CVE-2025-71140

Kernel fault via mutex in hard IRQ context

Published Jan 14, 2026 · Updated Jan 14, 2026

NULL-pointer dereference in affected Linux Kernel versions allows local users to trigger a kernel fault through MediaTek vcodec. The vcodec VPU IPI handler uses a sleeping mutex in hard IRQ context while protecting encoder and decoder context lists, allowing an invalid context pointer to reach a NULL dereference. Reachability requires the MediaTek MT8173 video-codec path; mainline reproduction used FFmpeg v4l2m2m decoding through Fluster even when the requested capture format was unsupported.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL-pointer dereference in affected Linux Kernel versions allows local users to trigger a kernel fault through MediaTek vcodec. The vcodec VPU IPI handler uses a sleeping mutex in hard IRQ context while protecting encoder and decoder context lists, allowing an invalid context pointer to reach a NULL dereference. Reachability requires the MediaTek MT8173 video-codec path; mainline reproduction used FFmpeg v4l2m2m decoding through Fluster even when the requested capture format was unsupported.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-71140
Published
Jan 14, 2026
Updated
Jan 14, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux Kernel
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 14, 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=0a2dc707aa42214f9c4827bd57e344e29a0841d6 <2c1ea6214827041f548279c9eda341eda0cc8351
  2. Affected versionversion=23aaf824121055ba81b55f75444355bd83c8eb38
  3. Affected versionversion=41671f0c0182b2bae74ca7e3b0f155559e3e2fc5
  4. Affected versionversion=51c84a8aac6e3b59af2b0e92ba63cabe2e641a2d
  5. Affected versionversion=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <3e858938b0e659f6ec9ddcf853a87f1c5c3f44e1
  6. Affected versionversion=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <a5844227e0f030d2af2d85d4aed10c5eca6ca176
  7. Affected versionversion=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <b92c19675f632a41af1222027a231bc2b7efa7ed
  8. Affected versionversion=6.9

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=0a2dc707aa42214f9c4827bd57e344e29a0841d6 <2c1ea6214827041f548279c9eda341eda0cc8351; version=23aaf824121055ba81b55f75444355bd83c8eb38; version=41671f0c0182b2bae74ca7e3b0f155559e3e2fc5; version=51c84a8aac6e3b59af2b0e92ba63cabe2e641a2d; version=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <3e858938b0e659f6ec9ddcf853a87f1c5c3f44e1; version=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <a5844227e0f030d2af2d85d4aed10c5eca6ca176; version=6467cda18c9f9b5f2f9a0aa1e2861c653e41f382 <b92c19675f632a41af1222027a231bc2b7efa7ed; version=6.9

Published CVSS scores

No CVSS assessment is available in this record.

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

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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