Kernel crash via unchecked videomode allocation failure
Published Aug 22, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux imxfb driver allows local users to crash the kernel during framebuffer registration. The imxfb registration path ignores an -ENOMEM return from fb_add_videomode(), leaves the modelist empty, and later dereferences the missing entry. Reachability requires local low-privileged access, the imxfb driver, and an allocation failure; the documented impact is availability loss only.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux imxfb driver allows local users to crash the kernel during framebuffer registration. The imxfb registration path ignores an -ENOMEM return from fb_add_videomode(), leaves the modelist empty, and later dereferences the missing entry. Reachability requires local low-privileged access, the imxfb driver, and an allocation failure; the documented impact is availability loss only.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38630
- Published
- Aug 22, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 22, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- 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.
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <40f0a51f6c54d46a94b9f1180339ede7ca7ee190
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <49377bac9e3bec1635065a033c9679214fe7593e
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <4b5d36cc3014986e6fac12eaa8433fe56801d4ce
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <69373502c2b5d364842c702c941d1171e4f35a7c
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <ac16154cccda8be10ee3ae188f10a06f3890bc5d
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <cca8f5a3991916729b39d797d01499c335137319
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <da11e6a30e0bb8e911288bdc443b3dc8f6a7cac7
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <f00c29e6755ead56baf2a9c1d3c4c0bb40af3612
- Affected versionversion=1b6c79361ba5ce30b40f0f7d6fc2421dc5fcbe0c <f060441c153495750804133555cf0a211a856892
- Affected versionversion=3.11
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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