bugs (KMN). IEEE Software Technology Conference (STC 2017), NIST, Gaithersburg, USA. September 25-28, 2017.