Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2014-3689
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe vmware-vga driver (hw/display/vmware_vga.c) in QEMU allows local guest users to write to qemu memory locations and gain privileges via unspecified parameters related to rectangle handling.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe vmware-vga display driver in QEMU contains a memory corruption vulnerability where local guest users can write to arbitrary qemu memory locations via specially crafted parameters in rectangle handling operations, enabling privilege escalation from guest to host.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 10.04= 12.04= 14.04= 14.10<= 2.1.3CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if QEMU is installedRun 'qemu-system-x86_64 --version' or 'qemu --version' to see if QEMU is present on the systemAffected if QEMU is installed and the version is <= 2.1.3 (or unknown)
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Identify the exact QEMU versionRun 'dpkg -l | grep qemu' on Debian/Ubuntu, or 'qemu-system-x86_64 --version' to get the precise version numberAffected if The installed version is 2.1.3 or lower, or the version cannot be determined but QEMU is present
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Verify the vmware-vga driver is availableCheck for the presence of the vmware-vga related files: look for 'vmware_vga' in QEMU's available device list via 'qemu-system-x86_64 -help' or check for vmware-vga related files in /usr/share/qemu or similar pathsAffected if The vmware-vga driver is present and loadable in the QEMU installation
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Determine if a VM is configured to use vmware-vgaReview VM configuration files or startup scripts to see if '-vga vmware' or '-device vmware-svga' is specified as the graphics adapterAffected if A virtual machine is configured with the vmware-vga graphics driver (-vga vmware or similar)
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Check for active QEMU processes using vmware-vgaRun 'ps aux | grep qemu' on the host to look for running QEMU instances and inspect their command-line arguments for vmware-vga usageAffected if A QEMU process is running with the vmware-vga display driver active
A system is affected if QEMU version 2.1.3 or lower is installed AND the vmware-vga display driver is either available to or actively used by a virtual machine on that host.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate QEMU to a version that includes the fix for this vulnerability, or if the vmware-vga driver is not required, disable or remove it to eliminate the attack surface.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3689 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3689 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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