# CVE-2013-6885: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can cause a system hang on specific AMD processors by exploiting a microcode flaw in handling locked instructions with write-combined memory.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`AV:L/AC:M/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:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Nov 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2013-6885, GHSA-pw98-hqj6-fw9c

## What is CVE-2013-6885?

CVE-2013-6885 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 29 Nov 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The microcode on AMD 16h 00h through 0Fh processors does not properly handle the interaction between locked instructions and write-combined memory types, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (system hang) via a crafted application, aka the errata 793 issue.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-6885?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Amd 16h Model 00h Processor, Amd 16h Model 0fh Processor, Amd 16h Model Processor Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-6885?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2013-6885 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-6885 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-6885 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-6885 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 29 Nov 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-6885 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2013-6885/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6885/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-6885
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-6885
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-6885

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6885/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.