Skip to main content

Observable Discrepancy

CVE-2019-18673

Medium
4.6/10

Summary

On SHIFT BitBox02 devices, a side channel for the row-based OLED display was found. The power consumption of each row-based display cycle depends on the number of illuminated pixels, allowing a partial recovery of display contents. For example, a hardware implant in the USB cable might be able to leverage this behavior to recover confidential secrets such as the PIN and BIP39 mnemonic. Note: BIP39 secrets are not displayed by default on this device. The side channel is relevant only if the attacker has enough control over the device's USB connection to make power-consumption measurements at a time when secret data is displayed. The side channel is not relevant in other circumstances, such as a stolen device that is not currently displaying secret data.

  • LOW
  • PHYSICAL
  • NONE
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH
  • NONE

CWE-203 - Observable Discrepancy

The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor, which exposes security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published