CVE-2025-38543

Local crash via unchecked DMA allocation failure

Published Aug 16, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

NULL-return mishandling in the Tegra NVDEC driver in Linux allows local users to crash the system during firmware loading. The nvdec_load_falcon_firmware function tests the DMA address with dma_mapping_error instead of checking whether dma_alloc_coherent returned a NULL virtual address. The path is limited to systems using Tegra NVDEC hardware, and the crash requires a coherent-memory allocation failure during firmware loading.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL-return mishandling in the Tegra NVDEC driver in Linux allows local users to crash the system during firmware loading. The nvdec_load_falcon_firmware function tests the DMA address with dma_mapping_error instead of checking whether dma_alloc_coherent returned a NULL virtual address. The path is limited to systems using Tegra NVDEC hardware, and the crash requires a coherent-memory allocation failure during firmware loading.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38543
Published
Aug 16, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-252
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <2e0812eedccd0629d73c9d0b1184a5db055df1da
  2. Affected versionversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <44306a684cd1699b8562a54945ddc43e2abc9eab
  3. Affected versionversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <61b8d20962d00b7df117011c52f97cbb9c76a669
  4. Affected versionversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <a560de522374af931fa994d161db3667b0bb2545
  5. Affected versionversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <d1240029f97ac8c06db4dd4407bbbf83e8d08570
  6. Affected versionversion=5.17

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <2e0812eedccd0629d73c9d0b1184a5db055df1da; version=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <44306a684cd1699b8562a54945ddc43e2abc9eab; version=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <61b8d20962d00b7df117011c52f97cbb9c76a669; version=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <a560de522374af931fa994d161db3667b0bb2545; version=46f226c93d35b936aeec6eb31da932dc2e86f413 <d1240029f97ac8c06db4dd4407bbbf83e8d08570; version=5.17

Published CVSS scores

5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-252Unchecked Return Value

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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