# CVE-2014-3690: Denial of service in n/a

> Local users with /dev/kvm access can kill arbitrary processes or cause system disruption by manipulating CR4 control register values after VM entry.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** 10 Nov 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-3690, GHSA-647r-22pp-rpp3, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-3690

## What is CVE-2014-3690?

CVE-2014-3690 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Nov 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

arch/x86/kvm/vmx.c in the KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel before 3.17.2 on Intel processors does not ensure that the value in the CR4 control register remains the same after a VM entry, which allows host OS users to kill arbitrary processes or cause a denial of service (system disruption) by leveraging /dev/kvm access, as demonstrated by PR_SET_TSC prctl calls within a modified copy of QEMU.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-3690?

It affects 10 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Opensuse Evergreen, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Suse Linux Enterprise Real Time Extension, Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit, Suse Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-3690?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-3690 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3690 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-3690 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-3690 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Nov 2014. 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-2014-3690 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2014-3690/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3690/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-3690
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3690
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-3690

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3690/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.