Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3 media uninitialized pointer

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component media. Executing a manipulation can lead to uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2025-40221. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown part of the component media. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: pci: mg4b: fix uninitialized iio scan data Fix potential leak of uninitialized stack data to userspace by ensuring that the `scan` structure is zeroed before use.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-40221 since 04/16/2025. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/23/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 298897 (Ubuntu 25.10 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-8029-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.54 or 6.17.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b7f82da7f86479cb6479a76ebe213ece7c77398f/b792eba44494b4e6ab5006013335f9819f303b8b/c0d3f6969bb4d72476cfe7ea9263831f1c283704 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 (298897) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2747). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Microsoft Azure Linux

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
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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