Linux Kernel up to 6.12.28/6.14.6/6.15-rc5 bcm2835-camera v4l2_dev null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.28/6.14.6/6.15-rc5. It has been declared as critical. The impacted element is the function v4l2_dev of the component bcm2835-camera. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2025-37971. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.28/6.14.6/6.15-rc5. Affected is the function v4l2_dev of the component bcm2835-camera. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: staging: bcm2835-camera: Initialise dev in v4l2_dev Commit 42a2f6664e18 ("staging: vc04_services: Move global g_state to vchiq_state") changed mmal_init to pass dev->v4l2_dev.dev to vchiq_mmal_init, however nothing iniitialised dev->v4l2_dev, so we got a NULL pointer dereference. Set dev->v4l2_dev.dev during bcm2835_mmal_probe. The device pointer could be passed into v4l2_device_register to set it, however that also has other effects that would need additional changes.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-37971 since 04/16/2025. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 242347 (Oracle Linux 9 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2025-20480)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.29, 6.14.7 or 6.15-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 06753f49336ab161ea0e249a0720125b81b7b31b/b70bdd4923e8b8edbacde2af83ca337bb7005261/98698ca0e58734bc5c1c24e5bbc7429f981cd186 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (242347) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1114). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.14.0
• 6.14.1
• 6.14.2
• 6.14.3
• 6.14.4
• 6.14.5
• 6.14.6
• 6.15-rc1
• 6.15-rc2
• 6.15-rc3
• 6.15-rc4
• 6.15-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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