CVE-2014-3690: Canonical Ubuntu Linux

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

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.

Affected products

• Canonical Ubuntu Linux: version 12.04 only; version 14.04 only; version 14.10 only
• Debian Debian Linux: version 7.0 only
• Linux Linux Kernel: before 3.17.2 (fixed in 3.17.2)
• Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop: version 12.0 only
• Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server: version 11 only; version 12.0 only
• Opensuse Evergreen: version 11.4 only
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux: version 5.0 only
• Suse Linux Enterprise Real Time Extension: version 11 only
• Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit: version 12 only
• Suse Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension: version 12 only

Published 2014-11-10. Last modified 2026-06-17.