Gold Open Source
ExplorePackagesVulnerabilitiesCWEsMCP ServersScan
Login
Gold Open Source

The authoritative source for production-ready open-source components. Every package, container image, AI model, and MCP server undergoes rigorous verification for security, malware, and license compliance.

Explore Gold

  • Explore Everything
  • Packages
  • Gold Certified Packages
  • Container Images
  • AI Models
  • MCP Servers
  • Agent Skills
  • Chip Manufacturers

Security Data & Tools

  • Scan Your Dependencies
  • Trending Threats
  • Threat RSS Feeds
  • CVE Database
  • Actively Exploited (KEV)
  • SGZ Zero-Days
  • CWE Index
  • MITRE ATT&CK
  • Malicious Packages
  • Security Glossary
  • Supply-Chain Report
  • Developers (API & Badge)
  • Chrome Extension
  • Credits & Data Sources

Products

  • The Platform
  • ESSCM
  • Portal
  • TPRM
  • OSM
  • Cowork
  • Code / Runner
  • Guard

Use Cases

  • Know Your Software
  • Auto-Fix Vulnerabilities
  • Asset Discovery
  • AI Governance
  • MCP Server Security
  • Supply Chain Compliance
  • Zero-Day Discovery
  • All Use Cases

Company

  • About
  • Pricing
  • Blog
  • Documentation
  • Safeguard Academy
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

© 2026 Gold Open Source. All rights reserved.

Built with care bySafeguard
Home/CWEs/CWE-1278
Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-1278: Missing Protection Against Hardware Reverse Engineering Using Integrated Circuit (IC) Imaging Techniques

ShareXLinkedInRedditHN

Information stored in hardware may be recovered by an attacker with the capability to capture and analyze images of the integrated circuit using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy.

Abstraction
Base
Related CVEs
0

▪References & documentation

https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1278.htmlNVD CWE listing

▪ How attackers exploit CWE-1278

MITRE ATT&CK techniques associated with this weakness class (mapped via MITRE CAPEC). A vulnerability of this type could let an adversary carry out:

T1005Data from Local SystemcollectionT1552Unsecured Credentialscredential-accessT1555Credentials from Password Storescredential-access

Step-by-step: how CWE-1278 gets exploited

A stage-by-stage walkthrough of the attack, mapped to the real MITRE ATT&CK tactics for this weakness — what the attacker is trying to do, what's at risk (what can be stolen or damaged), and how you defend. Understanding the playbook is how you shut it down.

  1. 1
    Credential accesscredential-access

    Steal passwords, tokens, keys, and session material.

    At risk / what's stolen

    Passwords, API keys, session tokens, SSH/TLS keys, and secrets in memory, env, or config.

    How you defend

    Secret managers, short-lived tokens, and no secrets in code/env/logs.

  2. 2
    Collectioncollection

    Gather the valuable data before taking it out.

    At risk / what's stolen

    Databases, files, customer records, source code, and business data.

    How you defend

    Data-access monitoring, encryption at rest, and least-privilege data access.

This is a defensive, conceptual walkthrough for education — stages reflect MITRE ATT&CK tactics associated with this weakness class, not a working exploit. Not every attack uses every stage.

▪ Related CVEs

No CVEs in the Gold index currently reference CWE-1278. New matches appear here as the crawler indexes them.