# CVE-2008-3761: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can cause a denial of service in VMware products by sending crafted IOCTL requests to the hcmon.sys driver.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Aug 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cqgj-ggx7-phrm

## What is CVE-2008-3761?

CVE-2008-3761 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Aug 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

hcmon.sys in VMware Workstation 6.5.1 and earlier, VMware Player 2.5.1 and earlier, VMware ACE 2.5.1 and earlier, and VMware Server 1.0.x before 1.0.9 build 156507 and 2.0.x before 2.0.1 build 156745 uses the METHOD_NEITHER communication method for IOCTLs, which allows local users to cause a denial of service via a crafted IOCTL request.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-3761?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Vmware Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-3761?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-3761 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-3761 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-3761 exists.

Public exploit code:

- VMware Workstation 6.5.1 - 'hcmon.sys 6.0.0.45731' Local Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-3761 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-3761 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Aug 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-3761 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3761/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3761/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-3761
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-3761
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-3761

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3761/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.