CWE-1329
Reliance on Component That is Not Updateable
Extended description
If the component is discovered to contain a vulnerability or critical bug, but the issue cannot be fixed using an update or patch, then the product's owner will not be able to protect against the issue. The only option might be replacement of the product, which could be too financially or operationally expensive for the product owner. As a result, the inability to patch or update can leave the product open to attacker exploitation or critical operation failures. This weakness can be especially difficult to manage when using ROM, firmware, or similar components that traditionally have had limited or no update capabilities. In industries such as healthcare, "legacy" devices can be operated for decades. As a US task force report [REF-1197] notes, "the inability to update or replace equipment has both large and small health care delivery organizations struggle with numerous unsupported legacy systems that cannot easily be replaced (hardware, software, and operating systems) with large numbers of vulnerabilities and few modern countermeasures." While hardware can be prone to this weakness, software systems can also be affected, such as when a third-party driver or library is no longer actively maintained or supported but is still critical for the required functionality.
Common consequences1
- ConfidentialityIntegrityAccess ControlAuthenticationAuthorizationOtherGain Privileges or Assume IdentityBypass Protection MechanismExecute Unauthorized Code or CommandsDoS: Crash, Exit, or RestartQuality DegradationReduce Maintainability
If an attacker can identify an exploitable vulnerability in one product that has no means of patching, the attack may be used against all affected versions of that product.
Potential mitigations4
- Requirements
Specify requirements that each component should be updateable, including ROM, firmware, etc.
- Architecture and Design
Design the product to allow for updating of its components. Include the external infrastructure that might be necessary to support updates, such as distribution servers.
- Architecture and DesignImplementationModerate
With hardware, support patches that can be programmed in-field or during manufacturing through hardware fuses. This feature can be used for limited patching of devices after shipping, or for the next batch of silicon devices manufactured, without changing the full device ROM.
- Implementation
Implement the necessary functionality to allow each component to be updated.
CVEs referencing this CWE6
| CVE | Description | Severity | EPSS | Flags | Modified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-41097 | Reliance on a component that is not updateable in Windows Secure Boot allows an authorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally. | MEDIUM6.7 | 1.42%p69 | 2026-06-09 | |
| CVE-2026-21265 | Windows Secure Boot stores Microsoft certificates in the UEFI KEK and DB. These original certificates are approaching expiration, and devices containing affected certificate versions must update them to maintain Secure Boot functionality and avoid compromising security by losing security fixes related to Windows boot manager or Secure Boot. The operating system’s certificate update protection mechanism relies on firmware components that might contain defects, which can cause certificate trust updates to fail or behave unpredictably. This leads to potential disruption of the Secure Boot trust chain and requires careful validation and deployment to restore intended security guarantees. Certificate Authority (CA) Location Purpose Expiration Date Microsoft Corporation KEK CA 2011 KEK Signs updates to the DB and DBX 06/24/2026 Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011 DB Signs 3rd party boot loaders, Option ROMs, etc. 06/27/2026 Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011 DB Signs the Windows Boot Manager 10/19/2026 For more information see this CVE and Windows Secure Boot certificate expiration and CA updates. | MEDIUM6.4 | 0.97%p57 | 2026-04-01 | |
| CVE-2022-34381 | Dell BSAFE SSL-J version 7.0 and all versions prior to 6.5, and Dell BSAFE Crypto-J versions prior to 6.2.6.1 contain an unmaintained third-party component vulnerability. An unauthenticated remote attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to the compromise of the impacted system. This is a Critical vulnerability and Dell recommends customers to upgrade at the earliest opportunity. | CRITICAL9.8 | 0.85%p53 | 2025-12-16 | |
| CVE-2026-48576 | Protection mechanism failure in Windows Secure Boot allows an authorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally. | HIGH7.9 | 0.83%p53 | 2026-06-10 | |
| CVE-2026-48573 | Protection mechanism failure in Windows Secure Boot allows an authorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally. | HIGH7.9 | 0.83%p53 | 2026-06-10 | |
| CVE-2021-38398 | The affected device uses off-the-shelf software components that contain unpatched vulnerabilities. A malicious attacker with physical access to the affected device could exploit these vulnerabilities. | MEDIUM6.8 | 0.40%p32 | 2024-11-21 |