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CVE Record

CVE-2018-3646: Systems with microprocessors utilizing speculative execution and address translations may allow unauthorize...

Systems with microprocessors utilizing speculative execution and address translations may allow unauthorized disclosure of information residing in the L1 data cache to an attacker with local user access with guest OS privilege via a terminal page fault and a side-channel analysis.

MediumCVSS 5.6Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2018-3646 is a processor side-channel issue affecting multiple Intel systems. A local attacker with guest operating-system privileges may infer sensitive information from the processor's L1 data cache. It is most relevant to virtualized environments and shared compute, not ordinary remote web exposure.

Executive priority

Treat this as a priority infrastructure maintenance item, highest for shared virtualization and hosting environments. It is not shown as actively exploited in the provided sources, but confidentiality exposure can be material where tenants or users share hardware.

Technical view

The vulnerability involves speculative execution, address translations, terminal page faults, and side-channel analysis. The CVSS vector requires local access, low privileges, no user interaction, high attack complexity, changed scope, and high confidentiality impact, with no integrity or availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely on systems using affected Intel processors, especially hypervisors, cloud hosts, or servers that run untrusted guests or local users. The bundle identifies Intel Corporation Multiple products and versions, but does not enumerate exact CPU models.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not identify active exploitation, and KEV is false. Exploitation requires local access with guest OS privilege and high complexity, so risk concentrates where attackers can run code on shared infrastructure.

Researcher notes

Do not model this as a network-only bug. Validation should focus on CPU exposure, virtualization boundaries, guest/local code execution assumptions, and vendor advisory coverage. Evidence provided is broad; exact affected CPU and platform details require vendor-specific checks.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Intel, OS vendor, and hypervisor advisories for the affected platform.
  • Apply relevant kernel, hypervisor, firmware, and microcode updates from trusted vendors.
  • Prioritize shared virtualization hosts and systems with untrusted local users.
  • Assess vendor guidance for any required configuration changes after updates.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Intel-based servers, endpoints, and virtualization hosts.
  • Check installed kernel, hypervisor, firmware, and microcode levels against vendor advisories.
  • Confirm whether untrusted local users or guests can run on affected systems.
  • Document exceptions where vendor fixes are unavailable or not yet deployed.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
9

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · medium confidence lookup

CWE-200: Information exposure and cloud metadata lookup

Information exposure and SSRF weaknesses can make discovery, cloud metadata, and credential material review relevant. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2018-3646 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.6 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
2ADP providers
38Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
5.6CVSS 3.1MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N1.14CISA-ADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

5.6Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2018-3646Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CVECVE Program Container
CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
cvssV3_1other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Intel CorporationMultipleMultipleListed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-200

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-200 · source CWE mapping

Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

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