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Operating system

CVE-2017-13093

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The P1735 IEEE standard describes flawed methods for encrypting electronic-design intellectual property (IP), as well as the management of access rights for such IP, including modification of encrypted IP cyphertext to insert hardware trojans. The methods are flawed and, in the most egregious cases, enable attack vectors that allow recovery of the entire underlying plaintext IP. Implementations of IEEE P1735 may be weak to cryptographic attacks that allow an attacker to obtain plaintext intellectual property without the key, among other impacts.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The IEEE P1735 standard for encrypting electronic design intellectual property contains fundamental cryptographic flaws that allow attackers to recover plaintext IP without the encryption key. The vulnerabilities permit modification of encrypted IP ciphertext to insert hardware trojans and other malicious modifications. This affects EDA tools and workflows that use P1735-compliant encryption for protecting hardware designs.

MitigationOrganizations should audit their EDA toolchains and IP protection workflows to identify implementations of IEEE P1735, then implement alternative IP protection methods using verified cryptographic approaches. Consider isolating and monitoring systems handling encrypted IP until remediation is complete.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Operating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify EDA tools that may implement P1735
    Inventory all electronic design automation tools in the environment, including Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, or other commercial or open-source EDA tools. Check installed software listings and licensing records.
    Affected if Any EDA tool that processes or creates encrypted hardware IP is present in the environment
  2. Locate encrypted IP or design files
    Search for file types commonly used for encrypted IP in EDA workflows, such as .vp, .encrypted, or vendor-specific encrypted formats. Check design project directories and IP libraries.
    Affected if Encrypted IP files using P1735-compliant encryption are found in the environment
  3. Inspect EDA tool encryption configuration
    Examine EDA tool configuration files, preferences, or settings related to IP protection, encryption, or P1735. Look for options named 'P1735', 'IEEE 1735', 'IP encryption', or similar.
    Affected if EDA tool configurations enable or reference P1735 encryption for IP protection
  4. Review IP protection workflow documentation
    Examine design flow documentation, IP procurement records, or toolchain scripts that specify how hardware IP is protected. Look for references to IEEE P1735 or standard encryption methods.
    Affected if Documentation or workflows specify the use of P1735 for encrypting hardware IP
  5. Check for encrypted netlist or RTL files
    Search for encrypted hardware description files, encrypted netlists, or protected RTL that would require decryption by EDA tools. These often have indicators of being P1735-encrypted.
    Affected if Encrypted design files that require P1735 decryption are present

A user is affected if their EDA environment implements or relies on IEEE P1735 encryption for protecting hardware intellectual property, regardless of version, as all implementations of this standard contain the cryptographic flaws described in the CVE.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Organizations should audit their EDA toolchains and IP protection workflows to identify implementations of IEEE P1735, then implement alternative IP protection methods using verified cryptographic approaches. Consider isolating and monitoring systems handling encrypted IP until remediation is complete.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation30.0 h
  • Implementation60.0 h
  • Testing25.0 h
  • Review / QA15.0 h
130.0 hours of engineering $23,250
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-13093 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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