CVE-2025-38044 media: cx231xx: set device_caps for 417
A missing device capability flag in the cx231xx MPEG encoder driver causes a kernel warning and prevents device registration, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-38044?
CVE-2025-38044 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 18 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
media: cx231xx: set device_caps for 417
The video_device for the MPEG encoder did not set device_caps.
Add this, otherwise the video device can't be registered (you get a WARN_ON instead).
Not seen before since currently 417 support is disabled, but I found this while experimenting with it.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38044?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38044?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-38044 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38044 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38044, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38044, GHSA-qp3q-6h5g-wmv8, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38044, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38044, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38044 and 2 more.