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Ubuntu 14.04 LTS : AMD Microcode regression (USN-3690-2)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 110939

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Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing a security update.

Description

USN-3690-1 provided updated microcode for AMD processors to address CVE-2017-5715 (aka Spectre). Unfortunately, the update caused some systems to fail to boot. This update reverts the update for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Original advisory details :

Jann Horn discovered that microprocessors utilizing speculative execution and branch prediction may allow unauthorized memory reads via sidechannel attacks. This flaw is known as Spectre. A local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information, including kernel memory.

This update provides the microcode updates for AMD 17H family processors required for the corresponding Linux kernel updates.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Solution

Update the affected amd64-microcode package.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-3690-2

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 110939

File Name: ubuntu_USN-3690-2.nasl

Version: 1.11

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 7/6/2018

Updated: 10/20/2023

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 1.9

Temporal Score: 1.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2017-5715

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.6

Temporal Score: 5.4

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:H/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:amd64-microcode, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 7/5/2018

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/4/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-5715

IAVA: 2018-A-0020

USN: 3690-2